Pilates guide
Pilates calls your core the powerhouse, often described as the muscles from your pelvic floor to your ribcage, front, sides and back. In trials, Pilates builds abdominal endurance, and its moves do switch on the deep tummy muscles, but it hasn't been shown to build more strength than other exercise, and it can't burn fat from your tummy alone.
This guide explains the powerhouse and the deep core muscles, whether pulling your belly button in matters, how Pilates moves compare with crunches, and what Pilates does for your pelvic floor and a tummy gap after pregnancy, with a ladder of Pilates core moves from easiest to hardest, each with a 3D demo.
Joseph Pilates never set down exactly what the powerhouse is, and teachers differ. The broad view, also used by a review of how Pilates is defined, runs from the pelvic floor to the ribcage: the abdominals, the low back muscles, the muscles at the front and back of the hips, and the pelvic floor.
Across 9 trials in healthy people, Pilates added about 10 curl-ups a minute compared with no exercise. Compared with other exercise, it hasn't built more strength.
Ultrasound shows the deepest tummy muscle working during classic Pilates moves, and 8 weeks of training made it work harder during the Hundred, though not when people sat or stood.
Pulling your belly button in didn't make the spine more stable in lab studies; bracing the whole trunk did. Training the deep muscles first helped back pain no more than other exercise.
The double-leg stretch and criss-cross made the upper abs work harder than a crunch, and the criss-cross worked the abs hardest of three moves tested in beginners. Muscle activity in one session isn't the same as results over weeks.
Specific pelvic floor exercises beat Pilates for women with stress leaks in the newest trial, exercise narrows a tummy gap after pregnancy only slightly, and ab work didn't reduce belly fat in a 6-week trial.
There is no agreed definition. One review describes core stability as "the ability to control the position and motion of the trunk over the pelvis" to produce, transfer and control force; another says core strengthening "has had meager research".
A 2004 review notes that Joseph Pilates "never set down in writing what the exact parameters of the powerhouse were", and that master teachers don't agree. Definitions range from a single point at your middle, to "a 6-inch band" (about 15 cm) below the navel, to the broad view from the pelvic floor to the ribcage. A systematic review of how Pilates is defined describes centering as tightening the muscles between the pelvic floor and the ribcage.
In the broad view, the powerhouse has five groups of muscles:
Source 1
In 15 healthy people, transversus abdominis, the deepest tummy muscle, was always the first to switch on before a fast arm movement, and in 15 people with low back pain it switched on later. That finding launched exercises to train the deep muscle on its own. Later work found it usually acts as part of a whole-trunk pattern, which challenges training it in isolation.
You'll hear all three in classes:
A contemporary school teaches that breathing out deeply helps engage transversus abdominis. In 28 healthy women, two weeks of Pilates breathing training raised activity in the deep abdominal and back muscles during curl-ups and lifting, but the study had no comparison group.
Across 9 trials in healthy people, 2 to 3 sessions a week for 5 to 12 weeks improved abdominal endurance compared with no exercise, by about 10 more curl-ups in a minute, in both men and women. A 12-week trial in active middle-aged adults found the same.
In 11 studies comparing Pilates with other exercise, there was no difference in strength or muscular endurance, at very low to low certainty. In older women, 18 weeks of Pilates improved holding strength in the trunk and hips more than no training, but resistance training built more trunk and hip strength on a machine test. For maximum strength or muscle size, progressive loading does more.
Across 8 trials (437 people) with chronic low back pain, Pilates thickened the core muscles on ultrasound about as much as other exercise of the same dose, and more than no exercise, but the certainty was very low.
Source 23
In 26 experienced practitioners, ultrasound showed transversus abdominis and the internal oblique working during the imprint, the Hundred, leg circles and the roll-up; an imprint without drawing in did no more than rest. In a pilot trial of 34 gym members, 8 weeks of unsupervised mat Pilates made transversus work harder during the Hundred, but not at rest, sitting or standing.
Experienced practitioners held a drawing-in contraction closer to their target than novices (62% against 32% of their maximum), and beginners' deep muscles were working from the first session. These are small studies that can't show cause and effect.
In a modelling study of 8 healthy men, bracing the whole abdominal wall raised spine stability by about a third, with more spinal compression, while transversus abdominis contributed a tiny fraction; the authors found "no mechanical rationale" for hollowing. In 11 healthy men, hollowing didn't reduce trunk movement after a sudden load, while bracing did.
Motor control exercise, which trains the deep trunk muscles first and builds to whole-body tasks, helped chronic low back pain more than minimal treatment, but a Cochrane review of 29 trials (2,431 people) found it no more effective than other exercise. A 2021 review of 18 trials found it slightly better straight after treatment, at low certainty, and equal in the long term.
A review of 15 studies found strong evidence that changes in the thickness or timing of transversus abdominis were unrelated to changes in back pain or disability. In 32 people, neither abdominal muscle function nor its improvement predicted who did well after 9 weeks of stabilising exercise.
Drawing in is a reasonable cue for learning to feel your deep abdominals, and Pilates does train it. You don't need to hold it all day or before every lift: for heavy lifting, bracing the whole trunk is better supported. After a first episode of back pain, one small trial found fewer recurrences after specific deep-muscle training, so it can help; it isn't the only route.
In 17 untrained women, the double-leg stretch, the criss-cross and two other Pilates exercises made the upper rectus abdominis work harder than a sit-up or crunch, as measured by EMG (electromyography: sensors that record muscle activity). In 40 young adults, a roll-up holding a ball matched a standard curl-up. Of three moves in beginners, the criss-cross produced the most abdominal and oblique activity. In 28 young men, a Hundred with straight legs worked the core harder than with bent knees.
EMG shows how hard a muscle works in one move, not what training does over weeks, and these studies are small and mostly in women or experienced practitioners. Both Pilates and curl-up training improve abdominal endurance, so choose moves you can do well and progress.
Neutral spine and short levers. Our starting doses: 5 to 8 breaths; 5 to 10 knee folds and 6 toe taps each side; 6 slow pelvic curls; 6 bird dogs each side; 8 chest lifts; planks and hovers of 15 to 30 seconds (from our beginner workouts and each move's page).
3D demoLateral breathing (Pilates breathing)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee foldBeginner · No equipment
3D demoDead bug heel tapsBeginner · No equipment
3D demoPelvic tilt into bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBird dog, one limb at a timeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBird dogBeginner · No equipment
3D demoChest lift (Pilates curl-up)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee hover (Pilates tabletop hover)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee side plankBeginner · No equipmentOur starting doses: the Hundred at 50 beats building to 100; 6 to 10 of each leg stretch; 6 slow criss-crosses each side; 2 to 3 rounds of 20 to 30 seconds of swimming; planks of 20 to 40 seconds and side planks of 20 seconds (from each move's page and our ab workouts).
3D demoHundred (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDead bugBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg stretch (Pilates one leg stretch)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDouble-leg stretch (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoCriss-cross (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSwimming (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSide kick (Pilates side kick series)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoForearm plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoStraight-arm plank (high plank)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment3 to 5 roll-ups, 6 to 10 of each straight-leg stretch, 3 to 5 leg pulls and side bends each side, and 3 teasers, the classical count. Beyond these, the advanced classical moves are on our classical mat exercises page, with their cautions.
3D demoRoll-up (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSingle straight-leg stretch (Pilates scissors)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDouble straight-leg stretch (Pilates lower lift)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoLeg pull front (Pilates leg pull down)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoSide bend (Pilates)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoTeaser (Pilates)Advanced · No equipmentThe 10-minute Pilates abs is the classic abdominal block. The beginner core workout keeps a neutral spine throughout, which suits osteoporosis or a back that dislikes bending.
Ten minutes of the classic Pilates abdominal series: the hundred, the roll-up and the series of five, with a plank to finish.
10 minIntermediate11 movesNo equipmentA 15-minute beginner core workout on the floor: dead bugs, bird dogs, knee planks, side planks and curl-ups.
15 minBeginner6 movesNo equipmentAn intermediate ab workout with no equipment: planks, side planks, reverse crunches, hollow holds and mountain climbers.
20 minIntermediate7 movesNo equipmentA 20-minute mat Pilates workout for complete beginners. It covers breathing, spine position and the foundation moves, each with an easier option.
20 minBeginner13 movesNo equipmentA 30-minute intermediate mat Pilates class that follows the classical order, from the hundred to the push-up, with prep versions of the hardest moves.
30 minIntermediate22 movesNo equipmentIn 62 women with few or no symptoms, 24 sessions of Pilates or pelvic floor muscle training built pelvic floor strength equally. In 40 postmenopausal women with stress leaks, both helped leaking over 12 weeks, but only pelvic floor training improved strength on examination, and the authors found Pilates matched it only when deliberate pelvic floor squeezes were included. In the newest trial, in women with stress leaks, pelvic floor training beat Pilates with or without squeezes. A 2025 review found Pilates and yoga safe, but not consistently better than general strengthening.
If you leak, do the specific squeezes, ideally with a course supervised by a pelvic health physiotherapist; Pilates can sit alongside them. If you have pelvic pain or trouble emptying your bladder, get checked before adding squeezes. Our pelvic floor guide shows how.
In reviews of trials in women after birth, exercise narrowed the gap between the tummy muscles (diastasis recti) by only about 4 to 5 mm, too little to matter clinically, and a 2026 update found no clear difference for exercise aimed at the deepest tummy muscle. In 70 women, curl-ups built strength and didn't widen the gap. Pilates can help you rebuild strength after birth but isn't proven to close a gap; our Pilates in pregnancy guide has the detail.
Choose still-spine core moves such as the dead bug, bird dog and plank, and keep your head down. A UK consensus suggests alternatives to Pilates roll-downs and curl-ups as a precaution, while people who already do them comfortably and smoothly can continue.
Source 37
If your neck works harder than your abs, lower your head, rest it in your hands, and nod gently without jamming your chin down. Neck pain that persists, or spreads into an arm, is a reason to see our neck pain guide or a professional.
Source 19
If back pain comes with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs; loss of feeling around your genitals or anus; changes in your bladder or bowels; or chest pain; or if it started after a serious accident.
Source 38
For a bulge in your groin or tummy that is painful, or comes with a swollen tummy, being sick or constipation, as our guide to exercise for men explains. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
For leaking, a dragging or bulging feeling in the vagina, pelvic pain or pain during sex. After a birth, follow our postpartum guide on when to see a GP about a tummy gap.
Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling, and get advice if it keeps happening.
No exercise reliably burns fat from one spot: 6 weeks of daily ab exercise didn't change belly fat, and in one small trial in men, adding ab work to running took only a little extra fat off the trunk, with the same total fat loss. Pilates leads to modest whole-body weight loss, and how flat your stomach looks depends mostly on body fat. Our Pilates for weight loss guide covers the wider evidence.
Hollowing didn't make the spine more stable in lab studies; bracing did. Training the deep muscles helped back pain no more than other exercise, though one small trial found fewer recurrences after a first episode. Use drawing in as a learning cue, not a rule for every movement.
Training the deep core muscles works about as well as other exercise for chronic low back pain, not better, and changes in those muscles don't explain who improves. Pilates helps back pain more than doing little, but not clearly more than other exercise; our Pilates for back pain guide has the detail.
In lab tests, some Pilates moves made the upper abs work harder than crunches and another matched a curl-up. Both build abdominal endurance, so choose what you enjoy and can progress.
Exercise narrows a gap after pregnancy only slightly, and one newer review found no clear difference. Pilates isn't proven to close it.
In women with stress leaks, specific pelvic floor training beat Pilates in the newest trial, and in another Pilates matched it only when deliberate squeezes were added. Do the squeezes as well.
The muscles of your centre, often described as running from the pelvic floor to the bottom of the ribcage: the abdominals, the low back muscles, the hip muscles and the pelvic floor. Joseph Pilates never wrote down its exact limits, so teachers describe it a little differently.
It builds abdominal endurance: across 9 trials in healthy people, about 10 more curl-ups a minute than no exercise after 5 to 12 weeks. For strength, it has done about as well as other exercise, not better.
In lab tests, the double-leg stretch and criss-cross made the upper abs work harder than crunches, and a roll-up with a ball matched a curl-up. Muscle activity in one session isn't the same as results over weeks, so pick moves you can do well and progress.
It's a useful cue for feeling your deep abdominals, and Pilates does train that skill. You don't need to hold it all the time or before lifting: in lab studies, bracing the whole trunk made the spine more stable than hollowing, and changes in the deep muscle don't explain why back pain improves.
Yes: ultrasound showed it working during the imprint, the Hundred, leg circles and the roll-up. After 8 weeks of training it worked harder during the Hundred, but not when people sat or stood.
Not on its own. Ab exercise didn't reduce belly fat in a 6-week trial, and Pilates' effect on weight is modest. How flat your stomach looks depends mostly on body fat.
Two or three times a week was the dose in the trials that improved abdominal endurance, over 5 to 12 weeks. Move to harder versions as moves become easy.
Start with the breath, knee folds, toe taps, the pelvic curl, the bird dog and the chest lift, then add the Hundred, the single-leg stretch and the criss-cross. In one lab study, the criss-cross worked the abs and obliques hardest of three moves tested in beginners.
Exercise narrows a tummy gap after pregnancy only slightly, by about 4 to 5 mm, and curl-ups didn't widen it in a trial. Pilates can help you rebuild strength, but it isn't proven to close a gap; our Pilates in pregnancy guide has the detail.
Somewhat, but it isn't a substitute for pelvic floor exercises: in women with stress leaks, specific pelvic floor training did better than Pilates in the newest trial. If you leak, do the squeezes as well; our pelvic floor guide shows how.
Choose still-spine core moves such as the dead bug, bird dog and plank, and keep your head down. A UK consensus suggests alternatives to Pilates roll-downs and curl-ups as a precaution, though people who already do them comfortably and smoothly can continue.
Your neck often works harder than your abs when you curl up. Lower your head, carry its weight in your hands, and nod gently without jamming your chin down. If neck pain persists or spreads into an arm, see our neck pain guide.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
