What is Pilates?

Pilates is a form of exercise that is often compared to yoga. There are some similarities; there is a focus on the breathing and form. However, they are also very different. Pilates movements are generally continuous, with an emphasis on core stability, strength and flexibility, rather than holding a series of poses that have been done for thousands of years. There are also two different types of Pilates classes, equipment-based classes in a studio rather like a gym, and matwork classes, which looks more like a yoga class.

My Pilates journey

Most people have heard of Pilates by now, but when I started in the mid 1990s, it was only just starting to take off in the UK. A physiotherapist recommended that I tried Pilates to help me recover after a road traffic accident. I was suffering from nerve pain and weakness in my right arm. I was also working at a desk at that time, and I developed non specific arm pain, more commonly known as repetitive strain injury 18 months after the accident.

Luckily, I wasn’t far away from Alan Herdman’s studio in central London. Alan Herdman set up the UK’s first-ever Pilates studio after working in New York with instructors who had been trained by Joseph Pilates himself. It was the place to be if you wanted to learn Pilates back then and still today, although there are a few more other studios to choose from now.

The studio looked like a combination of instruments of torture and an old-fashioned gym. There were long wooden boxes with pulleys and springs and weird looking contraptions that you didn’t know whether to sit or stand on! This was before matwork classes were even invented. It was all equipment-based Pilates, and It really worked for me. I got stronger and more flexible at the same time. It was so good, I decided to become a Pilates instructor.

By this time I was working in a physiotherapy clinic in London and one of the physiotherapists recommended that I trained with Stott Pilates. I did the very first UK training course with Stott Pilates (Canadian founder Moria Stott). The course was so thorough only four out of 20 students took the exam. Those who didn’t, said they didn’t think they would pass the theory so they would take another easier course to get their Pilates certificate and just use the Stott moves! I think this highlights that there are varying standards in Pilates courses and instructors, but it is similar in yoga or aerobics instruction.

Equipment-based Pilates

The strange looking Pilates equipment in a typical Pilates studio

The classic Pilates Reformer is the centre point of Pilates equipment. It looks like a long bed with pulleys and springs to act as resistance. But there are many other pieces of equipment with great names like the Cadillac and the Wunda Chair. I always thought I would train to teach equipment-based Pilates since that’s how I had learnt. However, the equipment is expensive and takes up a lot of space rather than a room full of mats. My particular physiotherapy clinic didn’t have the space or resources for the large equipment, so I stuck with the matwork. The investment in Equipment-based Pilates makes them far more expensive for class members than matwork classes.

Matwork Pilates

A popular movement in a Pilates class: Single leg stretch

All you really need is a nice comfy mat to do Pilates. Personally, I think a yoga mat is a little too thin, particularly on a hard floor, as you are rolling on your spine in some of the exercises. The other reason my physiotherapy clinic favoured the matwork classes was that students could practise the exercises at home.

Many teachers use small equipment for variety and also to make the classes more challenging. Small equipment include small balls that you can lie on, fit balls (large balls which you can sit on), foam rollers and flexbands. But you don’t need any equipment at all for it to work. You are simply using your own body weight as resistance to strengthen your body and body lengthening movements to stretch out, all in the one class.

How can it help you?

I have taught many people over more than twenty years. Some people, particularly my male clients, practise Pilates to help them perform better in their chosen sport. It offers them exercises to improve balance, flexibility and strength that they need for other sports. Some people choose Pilates because they want to stay fit and healthy, and they do very little other forms of exercise.

However, a lot of people choose Pilates because they’ve already been injured or suffer from chronic back pain. A recent study showed that Pilates based exercises helped patients with pain, depression and anxiety in chronic non-specific lower back pain.1 A win-win for your physical and your mental and emotional state.

One student I remember in particular could hardly move and was fearful to bend her back at the beginning. It affected her daily activities, her work and her hobbies. She now does all the movements proficiently. She feels stronger and can perform daily tasks without fear. However, this takes time. Pilates exercises can be tough. It’s important to listen to your body and I always say don’t do anything that induces pain. You can work hard in Pilates but not to the point that you feel pain, particularly back pain.

I once taught a young woman who was hypermobile (her joints moved more than they ideally should). She had difficulties doing Pilates exercises, not because she couldn’t do them, as she was extremely flexible and could get into all sorts of contorted positions, but it was painful for her to do the exercises, as it is with most people with hypermobility. We decided she might need to do something different. A few years later, I bumped into her, and she said she was a black belt kick boxer! I would never have suggested that, but it worked for her. It is more cardiovascular and it is standing work rather than lying down which she found painful even without movement. Having said that, I’ve also taught someone with Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hypermobility is one of the symptoms) and she benefitted from the classes. It really is very Individual.

There is also no age limit for doing Pilates. I have a student who is 75 years old, and she has improved her posture doing Pilates, but perhaps also importantly, it offers her a type of exercise that she can do and enjoy.

Pilates is also known for improving muscular tone. Some people ask me if they lose weight with Pilates, but there are much better ways to lose weight, and that is exercise that increases your heart rate, together with a good diet.

The vast majority of people I have taught have benefitted from improved posture, strength and flexibility. They also say that they generally feel better after the class. I can count on one hand the number of people who have not been able to do it. A couple of people had vertigo issues and the movements made them nauseous.

Some teachers are better than others at recognising the different needs of their students. My background, for example is from working with injured populations in a physiotherapy clinic, so I always have rehabilitation and injury prevention at the heart of the class. I’ve changed since my first classes too, as I have other movement experiences like Feldenkrais, which I bring into the class (more on Feldenkrais another time). I like to guide people on what they are aiming to feel. A teacher who has come from an aerobics or dance background will have a different style of teaching, maybe counting and keeping a high tempo. Even Stott Pilates has brought in different elements since they first started training the trainers.

Although Joseph Pilates started the whole regime many years ago, Pilates can be very different today. If you try it and you think it isn’t for you, maybe try a different teacher who might be a better fit for you. One thing’s for sure, you won’t have any problems finding a Pilates teacher today, just check it’s matwork or equipment-based, and try them both, if you can afford it!