Stuck with Squats and Deadlifts? This Easy Pilates Tip Can Break Through a Strength Plateau

Fitness doesnt have to force you into an either-or scenario. You can mix styles, combining traditional strength training with Pilates to achieve better results. Integrating these approaches can improve your balance, mobility, and overall strength.

The Pilates x Lift program, designed for premium Women's Health+ members, merges mat Pilates techniques with classic strength training. Trainers Tara Bethune and Marcus Martinez, CSCS, developed routines that enhance muscular endurance and mobility while still building power and size.

Three Pilates Moves to Enhance Your Strength Training

These exercises can complement your main lifts. Use them as part of your warmup, add them before heavy lifts, or include them at the end of a session.

Boost Your Squat: Reverse Nordic

This movement increases squat range of motion. Begin in a high-kneeling stance, engaging your shoulder blades, core, and glutes. Stretch your arms forward with palms facing each other. Lean back while keeping a straight spine, stopping before your heels touch the ground. Return upright without breaking posture.

Prepare Hips for Split Squats: Clamshell with Rotation

This exercise targets your hips and adductors. Lie on your side with knees bent at 90 degrees, supporting your head with your lower arm. Lift the top leg toward the ceiling, keeping knees bent and hips stacked. Lower the leg slightly without resting, then rotate your thigh internally and externally while maintaining midline stability. Repeat on the opposite side.

Warm Up Upper Body for Presses: Scapular Pushup

This move, familiar from Pilates, helps engage your latsa crucial element for bench presses and deadlifts. Start in a pushup position with hands under shoulders, creating tension through your shoulders, core, and glutes. Without bending elbows, squeeze shoulder blades together, then push the floor away to extend your shoulder blades.

Incorporating these Pilates movements can elevate your strength routine, offering mobility, stability, and enhanced muscular engagement.

Author: Gavin Porter