What Does 'Engage Your Core' Actually Mean in Pilates?

By Katherine, Lead Instructor, Certified Pilates Instructor

In Pilates, "engage your core" means gently activating the deep muscles around your trunk (the deep abdominals, the small muscles along your spine, your pelvic floor and your diaphragm) so you can control your ribs, pelvis and spine while you move. It should feel like steady, even support, not sucking your stomach in or clenching hard.

Key takeaways

• Your "core" is a group of muscles working as a team around the trunk, not just the abs you can see; the deep ones are thought to help stabilize the spine (Hsu et al., 2018).

• In Pilates teaching, good engagement is usually described as gentle, all-around tension that still lets you breathe and talk.

• Cues like "navel to spine" and "zip up" are mental images, not literal instructions; taken literally they can lead to gripping and breath-holding.

• A 2023 systematic review found Pilates was not inferior to equivalently dosed exercise for core muscle strength in people with chronic low back pain, though the authors call the evidence "emerging" (Franks et al., 2023).

• After pregnancy, or if you have pelvic floor symptoms, how you engage matters more, and a modified approach may be needed. Check with your health care provider.

What is your "core" in Pilates, and what is the powerhouse?

The core is not one muscle. Research on core stability describes four deep players: the transversus abdominis (a deep abdominal muscle that wraps around your waist like a corset), the multifidus (small muscles running along the spine), the pelvic floor (the sling of muscles at the base of the pelvis) and the diaphragm (your main breathing muscle). These are thought to contribute to spinal stability. The transversus abdominis in particular is described as tightening just before arm movements, and the other deep muscles are thought to work in a similar way (Hsu et al., 2018). The larger muscles around them, such as the rectus abdominis (the "six-pack") and the obliques at your sides, also do real work.

Pilates teachers often call this whole region the "powerhouse," and the method treats movement that starts from it as one of its principles. Our complete guide to what Pilates is and how it works lists that principle (centring) alongside the others.

Researchers still debate how much each muscle matters, and Pilates teaching aims to coordinate them rather than isolate one.

What should engaging your core actually feel like?

Think of a gentle, even firming around your whole waist, front, sides and back, rather than a squeeze in one spot. A useful test is whether you can still do the following while engaged:

• Breathe in and out without holding your breath.

• Speak a full sentence.

• Keep your neck, jaw and shoulders relaxed.

• Keep your ribs resting over your pelvis rather than flaring forward.

If you feel your stomach being sucked in hard, your breath stopping, or your shoulders creeping up, that's usually too much, or the wrong kind. Some muscular effort and fatigue is a normal part of building strength. Sharp, joint-centred or radiating pain is the signal to stop and adjust.

Breathing and engagement are closely linked; our guide to lateral breathing in Pilates covers the how-to.

Is it better to draw your belly in or to brace?

You'll hear two styles. "Hollowing" (or the drawing-in manoeuvre) means gently pulling the lower belly in to target the transversus abdominis. "Bracing" means tightening the abdominal muscles together all around, as if expecting a light nudge to the stomach.

The research does not crown a single winner:

• A 2007 lab study of eight healthy young men found that, in a simulation of an ideal case, bracing improved spine stability by about 32% compared with hollowing, with about 15% more compression load on the lower spine (Grenier & McGill, 2007). It is a very small study of men holding weights in a lab, so it says little about a typical Pilates class.

• A 2024 scoping review of 22 randomized trials, with a focus on people with low back pain, found both techniques can improve trunk stability, muscle thickness, balance and gait. It noted few studies compare them directly and suggested using both, tailored to the person (Golob et al., 2024).

• A 2024 systematic review of 24 studies found drawing-in was less effective than alternatives during high-load tasks (Aragón Salamanca, 2024). Many Pilates exercises may be lower load than the tasks in this review, so it doesn't settle the question for a typical class.

Our reading: neither a hard suck-in nor a locked, rigid brace is the goal in Pilates. Gentle, even tension that you can maintain while breathing and moving is a sensible target, and an instructor can adjust the intensity to the exercise.

What's the difference between neutral spine and imprint?

Neutral spine means your back keeps its natural, gentle curves, with the pelvis level. Imprint means tilting the pelvis slightly back so your lower back softens toward the mat. Teachers use both: neutral is the default starting point for many exercises, and imprint is often used when a movement is too demanding to hold neutral with control.

These are teaching conventions rather than rules, so treat them as practical tools for learning control, not as one position being "correct" for everyone. If you want more on neutral spine and posture, see our guide to whether Pilates can improve posture.

How do you decode cues like "navel to spine" and "zip up"?

Cues are word pictures for muscles you can't see. Here is what common ones mean and how they go wrong:

• "Navel to spine." The aim is a light drawing in of the lower abdomen. Taken literally, it becomes a hard suck-in that holds the breath and tucks the pelvis. Aim for a small, gentle movement.

• "Zip up." Picture closing a zipper from your pubic bone toward your navel: a subtle lift low in the abdomen, with feather-light effort.

• "Lift your pelvic floor." This asks for a gentle lift inside the pelvis, as if holding in wind. It is not a buttock clench.

• "Ribs down." Let the front of the lower ribs soften toward your hips so the ribcage stacks over the pelvis.

If a cue doesn't land, say so; a different image often works.

Does Pilates build real core strength?

Possibly, but the evidence is still emerging and comes from people with chronic low back pain. A 2023 systematic review of eight randomized trials found Pilates was "not inferior to equivalently dosed exercises" and could be superior to non-equivalent or no exercise for core muscle strength, measured as muscle thickness. The authors describe this as emerging evidence (Franks et al., 2023).

"Not inferior" means about as good as similar exercise of an equal amount, not better than it. For the wider picture of what Pilates may and may not do, see the benefits of Pilates, and for back pain specifically, Pilates for lower back pain.

Does core engagement change after pregnancy or with pelvic floor symptoms?

It may. Two brief points, with full detail in dedicated guides.

Diastasis recti. If you have a separation along the midline after pregnancy, how you engage may matter. In one small observational ultrasound study of 26 women with diastasis, activating the transversus abdominis before a curl-up reduced distortion of the midline tissue, although the measure used still needs further validation (Lee & Hodges, 2016). Check with your health care provider or a pelvic health physiotherapist before returning to curl-ups, and see our guide to diastasis recti and Pilates for what to watch for and which moves are usually modified.

Pelvic floor. Pilates classes may not change pelvic floor function by themselves. A 2019 systematic review found no evidence that Pilates changed pelvic floor function in healthy women, though it included only two studies (Lemos et al., 2019). If you have leaking, heaviness or pelvic pain, read Pilates and your pelvic floor and check in with your health care provider or a pelvic health physiotherapist. We work alongside your provider and adapt your sessions to their guidance.

Learning to engage your core with us in Markham

Deep muscles are hard to feel at first, and cues land differently for different people. In a Private 1:1 Pilates with Instructor (1 hr), we can try different cues and adjust each exercise to how your body responds, and we work with clients across Markham and York Region on core, posture and postnatal goals. Book online to get started.

Frequently asked questions

Should I suck my stomach in when I engage my core?

Not hard. Pulling hard to flatten the belly often goes with holding your breath and gripping the ribs and neck. Pilates teaching usually aims for light, even tension around your waist that lets you keep breathing normally.

Can I hold my breath while engaging?

It's a common habit, and most teaching cues favour exhaling during the effort so you can keep breathing steadily.

Why can't I feel my core working?

Deep muscles can be harder to feel than the muscles nearer the surface, so it's common to feel little at first. Slower movements, a change of cue, or feedback from an instructor usually help, and it often becomes clearer over several sessions.

Do I need to keep my core engaged all day?

No. Pilates treats engagement as a skill you practise during exercises, and holding any muscle on constantly through the day isn't the aim.

Sources

1. Hsu SL, Oda H, Shirahata S, Watanabe M, Sasaki M (2018). Effects of core strength training on core stability. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6110226

2. Franks J, Thwaites C, Morris ME (2023). Pilates to Improve Core Muscle Activation in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel). 11(10):1404. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37239690/

3. Grenier SG, McGill SM (2007). Quantification of lumbar stability by using 2 different abdominal activation strategies. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17207676/

4. Golob I, Opara Zupančič M, Kozinc Ž (2024). Abdominal Hollowing vs. Abdominal Bracing: A Scoping Review of Clinical Trials on Effectiveness for Trunk Stability and Rehabilitation. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 9(4):193. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk9040193

5. Aragón Salamanca JC (2024). Abdominal Drawing-In Maneuver is Less Effective for Core Stability During High Load Tasks: A Systematic Review. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. https://repository.brieflands.com/items/5309b978-b194-49a9-9e0a-d7475297ed96

6. Lee D, Hodges PW (2016). Behavior of the Linea Alba During a Curl-up Task in Diastasis Rectus Abdominis: An Observational Study. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2016.6536

7. Lemos AQ, Brasil CA, Valverde D, Ferreira JDS, Lordêlo P, Sá KN (2019). The Pilates method in the function of pelvic floor muscles: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31103107/