Pilates is a great style of exercise for toning the muscles to improve their shape and feel. This Pilates workout is designed to focus specifically on the legs, though there are only a few Pilates exercises that don't also target the core muscles.

Recently there has been a bit of a backlash on using the word "tone" or "toning" to describe what an exercise or workout does, but Pilates as a training style (and this video, in specific) is best described as "improving tone" specifically. Here at Fitness Blender, when we use the word "tone" to describe the effect the exercise or workout has on the body, we do not use it as a fluff word. The exercises in this video force you to keep multiple muscles contracted for an extended period of time and we give only a small break for rest before you must again contract some, if not all, of those same muscles.

What this does (when done frequently) is train your muscles to expect to have to work at any second and for long periods of time, so to become more efficient at getting the work done it will actually keep all of the muscles you typically use on a frequent basis contracted slightly. This is what "tone" is—the constant slight contraction of muscle tissue when not being used, in anticipation of needing to work. What this does is hold your muscle tissue in a more rigid position, making your muscles feel more solid.

When we use the word "tone" to describe the results you will get from this video, it is by no means fluff. This video will make the muscles in your legs, hips, and butt feel more solid, and more shapely.  It will also train the core to be more solid, and pull your belly in rather then distend as is usually the case with many traditional crunches. Another added benefit of tone is that it burns extra calories. For your body to keep your muscles contracted on a constant basis (no matter how lightly contracted they are), you have to use up calories. This bump is minor and depends on the level of tone and the amount of muscle tissue you have, but it can add up to a significant amount over weeks, months, and years. Just keep in mind that tone goes away fast when you stop exercising (much faster than the effects of strength training trail off), so you have to keep it up on a very regular basis.

If you don't want to build muscle, then you will want to tone and this video will definitely help get you toned.

Workout Structure
- 50 Seconds of each exercise with 10 seconds to rest and prepare for the next exercise.

Warm Up
Imprint
Pelvic Clock
Leg Slides
Shoulder Bridge
Knee Sway
Knee Hug

Workout
Single Leg Stretch
Leg Pull Double
Leg Pull Single
Leg Circles (small, left and right)
Frog Kick (left and right)
Prone Leg Extension
Kneeling Side Leg Raise (left and right)
Inside Thigh Raise (left and right)

Cool Down
Cat to Camel
Shell Stretch
Deep Glute Stretch (left and right)
Full Body Stretch

This routine can burn anywhere from 4 calories per minute on the low end to 8 calories per minute on the high end. Your total burn for this workout will be 72 to 192 calories for this 24 minute workout.