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Pilates: Strength through Control, a free health course on Tomo

Pilates: Strength through Control

Like Duolingo, but for Pilates: Strength through Control. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Finding Your Powerhouse, Moving with Stability, Precision and Alignment, and The Pilates Mindset. It starts from scratch.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Pippa the Pilates Panda, the guide who teaches the Pilates: Strength through Control course
Pilates: Strength through Control
with Pippa the Pilates Panda
24
Levels
4
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Pilates: Strength through Control

  • Lateral breathing prevents belly bulging
  • Exhale creates space for contraction
  • Lateral breathing keeps core zipped
  • Exhale empties torso for connection
  • Belly breathing relaxes core
  • The purpose and physical sensation of lateral breathing
  • The relationship between exhaling and abdominal contraction
  • Breath provides the 'tempo' that prevents rushing through exercises
  • The duration of the breath should match the duration of the physical motion
  • Continuous breathing ensures fluid transitions between poses
  • Pursed-lip breathing creates back-pressure that forces the transverse abdominis to fire
  • A passive exhale doesn't provide enough resistance to challenge the deep core
  • The sound of the breath (a 'shhh' or 'hiss') helps monitor the intensity of the engagement
  • How breath rhythm controls movement quality
  • The technique of the forced exhale for muscle activation
  • Exhaling during the 'effort' phase prevents dangerous pressure buildup in the abdomen
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Pilates: Strength through Control the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Breathing Into the Ribs

What happens to the diaphragm during an exhale that helps you tighten your core further?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

Where Pilates: Strength through Control takes you

Build a resilient body and a focused mind by mastering the powerhouse. This course takes you from your first lateral breath to the fluid, precise movements that define the Pilates method.

  1. 1

    Finding Your Powerhouse

    • The Pilates Breath
    • Locating Your Center
  2. 2

    Moving with Stability

    • Core Stability in Motion
    • Articulating the Spine
  3. 3

    Precision and Alignment

    • Quality Over Quantity
    • Balancing the Body
  4. 4

    The Pilates Mindset

    • The Six Principles
    • The Legacy of Contrology

4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Pilates: Strength through Control is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start Pilates: Strength through Control today.

Download Tomo, search Pilates: Strength through Control, and play your first lesson in under a minute.