One week pilates workout plan to get lean and strong

This one week Pilates workout plan features full-body Pilates routines, cardio Pilates and Pilates videos for your abs and lower body. You can do all the classes at home, no equipment needed.

We tried a week full of Pilates workouts and it was pretty intense. We felt stronger and leaner (although let’s face it, our belly fat has not left us alone).

Pilates and Barre workouts somehow have this effect on us – we feel healthy, confident, a little bit sore, but in a good way and we walk taller.

What Is Pilates & Benefits

Pilates was created by a German guy named Joseph Pilates in 1920. He actually called it “contrology”. Once you try Pilates you’ll understand why.

All exercises are performed with a high level of muscle control. You always need to keep your core activated, your spine neutral and focus on your breath. Let us tell you, that’s not simple.

With Pilates, you do small isolated movements and train deeper muscles, something you won’t achieve with regular strength training.

The benefits you’ll experience when you do Pilates regularly include improved flexibility, core strength, increased strength and stability overall, better posture, enhanced body-mind connection and stress relief.

Pilates VS. Yoga

We love yoga, we love Pilates and to us they’re both quite different. When we were younger we thought: “Slow movements, lots of breathing, no music and pretty boring. Yoga is Pilates.”.

Today we actually feel the difference. Both types of exercise are great for your body and mind and they both put an emphasis on working with your breath, thus helping you get more present and calming you down.

However, we feel like Pilates makes us stronger from the inside out. It helps strengthen the core and improves posture, makes you feel like you’re in full control of your body and your muscles and helps you walk taller. Well, that’s how We feel when we do Pilates.

Yoga will also help you walk taller and feel great, but from what we've experienced it’s more about flexibility, stretching and stress relief. Which is pretty awesome as well.

Usually, yoga and Pilates are both low-impact, therefore solid for beginners, people who can’t jump, have an injury and need to ease into exercise. We wouldn’t say you need to choose one or the other to be healthy. In fact, you can get a reliable results if you incorporate both into your workout routine.

Can Pilates Help You Lose Weight?

As with every other exercise, Pilates will help you lose weight if you combine it with a healthy diet. Pilates can strengthen and tone your body and it can improve your posture and help you work on your breathing.

However, if you’re eating unhealthy and too much, you probably won’t see serious weight loss results.

When it comes to weight loss diet makes 80% and that’s not a lie. You need to eat healthy whole foods, more vegetables and stop overeating.

In a way, Pilates can help with that, because it will make you more aware of your body, relieve stress and influence the other choices you make throughout the day.

For example, when you start your day with Pilates, it’s less likely you’ll want to eat donuts for breakfast after. It’s not impossible, but it’s less likely. Always think about how your current action affects what follows.

One Week Pilates Workout Split

We decided we wanted to do one workout every day of the week and we wanted a variety of workouts – not only Pilates for the abs and core. So we included:

• cardio Pilates workouts (because we want to lose some weight as well as tone up)
• full-body Pilates workouts
• Pilates workouts for your legs, butt and abs

As you can see – a little bit of everything to keep things interesting.

Now, a week with no rest was a little bit too intense for us, especially with the cardio Pilates. We felt like taking a break a few times. We didn’t. HOWEVER. If you feel like you need to take a break – a rest day, please do it.

One Week Pilates Workout Plan To Be Leaner And Stronger

Now it’s time to start with this one week Pilates workout plan. Remember to make it your own and to do what works for you! Pick the workouts you want to do and skip the ones you don’t feel like doing. We'll be mentioning which one’s are our favorites as we go through the days.

Monday: Full-Body Pilates

20-Minute Full Body Pilates Workout via Dreamingreen

This is one of our favorite Pilates workouts on Youtube! It’s just 20 minutes, but it’s full body and intense, but not crazy intense. We feel like we're getting lean and strong every time we do this – we love it!

Tuesday: Cardio Pilates Workout

30-Minute Fat-Burning Pilates Workout via POPSUGAR Fitness

This was a tough one – one of the cardio Pilates workouts we talked about! It’s just 30 minutes and we find it’s a great way to start your day.

Wednesday: Strengthening, Toning & Stabilising Pilates

35-Minute Strengthening, Toning and Stabilising Pilates Workout via eFit30

This was a core and abs routine, classic and good. If you’re a fan of classic Pilates workouts, you need to try this one. You can do it in 35 minutes and you’ll be on the mat the whole time.

Thursday: Cardio Pilates

30-Minute Cardio Pilates Workout via POPSUGAR Fitness

Again, Pilates cardio – tough, but rewarding! If you’re up for a challenge, get some light weights for this one.

Friday: Full Body Pilates

Full-Body Pilates Workout For Results via Boho Beautiful

Another one of our go-to’s – a challenging full-body Pilates workout. The highlight for us is the screams of our lower abs when we do the corkscrew exercise. Definitely don’t miss out on this one!

Saturday: Powerhouse Pilates

30-Minute Powerhouse Pilates Workout via eFit30

Let’s strengthen that powerhouse! It’s the key for better posture, better breathing, better everything. This Pilates video is another one of our go-to’s. It is a more classic Pilates routine – with many exercises for the abs, butt and for better posture.

Sunday: Butt and Abs Pilates

30-Minute Butt and Abs Pilates Bikini Workout via POPSUGAR Fitness

Get ready for summer with this challenging 30-minute Pilates routine. Of course, we needed to leave this for the end of the week, it was tough. This routine works mostly the butt and the abs, but you’ll also feel like you’re doing cardio – it’s pretty intense.

Our experience

We hope you enjoyed this 7-Day Pilates workout plan! We loved it, but for us, the cardio exercises were a little bit too much. However, if you’re really fit they might be simple for you. We're intermediate and we found them tough. But it’s definitely something we can challenge myself to work more on!

Originally published in November 2018 and last updated in February 2023.