The Scottish Mail on Sunday - You
TOPLINE FITNESS Wall pilates
HEADLINE
If you haven’t come across this viral internet trend (43.5 million views on Tiktok and rising), then no prizes for guessing that it’s pilates – against a wall.
SLIMLINE
Why, you may ask, do I need a wall? The answer, according to its many fans, is that this workout gives you all the benefits of a pilates reformer machine without the hefty price tag (a good one will set you back £2k plus) – the benefits being sculpted muscles alongside strength and suppleness. Who doesn’t want those?
HELPLINE
The wall minimises impact and helps with alignment, but can also be used for added resistance should you want to make the exercises more challenging. Simply pushing limbs into the wall increases the intensity of any move. In other words, it’s a good workout for beginners and it delivers if you’re more experienced, too. You can also practise wall pilates in a confined space with zero equipment – a mat is ideal, but not essential, provided there’s a fitted carpet – making it ideal for hotel rooms.
FROWN LINE
Wall pilates may be cheap, but some of the apps that have sprung up around the trend aren’t. They lure you in with lengthy health and lifestyle questionnaires, then hit you with a bill. Ignore them and type ‘beginner wall pilates’ into Youtube, where there are countless free tutorials. One of our favourites is youtube.com/@rachelsfitpilates.
OUTLINE
Exercises are broadly divided into two types: those where you lie on your back with your feet or tiptoes against the wall, to perform, for example, hip raises; and those where you stand or kneel with your hands or fingertips against the wall, for practising,
say, the ‘wall push-up’. This involves you keeping your body plank straight and pushing away from the wall using your arms. The further away you move your feet from the wall, the harder it becomes.
BOTTOM LINE
Some exercises have you sitting with your back against the wall. To help with shoulder motion, keep your bum on the floor then raise your arms straight up and behind you slightly so that they are in contact with the wall. Now slide them down into a goalpost shape and back up again, keeping the backs of the arms on the wall throughout the move. Sounds easy but, in fact, it takes quite a bit of shoulder strength and mobility to do for any length of time.
WAISTLINE Expect yours to become much trimmer and your core to strengthen. A simple core starter exercise is to lie on your back, put your feet on the wall and begin doing slow crunches. Hands can be behind the head but not pulling on the neck. Straighten the legs to make this harder so that just your tiptoes are resting on the wall and, to increase the intensity further, don’t lie back down in between crunches, making sure your shoulder blades only graze the floor.
HARDLINE
As any pilates or yoga teacher will tell you, supple muscles are stronger muscles, and the wall is great for stretches, too – a super-satisfying manoeuvre for slouches is to place palms flat on the wall and bend over so that your arms are straight, your torso is between your arms and at 90 degrees to your legs, which must be straight. Push your body down towards the floor to intensify the stretch.
DRAW THE LINE
None of this should be attempted against a door. You don’t want a stray handle spoiling your day – or the entry of an unexpected visitor giving you more extension than you bargained for.
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