My challenge begins with the Blogilates five-minute pilates series. Cassey Ho, a popular YouTube pilates trainer and founder of Blogilates, has been a part of my fitness routine since high school. Her workouts always leave me feeling sore and strong so I choose to start with her mini-workout series (as ever, better the devil you know!). Each workout involves doing Ho’s toughest (and most effective) moves in a non-stop session for a continuous muscle burn.

I find myself getting more and more into the quick-fire sessions. For busy professionals who don’t have much time to get on a mat and exercise, a challenging five-minute workout is the perfect fitness solution.

But those five minutes don’t fly by. In fact, anyone who has done pilates knows that on the mat, every minute feels like an hour. Moves like double leg lifts and side planks feel particularly challenging, partly because I’m doing all the difficult moves back-to-back. Amazingly (given the short duration), I wake up the next day unable to laugh thanks to incredible core DOMS.

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