Pilates can be deceptive. Sometimes it seems like we’re not doing that much when we do the Pilates exercises. We rarely get out of breath and we may or may not get sweaty, so we get it into our heads that Pilates is “easier” than weight training. If we’re looking purely at calories burned, that might be true.
However, because Pilates focuses in so much on how we move and not just on how much, we have to use our brains even more than we do during weight training. A lot of weight training is about big muscles and brute force. Pilates is about little shifts with smaller muscles, about refinement of technique, and about breath.
It is absolutely true that I sometimes offer Pilates as a gentler option to clients who are not feeling up to a big cardio/weight workout. I do it because I know that those clients have the mind space to concentrate, to explore the connections between bones and muscles and nerves, to move with intention. We may not go hard, but we do go deep when we do Pilates.
What we end up with is improvements in proprioception, core control, balance, alignment, and overall form.
Check it out!
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