I have long been transfixed by pilates — the smooth transitions between movements, the lithe yet strong muscles and how everything looked like a dance — which is what the best pilates equipment should ultimately help you obtain. In fact, when I first saw the infomercial for the Mari Windsor Pilates DVD when I was 10 years old, I begged my mom to buy it for me the same way most kids ask for a puppy.

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Over 20 years later, Pilates continues to be the foundation of my personal training practice where I coach clients to stabilize their core through a range of full-body movements using a combination of low weights and high repetitions for an accessible full-body workout at home. There’s so much to love about Pilates, but getting started at home on your own can feel daunting (and no, you won’t need a pricey reformer to get a great workout). Here’s everything you need to know to begin one of the most rewarding workouts you can feel good about.

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What is Pilates?

“Pilates is a core workout utilizing your full body to not only lengthen but improve core strength and posture, says Denise Chakoian, certified personal trainer and founder of CORE Cycle.Fitness.Lagree. So while a Pilates workout might be heavy in planks and sit-up variations, it simultaneously recruits other muscle groups to offer an efficient workout that requires less of a time commitment. This makes Pilates ideal for those working out at home in both small spaces and even smaller windows of time (we’re looking at you, busy parents and students).

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According to AJ Mason, a certified trainer at Studio SWEAT onDemand, Pilates is generally divided into three groups: “Mat Pilates, which are primarily bodyweight exercises done on a yoga mat; wall Pilates, which is great for beginners and those with knee or back issues; and reformer workouts, which are done on gliding, spring-guided machines.”

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What is the difference between mat pilates and reformer pilates?

While a trip to the reformer Pilates studio does indeed make for an ideal pre-Sunday brunch activity, using weight resistance for a more challenging workout, the cost can add up quickly. That’s what makes at-home mat Pilates workouts, which primarily uses bodyweight, ideal for squeezing in between Zoom meetings, study sessions and an endless list of errands.

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Convenience aside, it delivers next-level health benefits. “The first would be posture,” says Chakoian. “As we get older, our bodies tend to develop postural issues in the spine. Strengthening the core [which includes the lower back, hips and glutes] helps the spine and its posture as we grow older.” She adds that as we age, our balance tends to degrade as well. “Pilates focuses on balance through movements that challenge the core stabilizers,” she says. Think: one-legged movements to challenge your proprioceptors (that mind-muscle connection) or moves performed on uneven surfaces to activate those stabilizer muscles, like planks or squat pulses on a BOSU ball. Strengthening your core — along with those oft-overlooked stabilizer muscles — can all contribute to injury-prevention in everyday life.

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The best part about Pilates? It’s a natural mood booster. “All that hard work you do during the workout does a great job of circulating oxygen and blood flow, which releases those yummy dopamine and endorphin chemicals that boost your energy and your mood,” says Mason.

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Tips for beginning Pilates at home

No matter which Pilates variation you choose, the expert advice remains the same: “The most important thing is to breathe with every exercise. The breath is the most important part that differentiates Pilates from any other exercise,” says Joan Breibart, inventor of the Tye4x Pilates Wearable Reformer and owner of PhysicalMind Institute. Additionally, while music has been proven to assist with exercise responses, that’s not quite the case with Pilates whether you’re practicing at home or in a studio, according to Breibart. “Try to ignore the music if they are playing any. Music doesn’t help your concentration,” she says. For instructor-led workouts, keep clothing color top of mind too. Breibart recommends wearing light-colored clothing to boost your visibility against the often-dark mat.

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Best pilates equipment

To look and feel your best, here’s the expert-approved gear you need to get started on your Pilates journey.

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If you're in the second camp today, you might be interested to know that there are times when you genuinely should skip your workout. No, not because you can't be bothered, these are legitimate reasons a personal trainer might want you to stay away from the gym…

When to avoid exercise

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was hit by a man Friday evening on Kultorvet [public square] in Copenhagen. The man was subsequently arrested,” the prime minister’s office said.

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It added that Frederiksen “is shocked by the incident” and there was no further comment. It is unclear if the prime minister was hurt in the assault.

Danish Minister of Environment Magnus Heunicke called for national unity after the attack, saying everyone has a responsibility to look after each other regardless of “political disagreements, election campaigns.”

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“Something like this must not happen in our beautiful, safe and free country,” he said on X. “This is ugly and unacceptable. Let’s show that Denmark is much better.”

European politicians expressed shock in the aftermath of the attack.

Deeply shocked by the outrageous attack on my colleague and friend, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen,” Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said in a post on X.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attack, calling it a “despicable act, which goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe.” She went on to wish the prime minister strength and courage, saying she has plenty of both.

Denmark is due to vote in the European Union elections on Sunday.

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Frederiksen, the leader of Denmark’s center-left Socialist Democratic party, has served as prime minister since 2019.

Her attack comes weeks after Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and wounded in what was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years. Political analysts and lawmakers said at the time that exposed an increasingly febrile and polarized political climate both in Slovakia and across Europe.

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U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.

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The apology came as Biden met in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appealed for bipartisan U.S. support going forward “like it was during World War II.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks on during his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Paris, Friday, June 7, 2024.A day earlier, the two had attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, where Biden had drawn common cause between the allied forces that helped free Europe from Nazi Germany and today’s effort to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and Zelenskyy had been greeted with a rapt ovation.

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“I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what’s going to happen in terms of funding,” Biden said, referring to the six-month holdup by conservative Republicans in Congress to a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. Still, the Democratic president insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul. “We’re st.ill in. Completely. Thoroughly,” he said.

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The apology — and Zelenskyy’s plea for rock-solid support akin to the allied coalition in WWII — served as a reminder that for all of Biden’s talk of an unflagging U.S commitment to Ukraine, recalcitrance among congressional Republicans and an isolationist strain in American politics have exposed its fragility.

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 And, although unremarked upon, the specter of Donald Trump’s candidacy loomed over the discussion, as the Republican former president and the presumptive nominee has spoken positively of Russian President Vladimir Putin and sparked Ukrainian concerns that he would call for it to cede territory to end the conflict.

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Zelenskyy pressed for all Americans to support his country’s defense against Russia’s invasion, and he thanked lawmakers for eventually coming together to approve the weapons package, which has allowed Ukraine to stem Russian advances in recent weeks.

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“It’s very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II,” Zelenskyy said. “How the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe. And we count on your continuing support in standing with us shoulder to shoulder.”

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If AI were ever prompted to generate an avatar of a game show host, surely the result would be Pat Sajak.

After four decades on the air, Mr. Sajak, 77, presides over his last episode of “Wheel of Fortune” on Friday. And his departure — Mr. Sajak has suggested in a series of televised exit interviews with Maggie Sajak, his daughter, that this will be a welcome retirement — offered a chance to reappraise what it is that made him such a durable fixture of the American cultural landscape.( )

Mr. Sajak, it is probably worth remembering, has been with viewers through seven presidents, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both the AIDS and the Covid pandemics, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the 2008 financial crash and, oh, the Kardashians. Not incidentally, he has outlasted the internet’s incursions into broadcast television’s long-held primacy.( )

Through it all he’s been with the American game show audience, unflappably prompting contestants to choose a consonant or buy a vowel. He calmed contestants as they guessed at Hangman-style word puzzles. He bantered inoffensively with the imperturbable Vanna White in her parade of sparkly gowns. He blandly exchanged quips with an ever-changing roster of celebrity guests as they spun a carnival-style wheel, willing it to clatter past “Lose a Turn” and “Bankruptcy” to land on big money.( )

And, for 41 seasons, this avuncular figure in a jacket and tie hovered into millions of households a night, a perma-tanned deity ruling over a placid empyrean.