Easy 15-Minute Pilates Waist Workout for Women: (A Quick Small Waist Pilates Workout Routine)

Regular ab workouts are great, but if you want to target your waist specifically, Pilates is where it’s at.

This small waist pilates workout takes just 15 minutes and focuses on moves that sculpt and define your midsection.

Today’s article walks you through 11 pilates waist exercises that’ll have your core burning in the best way.

Here’s the full pilates waist workout:

For this one, you’ll hold a crunch while reaching toward your left ankle. It’s a simple move, but reaching across your body like this really gets your obliques working.

Same movement, just switching to the other side. Doing both sides keeps your waist muscles balanced — and trust me, that second side always feels a little harder!

Now you’ll bring your hands together and crunch in alternating directions. Keeping your hands clasped helps you focus on rotating through your torso instead of just swinging your arms.

This one’s a bit tricky. You’ll roll back just far enough to feel your core kick in, then crunch across and reach to your foot. Finding that sweet spot where your abs are engaged the whole time takes some practice.

Same roll back position, but now you’re crunching twice in each direction. The double crunch forces you to really rotate through your spine — slow it down if you need to so you’re actually twisting, not just rushing through it.

Time to flip onto your left side. With your fingertips by your temples, you’ll crunch up and lower back down. This targets your obliques more directly than regular crunches do.

Straight onto the right side now. If one side feels weaker than the other, that’s completely normal — it just means you’re building balance.

You’ll come up high into a crunch, straighten out, and draw a circle with your movement. This one takes some coordination — if it feels awkward at first, start with smaller circles until you find your rhythm.

Classic bicycles, but with straight legs. This makes the move way more intense on your lower abs. If it’s too much, you can slow it down or bend your knees slightly — just don’t give up completely.

Last exercise! Plant your feet, come up into a crunch, and reach side to side as quickly as you can. Keep your chin tucked so your neck doesn’t take over. You’re almost done, so give it everything you’ve got.