Mari Winsor

America’s leading Pilates expert, Mari Winsor is one of the most widely recognized and respected fitness experts in the world. Before Mari, Pilates was considered an obscure workout regimen for dancers and athletes. Over the past 25 years, the words Mari Winsor and Pilates have come to represent one thing: results. A former professional dancer, Mari opened her first Pilates studio in Los Angeles in 1990 and introduced her innovative signature workout based on Joseph Pilates' techniques. Soon after, the highly-visible bodies of musicians, professional athletes and celebrities began to flock to her studio to be shaped, toned and strengthened. In 2003, Mari moved her teaching beyond the Los Angeles Pilates studio to a national audience, and her success has been unparalleled. Mari owns two Winsor Fitness studios and has an ever-growing roster of A-list clients that includes Drew Barrymore, Elizabeth Berkeley, Minnie Driver, Daisy Fuentes, Jasmine Guy, Jewel, Melanie Griffith, Meg Ryan, Sharon Stone, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Dita Von Tees. She remains the most sought-after trainer in Hollywood and a celebrity in the world of health and fitness for one simple reason — Mari’s workouts change bodies fast! Mari has also co-written three books on Pilates, and her fitness expertise has been featured in countless magazines, including: Allure, Glamour, Fit Pregnancy, Health, InStyle, More, Redbook, Shape, Vogue, W and Woman’s World.

We’re well into the new year, and the expectations of a better year — and a better you — are still high! We all keep in our mind’s eye what kind of shape we would like to be in, but it needn’t stop there. You can make it happen!

I don’t know about you, but it seems the older I get, the harder it is to rebound from holiday excess back to my summer weight. But lucky for me, I have a proven way to get my weight and my body back to where I am most comfortable and looking my best.

My thought has always been that when you have no control of anything else in the world, you can get control of yourself. It will make you feel more powerful, healthier, clearer and creative. How you look is directly related to how you feel, and how others relate to you. Better posture, a little toning and firming, a longer neck, and a flatter tummy are all directly related to your self-esteem.

Here are some quick moves to target and lift your buttocks in no time. This series uses resistance bands, which are phenomenal for creating the perfect amount of resistance that will bring about the results you want, fast! Start with one foot through one handle, and using the same hand as foot, hold the other handle. Lie face down on your tummy on the mat.