Pilates is a mind-body exercise methodology that incorporates floor and apparatus workouts. Originally named “Contrology” in the early 20th century by its creator, Joseph Pilates, the method emphasizes muscular control, precision, efficiency, flow, and correct breathing during movement. The universal reformer is arguably the most widely-used Pilates apparatus. Core studios with several reformers usually offer group training sessions.
Pilates Group Classes
The Pilates system is founded on floor exercises, or mat work. As with all movement in Pilates, these exercises help you strengthen and stabilize your powerhouse muscles, or core. Fitness facilities that provide group training but don’t have separate studios with reformers, cadillacs, step barrels and other pieces of equipment, usually only offer mat classes. Individual studios or gyms with designated Pilates studios typically have five or more universal reformers for one-on-one training sessions and group classes. Bigger studios may also have more than one cadillac — the largest apparatus — for small group sessions. Other types of Pilates group classes incorporate stability balls, foam rollers and resistance bands.
Universal Reformer
Pilates named his original universal reformer the “bednasium” when he constructed it from a metal bed frame, ropes and mattress springs while living with wounded soldiers in an internment camp during World War I. He was able to effectively use his apparatus to help injured soldiers regain strength and control of their bodies. Today’s reformer is reminiscent of the bed it descends from. The student lies, sits, kneels or stands on a sliding platform, or carriage. A system of springs and another of cords provide a means of resistance as well as assistance through range of motion. The apparatus accommodates fundamental to highly advanced movements, in almost any position.
Reformer Benefits
Because of the reformer’s multiple attachments and progressive resistance system, you can perform a much higher number of exercise modifications than on the mat. If you’re injured or have a limited range of motion, the support and guidance of the apparatus’s resistance in combination with its versatility can provide a safe and challenging workout. It accommodates any level of exercise done with nearly any purpose in mind: to develop strength, endurance, stability, flexibility, power, coordination, agility and speed. The reformer’s position offers Pilates trainers an ideal vantage point for observing and adjusting their clients’ breathing techniques, muscle activation and physical alignment.
Types of Reformer Classes
Unless a studio is particularly large, most group reformer classes accommodate between four and eight students. Proper muscle activation and alignment are crucial in Pilates, so you’ll pay a lower fee to participate in a larger class than you would to participate in group sessions limited to two or three participants, because the trainer can give less individual attention within a larger group. Studios usually label classes as beginner, intermediate or advanced. One-on-one sessions are the most personally tailored and expensive way to go, but you can get similar benefit in a duo session, where you share the fee, and the trainer, with one other person.
References
- “Pilates”; Rael Isacowitz; 2006
- "Ellie Herman's Pilates Reformer"; Ellie Herman; 2007
- Memorial Fitness Centers: Pilates Reformer Group Classes
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