The holiday season is a wonderful time filled with joy, celebration, and connection. It can also be a whirlwind of shopping, planning, and parties that leaves you feeling drained. At Gather Pilates, we are all about creating self-care rituals! We know from experience that taking a few moments to move your body can make all the difference, helping you stay centered, energized, and ready for whatever the season brings.
To keep you inspired, we created the “Holiday Hustle,” a short and effective Pilates workout you can do right at home. It’s designed to reconnect you with your core, build strength, and give you a boost of energy. In our video guide for this series, Gather Pilates Instructor Bobbie Garza will walk you through each movement.
Here are the exercises you can do to find your calm amidst the festive chaos. We use a Pilates Ball in this series. If you don’t have a ball, no worries! You can do the exercises without a ball, or use a small pillow.
1. Pelvic Tilts to Bridging
This sequence is perfect for waking up your spine and activating your glutes and hamstrings.
- Setup: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-distance apart. Place your arms long by your sides with your palms down. Find a neutral spine, where you have a small space between your lower back and the mat.
- Movement: Inhale to prepare. As you exhale, gently press your lower back into the mat, engaging your lower abdominals to perform a pelvic tilt. Start with 4–6 pelvic tilts. Next, begin bridging: from your pelvic tilt, continue to exhale as you peel your spine off the mat, one vertebra at a time, until you are resting on your shoulder blades, forming a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Inhale at the top, then exhale to slowly roll back down, articulating through each segment of your spine until you return to your neutral starting position. Repeat the bridging 8–10 times.
2. End Range Pulses in Bridge with Ball
Let’s add a challenge to that bridge to deepen the work in your glutes.
- Setup: From your bridge position, place a small Pilates ball or a firm cushion between your knees. Maintain the lifted bridge, keeping your hips high.
- Movement: Squeeze the ball between your knees to engage your inner thighs. While holding this engagement, perform 15–20 small, controlled hip pulses, lifting and lowering your hips just an inch or two. Focus on initiating the movement from your glutes.
3. Side-Lying Series: Side Kick & Double Leg Lift
This series targets the outer hips and obliques for a beautifully sculpted side body.
- Setup: Lie on your side with your legs stacked and extended slightly in front of your hips. You can prop your head up on your hand or rest it on your extended bottom arm or pillow. Place your top hand on the mat in front of you for stability.
- Movement (Side Kick): Lift your top leg to hip height. Inhale as you swing the leg forward, pulsing twice. Exhale as you sweep the leg back behind you, squeezing your glute and pulsing twice. Keep your torso stable throughout the movement. Repeat 10 times each side. (If this is a challenge, you can skip the pulse.)
- Movement (Double Leg Lift with Ball): Engaging your obliques, lift both legs off the mat together and lower with control. For added challenge, place the ball between your ankles and repeat. Do 10 double leg lifts each side.
4. Table Top Bootie Blast
This exercise isolates the glutes for a targeted and effective burn.
- Setup: Come onto all fours in a tabletop position, with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Place the ball securely behind the crease of one knee.
- Movement: Keeping your knee bent at 90 degrees, flex your foot and lift your leg until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Perform 10 small upward pulses, squeezing your glute with each lift. Ensure your core is engaged to keep your back from arching. For bonus work, add a set of squeezing the ball 10 times. Don’t forget to switch sides!
5. Tree Pose with Ball
We’ll finish with a standing balance challenge that integrates the whole body.
- Setup: Stand tall with your feet together. Place the ball behind the knee of one leg, just as you did in the Table Top Bootie Blast. Find a focal point in front of you to help with balance.
- Movement: Slowly lift the leg with the ball behind it, bringing the knee up toward your chest. Then, extend it straight back behind you into an arabesque. Finally, bring the leg out to the side. Move slowly and with control, using your core to maintain stability on your standing leg, spine, and pelvis. Repeat the sequence 5–8 times on each leg.
We hope this Holiday Hustle helps you feel strong, centered, and ready to enjoy this special time of year.
Meet Your Pilates Guide: Bobbie Garza
Bobbie Garza brings warmth, experience, and a deep love for movement to every session. With certifications in Pilates and years of teaching under her belt, she’s committed to creating welcoming and empowering classes for all bodies and abilities. Bobbie believes in celebrating progress, enjoying the process, and finding joy through mindful movement—values that shine through each Gather Pilates workout.
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