Pilates is more than abdominal workout. It is about connection of the entire body. When the lower and/or upper body works in harmony with your torso, you create better alignment, strength, balance of tone and mobility with your entire body.
Newcomers to Pilates sometimes get stuck on the idea that a hard muscle is a functional muscle. A lot of people are hardening their muscles that is destroying correct movement of the body.
As you advance in your practice, Pilates repertory has more sequencing of movement and level changes. This teaches you to have dynamic stabilization of your body. What I have to stabilize changes as I move in Space.
We all have to start with basics. 
Even I perform the below exercise as a warmup. It helps me waken up my lower abdominals before I go to more advanced exercises.
Differentiation of thigh bone
Your goal is to maintain the hollow when you lift a leg up. This is the underlying concept in all Pilates exercises.
View Lesley Powell's profile
