A roll of drums, please, for the onslaught of the season of excess. With Thanksgiving just a week away, we are all challenged with trying to keep our calorie consumption under control. Oh, sure we know that the best form of exercise is to push our groaning bodies away from the table before eating ourselves silly. But come on, be real. How are we supposed to say no to Auntie's mashed potatoes with gravy and Tutu's pumpkin pie?

Instead, we offer an alternative: Kick your exercise routine up a notch — or two or three — and focus on strengthening those abdominal muscles. Core abdominal strength can help you look and feel better throughout the holidays and all year round.

Pilates is a mind-body exercise that focuses on core strength as ... well, the core of all its exercises. It builds strength without bulk and can improve body awareness, good posture and grace. Like yoga, Pilates improves flexibility and agility. It emphasizes proper breathing, correct spinal and pelvic alignment, and smooth, rhythmic movements.

When performed properly, over time, Pilates can develop long, lean muscles, reduce stress on the joints and enhance athletic performance. Pilates helps to engage and train the transversus abdominus, those deep abdominal muscles that are so difficult to work in any other way.

Pilates can be performed with or without specialized equipment. In order to make these exercises accessible to everyone (and to give you no excuse not to do them), the four exercises illustrated here can be done anywhere, anytime.

Robertson selected these four exercises from among the hundreds of Pilates exercises because they work the abdominal fibers in all directions, through flexion, extension and rotation. For all Pilates exercises, it is important to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.