Top 5 Buys To Build Your Own Home Pilates Studio

Magic Circle

The Magic Circle is one of the original pieces of small equipment designed by Joe. It is a ring of metal or flexible plastic with two shaped pads on either side. It is a really flexible bit of kit as it can be used in a multitude of ways.

As well as specific arm, leg and neck exercises that were designed for this apparatus you can also get creative and use it to enhance your usual mat workout. Sometimes I will use the Magic Circle as a tool to help organise the muscles in a particular area of my body, for example holding the circle between my hands during the Roll Up or Hundred on the mat helps bring focus to the upper body and the stability needed around the shoulders helping me to curl my spine and use my arms more effectively.

You can pick up a Magic Circle from lots of online stores and they can range from £15 to £40. The more expensive options tend to be made of metal which makes them more durable and also less flexible meaning they can add more resistance to exercises.

Foam Roller

A Foam Roller can be used to do the job that some of the more traditional Pilates equipment does, working like "extra muscles" to provide support when learning challenging mat exercises such as Swan, Corkscrew and Jack Knife. In Swan, for example, laying on your tummy with both arms outstretched, hands on the roller, you can achieve the feeling of drawing your chest to the roller as you roll it towards you, arching your spine in a beautiful curve.

You can also use the roller to add a greater stability challenge to your mat workout. You can lay along the roller to do versions of Hundred or Single Leg Circles and this demands much greater body awareness and control throughout the exercise.

Hand Weights

Many of us probably already have a set of small hand weights gathering dust somewhere around the house so why not dig them out and bring them into a Pilates workout. Just like the Magic Circle they are super versatile as you can add them to your mat workout or use them for the Classical Hand Weights Arm Series which helps build strength and tone from the wrist to the shoulder ready for exercises like Push Ups on the Mat or Chair, or the Rowing series on Reformer.

Holding hand weights during the Roll Up, Hundred or Spine Stretch exercises on mat both increases the challenge of the exercise and helps to organise the muscles in the upper body to complete the exercise more efficiently.

If you don’t already have a set of light hand weights, around 0.5 - 1kg is best you could invest in some as there are many reasonably priced options available online. Alternatively you could just use a couple of bottles of water or tins of beans!

If you’d like to know how to get the most from any of these pieces of home apparatus why not get in touch for a personal lesson!