The Pelvic Curl is a beginner Pilates mat exercise: lying on your back with knees bent, you curl the pelvis and roll the spine up off the mat, one section at a time, then roll back down the same way. It teaches you to move the spine in sequence instead of as one stiff block, with the backs of the hips and legs lifting you and the abs keeping the ribs from popping up. From the side the camera can see how high your hips lift and whether they push above a straight line from shoulders to knees. It can't see the spine bending segment by segment, your ribs or your breath.
Set up in neutral
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat, a few inches apart, roughly in line with your sit bones and not too wide. Point toes and knees straight ahead. Arms long by your sides, palms down. If you use a pillow under your head, take it away for this one.
feet planted, knees pointing at the ceiling.
Let your pelvis and low back rest in neutral: the low back settled, not pressed hard into the mat and not squeezed flat with your glutes. Breathe in to prepare, with no movement.
heavy, quiet pelvis.
Peel up vertebra by vertebra
Breathe out and curl the pelvis: tip the tailbone and pubic bone up so the pelvis lifts from the mat before the back does. Don't stop in the tuck; holding there tends to make the hip flexors grip. Keep rolling.
the tailbone leads and the back follows.
Keep peeling the spine off the mat, low back then middle back, pressing evenly through your feet. Keep your ribs heavy. In the small version the ribs stay on the floor and only the low back curls; in the full curl you roll up until about the tips of your shoulder blades are the last part down. That's plenty.
weight on your upper back and shoulder blades, never on your neck.
At the top, aim for a long line: chest, belly, pubic bone and knees on roughly one line. Don't push the hips higher than that; lifting too high mostly adds arching in the low back and lets the ribs pop up. Knees keep pointing straight ahead.
long from shoulders to knees, not bowed.
Roll down sequentially
Breathe in at the top. Then breathe out, soften the chest and roll down from the top: upper back, middle back, then the waist, setting the spine down one section at a time.
placing the spine down like a chain.
Let your waist touch the mat before your tailbone, so the pelvis is the last thing down and you finish back in neutral. Pause, then repeat. Work up gradually to about 10 slow repetitions.
the pelvis lands last, softly.
Feel it
The spine moves like a chain, one part leaving the mat after another on the way up and landing one part after another on the way down. The backs of your hips and legs do the lifting, your feet stay heavy, and your ribs stay soft rather than flaring up. At the top your weight sits on your shoulder blades with a long line to your knees, not a deep arch. Nothing pinches in the low back or the neck. From the side the camera reads how high your hips lift and whether they go past a straight shoulder-to-knee line; it can't see each vertebra, your ribs or your breath.
Fix-its
- You lift in one stiff block Go back to the small version: curl only the pelvis and low back with the ribs left on the floor, and roll down placing the spine one section at a time. Add height only when that sequence feels clear.
- You over-arch at the top and the ribs pop up Lift less. Stop at a long line from chest to knees, keep the ribs heavy, and let the abs hold the front of the body long rather than pushing the hips higher.
- You stop in the tuck and the front of the hips grips Keep the curl moving past the tuck and into the low and middle back, pressing through the feet so the backs of the hips and legs lift you.
- Your knees splay apart or the feet are too wide Set the feet a few inches apart, in line with your sit bones, and keep the knees pointing straight ahead the whole way up and down.
- You drop down with the tailbone first Slow the roll-down and let the waist touch the mat before the tailbone. If your knees feel vulnerable, place the feet a little wider and don't lift as high.
Drill
- Level one: breathe out and lift the pelvis only as high as is comfortable, then lower slowly. Repeat a few times to feel the feet and the backs of the hips doing the work.
- Small pelvic curl: curl the pelvis and low back only, ribs staying on the floor, and roll down so the waist lands before the tailbone. Repeat slowly a few times.
- Full pelvic curl: roll up to about the tips of your shoulder blades, breathe in at the top, breathe out and roll down section by section. Work up gradually to about 10 slow repetitions.
- Film from the side, camera at mat height: at the top, check your hips sit on a straight line from shoulders to knees rather than above it, and that the lift and lowering are smooth, not one jump.
- Only when the full curl feels steady, move on to the shoulder bridge, which keeps the hips up while one leg moves.
Sources
- Pilates Anytime — Mat Basics, Kristi Cooper, class #31 transcript (2009)
- Pilates Anytime — Articulation, Danica Kalemdaroglu, class #4375 transcript (2021)
- Pilates Anytime — Shoulder Bridge (BASI), Sarah Bertucelli, exercise #5634
- Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS FT — Physiotherapy Pilates patient information leaflet
- ACE (American Council on Exercise) — Exercise Library: Glute Bridge Single Leg Progression
- Merrithew / STOTT PILATES — Principles: Pelvic Placement
- The Saturday Evening Post — 5-Minute Fitness: Pelvic Curl, with Robin Long (2020)
Last checked 2026-10-26.