Can You Lose Weight By Doing Pilates?

Pilates practitioners often recommend it to the uninitiated as a form of training that can help them achieve a variety of fitness goals. The dance community first embraced the methodology in the late 1920s when its creator, Joseph Pilates, and his wife Clara opened their studio in New York City. It wasn’t until around 2000, however, that other elite athletes, including football players, begin practicing Pilates as a form of cross-training and injury prevention. Within a decade, the number and types of people using Pilates as a way to obtain, maintain and improve fitness has grown substantially.

Pilates Workout

Pilates, originally called “Contrology,” by its founder, is a mind-body workout that focuses on efficient core-driven movements. Mat work is the foundation of the methodology. Mat classes range from basic to advanced levels, and are a common component of fitness facility group exercise schedules. A complete Pilates practice also incorporates apparatus training, on one or more pieces of equipment such as the universal reformer, cadillac, wunda chair, ladder barrel, step barrel and arm chair. The founding principles behind mat and apparatus workouts include awareness, deep concentration, balance, control, efficiency, precision, flow and correct breathing techniques.

Benefits of Pilates

Joseph Pilates once said that “true flexibility can be achieved only when all muscles are uniformly developed.” A majority of Pilates movements simultaneously develop muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. Mat and apparatus work are both forms of resistance training. On the mat, your body weight provides resistance against gravity. Each apparatus has a system of adjustable springs, cords, pulleys or push-pedals that provide supported resistance. A regular Pilates practice develops coordination, balance, agility, proper posture and alignment, and teaches you how to correctly activate your muscles. Because Pilates requires you to recondition the way you approach movement, everyone is a beginner the first time through, making it an ideal workout for all fitness levels.

Weight Loss

Weight loss is affected by a number of factors, including your caloric intake versus expenditure, and whether or not you have a high percentage of lean mass. A 2005 study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse found that although Pilates can be a challenging workout for your muscles, it doesn’t burn a lot of calories and has limited cardiovascular benefits. A beginner routine produced an aerobic response and corresponding calorie burn similar to walking a pace of 2 miles per hour, while an advanced routine was the equivalent of walking up to 4 miles per hour. Pilates can encourage weight loss, but it’s likely to be slow-going.

Considerations

The lean mass developed by Pilates training causes your metabolism to increase, which in turn helps you burn more calories at rest. If your main fitness goal is weight loss, however, you’d achieve it more efficiently by including cardiovascular workouts such as walking, swimming, cycling or running in your weekly routine. Many Pilates practitioners report looking and feeling slimmer due to their work on the mat or reformer. Anecdotal evidence suggests that performing Pilates workouts two to three times per week can “redistribute” body mass in a more aesthetically pleasing way, according to “Pilates” author and trainer Rael Isacowitz.