Building a strong core is much easier than it sounds, and I’ve been writing about fitness trends for the last ten years. Getting a six-pack is a whole different story. If that’s what you want, you’ll need to pay attention to your diet, stress levels, sleep, and body fat percentage.
But having a strong core is about a lot more than just having visible abs. Your core is like a corset for your body. It protects your spine from injury while you move and helps you run, walk, and lift things with better posture and balance.
I do traditional “ab workouts” from time to time, but most nights I do Pilates to relax before bed. I’m getting ready for my sixth marathon (and my first race after having a baby). I run marathons and use Pilates to strengthen my body and avoid getting hurt.
I swear by Pilates toe taps for my abs. I used them to rebuild my core and pelvic floor muscles after giving birth, and I still use them today to work on the deep stabilizer muscles in my middle. Read on to learn how to do it and what form mistakes to watch out for.
How to do the toe tap exercise in Pilate
The most important thing about this and all Pilates exercises is to move slowly and with full control. You only need your body weight, but using one of the best yoga mats under you can make things more comfortable.
- Put your lower back on the floor and lie on your back.
- Lift your legs off the ground while keeping your knees bent. Your knees should be in front of your hips.
- Lift your arms up, but don’t bend them. This is what you call the tabletop position.
- Think about sucking your belly button into your spine or bracing your abs like you’re about to be punched to get them to work.
- Slowly and with control, tap one foot to the floor with your toes, then lift your leg back to where it started.
- Do the same thing on the other side.
- Make sure your lower back stays pressed into the floor the whole time and that you do the same number of reps on each side.
What are the good things?
Activation of the deep core
Sit-ups and crunches work the rectus abdominis, or “six-pack” muscles. This exercise, on the other hand, works the deepest transverse abdominis muscles. These muscles keep your body stable and protect your spine from getting hurt.
This is also a good exercise to do after giving birth because it works the pelvic floor, which is important for avoiding incontinence.
Always check with your doctor or midwife before you start exercising again after having a baby.
The most important part of this exercise is to keep your knees bent at 90 degrees while you tap your toes to the floor. This makes sure that your hip flexors, not your knees, are doing the work. This is a great exercise to loosen up your hip flexors if you sit a lot or run a lot.
Stability of the pelvis
Your pelvis is stable in this exercise because you are on a table. This protects your lower back and teaches you how to keep your pelvis stable while you tap your legs. This is a good thing to practice for other strength training exercises.
What are the mistakes in form that you should look out for?
You should press your lower back into the exercise mat for this exercise, just like you would for most ab exercises. If your lower back is coming off the mat, you’re not using your abs, and you could hurt yourself. Don’t worry if your foot doesn’t touch the floor; it’s more important to keep your back supported.
You should also try not to rush this movement; the key is to move as slowly as you can. Don’t hold your breath. Also. As you drop your toe to the floor, think about breathing in. As you lift your leg back up to the tabletop, think about breathing out.
I do Pilates toe taps every day. Here’s how I’ve made the exercise harder.
Pilates toe taps are a great basic exercise in Pilates, and as you get stronger, you can easily move on to harder ones to make sure you’re working your abs hard. Some ideas are:
- Instead of tapping one foot to the floor, do a double tap each time you lower your toes to the mat. This means lowering both feet at the same time. This is harder for your lower abs. Once more, go down as far as you can while keeping your lower back pressed into the mat.
- Add some instability: The exercise gets harder right away if you add some instability. Put a foam roller or a Pilates ball under your lower back and do the toe taps to do this.
- Extend the tap: Tapping your toe farther away from your body is another simple way to make the exercise harder.
