Pilates As Strength Training: The Amazing Ways That Pilates Can Condition Your Body
Maintaining a solid fitness routine is an essential part of a healthy and balanced life. Finding a workout that works for you is easy, as there are plenty of practices and techniques out there. A necessary type of exercise is strength training. Still, the typical way to go about strength training might not be accessible to everyone, whether because of a lack of equipment or physical limitations like an injury or chronic condition.
What about pilates? Is pilates strength training? Fortunately, pilates as strength training is an alternative practice that is more suited to low-impact exercises that still increase strength. Pilates is renowned for transforming the core muscles and improving posture, balance, and flexibility, but can pilates be strength training? To better understand how pilates can substitute for strength training, a comparison of them is helpful.
The Skinny On Strength Training
Also known as resistance training, strength training is a branch of exercise that improves muscle strength by incorporating scalable resistance while performing exercises. This type of training involves using various fitness equipment, from free weights to machines to your body weight as resistance or resistance bands. Although strength training is associated with lifting weights, it is a broad area that does not always require using weights.
Strength training helps you maintain and improve your muscular strength and mass, decreasing the amount of body fat for better health and quality of life. In addition to enhanced muscle strength, these exercises increase bone strength and density which is especially important as you age because that naturally declines, causing loss of balance and falling.
Strength training also increases your metabolism, so you burn more calories during your workout, effectively managing your weight. You can adjust the intensity of the exercise easily to your individual skill level and, when done consistently, gradually progress your skill and strength.
Although typical strength training exercises are beneficial, they are not for everyone, and some may hinder your growth, especially if you struggle with chronic conditions or injuries.
Benefits of Strength Training
The benefits of strength training include:
Increased Muscle Strength & Endurance
Improved Muscle Control
Improved Bone Density
Boosts Metabolism for Weight Management
Relieves Chronic Pain & Other Conditions
Pilates as Strength Training
Pilates is a low-impact exercise that focuses on improving bodily and muscular control. While incredibly effective in using pilates for core strength, the various types of movements and equipment used in pilates provide a full body workout that takes muscles through their full range of motion, increasing strength and mobility.
So, is pilates strength training? Yes, it is! Many of the key elements of strength training are a part of pilates. In fact, pilates provides more benefits that affect more than just physical fitness, as its creation was centered around developing a deeper mind-body connection that promotes better mental health. The meditative components of pilates are essential for reducing stress levels and developing breath control that helps you be in tune with your body.
An important goal of pilates is its effect on improving your well-being for ease in everyday tasks. This fitness genre focuses on functional exercises that enhance flexibility, posture, endurance, and range of motion. All of these are benefits of pilates. Functional strength pilates consists of movements like pulling, pushing, and precise body control that helps you function in mundane tasks like lifting groceries, reaching high cabinets, and going up and down stairs.
If you are looking for a low-impact, versatile workout that increases your strength, the best option is pilates as strength training. Regular strength training is not suitable for chronic conditions or injuries, but pilates is perfect for those with these problems. Pilates is a significant aid in recovery from injuries or surgery and for decreasing ailments such as chronic pain.
You can easily do exercises at home with a pilates mat, resistance bands, and weights. But pilates classes are popular enough for more guidance and access to larger, more specialized equipment, so they are offered at most gym facilities or studios entirely dedicated to pilates. No matter how you choose to practice pilates, you will see increases in muscle tone, power, strength, and endurance when you do it consistently.
Benefits of Pilates
Pilates is beneficial for various reasons. When comparing the benefits of pilates and strength training, you find that they are almost identical. The benefits of pilates include the following:
Increased Muscle Strength & Endurance
Improves Muscle Tone & Definition
Improves Balance, Posture, & Muscle Control
Improves Lung Capacity & Circulation
Improves Joints & Bone Density
Enhances the Mind-Body Connection
Absolute Pilates
At Absolute Pilates, we offer a vast range of classes available in group settings and private sessions. Our approach is to use more than just pilates for core strength. Our team of instructors will continue to uphold the values of the creator of pilates, Joseph Pilates, whose guiding philosophy was that to achieve and maintain good health, you must exercise the entire body. Classes at Absolute Pilates involve movements and exercises in control that establish a solid mind-body connection you can feel.
If you are looking for a practice that is pilates strength training, our Heat, Empower, and Move pilates classes are perfect. We design these classes to be intense full-body workouts that will push you, make you stronger, feel better, and look great. Each session uses a different combination of equipment and movements that help achieve various goals, from increased strength to improved mobility and effective cardio workouts.
Get started here to begin your functional strength pilates journey so you feel better physically and mentally.