Pilates Roll Over

Muscles worked by the Pilates Roll Over

Primary

AbsRectus AbdominisDeep CoreTransversus Abdominis

Secondary

Lower BackErector SpinaeHip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

Also called: abs, six-pack, rectus abdominis, abdominals, stomach muscles, transverse abdominis.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Pilates Roll Over

1. Lie on your back with the legs straight and the arms pressed into the mat beside you.
2. Lift both legs to vertical without letting the lower back arch.
3. Press the arms down and take the legs overhead until they are parallel to the floor behind you.
4. Open the legs slightly, flex the feet, and roll the spine down one vertebra at a time.
5. Return the legs to vertical and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Form tips

• Drive the movement with the abdominals, not by throwing the legs.
• Keep the weight off the neck: the roll stops at the shoulder blades.
• Skip this exercise if you have neck complaints, and build it up with smaller curls first.

At a glance

Pilates Roll Over in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Ab Wheel Rollout
• Ball Pike
• Barbell Ab Rollout
• Bench Leg Pull-In
• Bicycle Crunch
• Bird Dog Hold
• Bird-Dog
• Boat Pose

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "pilates-roll-over",
  "name_en": "Pilates Roll Over",
  "name_de": "Pilates Roll Over",
  "name_es": "Roll Over de Pilates",
  "description_en": "A controlled inversion from the mat: with the arms pressing down, the straight legs travel overhead until the toes reach towards the floor, then the spine rolls back down one segment at a time.",
  "description_de": "Eine kontrollierte Umkehr aus der Rückenlage: mit nach unten drückenden Armen wandern die gestreckten Beine über den Kopf, bis die Zehen Richtung Boden zeigen, danach rollt die Wirbelsäule Segment für Segment zurück.",
  "description_es": "Una inversión controlada desde la colchoneta: con los brazos presionando el suelo, las piernas estiradas viajan por encima de la cabeza hasta que los pies apuntan al suelo, y después la columna vuelve a bajar segmento a segmento.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "dynamic",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "advanced",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "rectus_abdominis",
    "transverse_abdominis"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "erector_spinae",
    "hip_flexors"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "endurance",
    "strength"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "calisthenics"
  ],
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie on your back with the legs straight and the arms pressed into the mat beside you.",
    "Lift both legs to vertical without letting the lower back arch.",
    "Press the arms down and take the legs overhead until they are parallel to the floor behind you.",
    "Open the legs slightly, flex the feet, and roll the spine down one vertebra at a time.",
    "Return the legs to vertical and repeat for the desired number of repetitions."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Leg dich auf den Rücken, die Beine gestreckt, die Arme neben dem Körper in die Matte gedrückt.",
    "Heb beide Beine in die Senkrechte, ohne den unteren Rücken ins Hohlkreuz zu lassen.",
    "Druck die Arme nach unten und führ die Beine über den Kopf, bis sie hinter dir parallel zum Boden stehen.",
    "Öffne die Beine leicht, zieh die Füße an und roll die Wirbelsäule Wirbel für Wirbel ab.",
    "Bring die Beine zurück in die Senkrechte und wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Túmbate boca arriba con las piernas estiradas y los brazos presionando la colchoneta a los lados.",
    "Eleva ambas piernas a la vertical sin dejar que la zona lumbar se arquee.",
    "Presiona los brazos hacia abajo y lleva las piernas por encima de la cabeza hasta dejarlas paralelas al suelo por detrás.",
    "Abre un poco las piernas, flexiona los pies y baja la columna vértebra a vértebra.",
    "Devuelve las piernas a la vertical y repite las veces indicadas."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Drive the movement with the abdominals, not by throwing the legs.",
    "Keep the weight off the neck: the roll stops at the shoulder blades.",
    "Skip this exercise if you have neck complaints, and build it up with smaller curls first."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Treib die Bewegung aus der Bauchmuskulatur an, nicht durch Schwung aus den Beinen.",
    "Halte das Gewicht vom Nacken fern: das Abrollen endet an den Schulterblättern.",
    "Lass die Übung bei Nackenbeschwerden aus und bau sie über kleinere Curls auf."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Impulsa el movimiento con el abdomen, no lanzando las piernas.",
    "Mantén el peso fuera del cuello: el descenso se detiene en las escápulas.",
    "Evita este ejercicio si tienes molestias cervicales y constrúyelo antes con curls más pequeños."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/pilates-roll-over-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/pilates-roll-over-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "pilates-roll-over");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.