How to Engage Your Core Correctly in Pilates. (Without Pressing Your Back Into the Mat)
Hi, I’m Grace — Pilates Instructor, Stretch Therapist, and Personal Trainer based here in the South Bay.
Following on from my love letter to Pilates I would love to share with you my thoughts on one of the Pilates Fundemantals :Core Control.
Interested? Read along ..
A Smarter Way to Engage Your Core in Pilates
If you have ever taken a Pilates class, chances are you’ve heard cues like:
“Press your back into the mat.”
“Draw your belly button to your spine.”
“Inhale… exhale and brace your core.”
Throughout my years of teaching Pilates, I’ve used these cues and they can be helpful.
However over time, and, as my teaching has evolved, I’ve found they’re often not the clearest or most efficient way to help someone truly understand how to engage their core — especially in a way that supports posture and long-term movement health.
In my private Pilates sessions in Manhattan Beach, one of the most common things I help clients refine is how they connect to their core without gripping, flattening, or over-bracing.
Allow me to share:
What Is the Core — And How Does It Actually Engage?
Your “core” isn’t just your abs.
It’s a coordinated system that includes:
The diaphragm (your primary breathing muscle)
The deep abdominal muscles, including the transversus abdominis
The pelvic floor
The multifidus (deep spinal stabilizers)
These muscles work together to create stability around the spine while still allowing you to breathe and move.
True core engagement isn’t about force.
It is about alignment, breath, and subtle recruitment.
Why Traditional Core Cues Can Fall Short
When we cue:
“Press your back into the mat”
“Flatten your spine”
“Pull your belly button in”
This often gets interpreted as:
Over-tucking the pelvis
Holding their breath
Over-gripping the rectus abdominis
Creating unnecessary tension in the neck and hip flexors
When this happening instead of integrated stability, we get over bracing and rigidity - Not what we want in Pilates!
The Cue I Now Use Instead
As my teaching has deepened, my cues have evolved.
Rather than focusing on what’s happening in the back of the body, I now choose to bring awareness to the relationship between the ribcage and the pelvis.
So instead of:
“Press your back into the mat.”
I now favour:
“Allow your ribcage to soften slightly down.”
“Gently tuck your hips under.”
“Shorten the distance between your ribs and your pelvis.”
These are small, subtle adjustments — not forceful movements.
Why This Works
When the ribcage angles slightly downward (instead of flaring up) and the pelvis gently tucks (instead of tipping forward into anterior tilt), we create a more neutral, stacked alignment.
And here’s the important part:
To maintain that relationship between ribs and pelvis, the deep core muscles have to engage naturally.
Not by gripping.
Not by bracing.
But by organizing.
This encourages:
Better posture
More efficient core engagement
Breath integration
Less tension in the lower back
In both Pilates and daily life, this rib-to-pelvis relationship creates the optimal conditions for core activation.
Core Engagement Is About Efficiency, Not Force
Engaging your core shouldn’t feel like clenching or flattening.
It should feel like:
Support
Subtle lift
Integration with your breath
This is something I work on regularly with clients in private Pilates and movement sessions — helping them understand how to activate their core in a way that supports long-term posture, stability, and ease of movement.
Strong doesn’t have to mean rigid.
And
Core engagement doesn’t have to mean tension.
Sometimes it’s simply about bringing the ribs and hips into a better conversation with one another.
We can be soft and intentional AND develop a stronger core!
