If you’ve been following Dua Lipa’s sunsoaked honeymoon with Calum Turner, you’ve probably also noticed her powerhouse core. The star looks seriously strong, and while genetics and the high-energy choreography she spends hours perfecting on stage definitely play a part, she also uses one particular workout platform: Frame Reformer.
The Pilates-based training app delivers workouts (both on the reformer and the mat) designed to build deep abdominal strength, and Dua believes in them so deeply that she became a co-founder of the company. Now, she does the mat workouts daily.
Speaking to Vogue, she explained: ‘The one thing that keeps me grounded and keeps me fit is getting on the mat every single day. That’s doing Pilates, that’s doing yoga – the good thing about the Frame Reformer is that, even when I’m travelling, I can do the mat stuff.
‘For me, it’s important to keep my mind and my body healthy, because then I know I can get up on stage every single night and feel my best. It’s on those days even if you don’t want to do it, you should do it because your body is going to thank you for it. So yeah, I’m a big advocate for getting up and getting on the mat at least once a day.’
As for the benefits for your core, I’ve tried the sessions, and by combining high-precision resistance with fluid, core-focussed sequencing that challenges stability from every angle, they work every single muscle in your stomach. Because yes, Dua’s abs look great, but targeting the deep stabilising muscles to build functional, full-body strength, support your posture, enhance balance and reduce injury is more important. Dua knows it.
Below, Frame Reformer trainer Melissa Lynn shares a core-focussed 20-minute mat workout for you to try. All you’ll need is a mat, a Pilates ball, a pair of ankle weights and a pair of wrist weights. ‘A Pilates ball will add a little instability, and our ankle and wrist weights add a little intensity,’ Melissa explains. Here’s how to do it.
20-minute core-focussed Pilates workout
Do: Perform each exercise for 40 seconds with minimal rest. Remember to perform unilateral moves on both sides.
Form tip: The slower you move, the harder your muscles have to work. Imagine your limbs are moving through honey to mimic the tension of a reformer Pilates machine.
1.Kneeling side plank and pulse + leg extension + pulses (each side)
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2. Oblique teaser (each side)
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3. Pilates ball crunches + alternating knee tuck + alternating leg lift with oblique twist + crunch pulses (each side) 
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4. Pilates ball teaser + arm extensions
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5. Pilates ball oblique twist hold + leg lowers (each side)
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6. Pilates ball double toe taps + alternating toe taps 
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7. Glute bridge pulses + single-leg glute bridge pulses with leg extension 
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8. Scissors + Pilates ball pass
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9. Leg roll-ups with Pilates ball + pulses (each side) 
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10. Split squat on Pilates ball + pulses + airplane (each side) 
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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.