Is Pilates Enough?
Raise your hand if you’ve come to your Pilates session having already worked out that day. Or if you leave your Pilates session and go get in another workout later that day. I’m sure at some point we’ve all done it, and would all be raising our hands right about now, am I right? But is it necessary? No. Can we *just* do Pilates for the day and call it good? Absolutely. This is officially your permission to *only* do one workout in any given day.
A workout should include five basic movement patterns: squat, lunge, hinge, push and pull. Can you work in all those movement patterns in Pilates? You bet!
Squat: footwork
Lunge: any lunge series on the reformer (we love some good light spring lunges for added balance and stability work)
Hinge: Bridging
Push: Swan
Pull: Arms pulling straps
These are just a few examples, but illustrate the point.
Reformer Pilates is also a form of resistance training. You work your muscles eccentrically (lengthening the muscle under load, in this case, spring tension), concentrically (shortening the muscle under load), and isometrically (holding the muscle under load, or tension), which are three components necessary to help your muscles get stronger. You can vary the resistance, or load, through the use of the springs. While not working necessarily on power, or a “max out” type of strength training, pilates does work muscle endurance and that is a component of strength training.
Can Pilates be the only workout you ever do? Sure, because any movement is better than none, and a workout doesn’t have to elevate your heart rate, leave you drenched in sweat, be full of power moves or push your muscles to “failure” to be effective. Can we give you power moves, or get your heart rate up and leave you sweating through a reformer workout? Sure. Will we sometimes do that? Of course. Is it always necessary? No. That being said, ideally your pilates practice would be complementary to other workouts, such as strength training and some cardio. They just don’t all need to happen in the same day. 😉