Top 5 Benefits of Pilates | HBR Personal Training

Pilates is a type of exercise largely inspired by yoga. It is composed of about 500+ exercises that are intended to stretch and strengthen musculature throughout a balanced body. While Pilates offers a host of health benefits, it’s not just limited to physical… Much like yoga, pilates also provides mental and meditative benefits!

Pilates requires discipline, concentration, focus, and a certain level of range of motion. Don’t be intimidated though, there are many ways to scale it for all body types and experience levels so that everyone can take advantage of what it has to offer.

Here are 5 of the most common benefits:

1. Improved flexibility

Much like yoga, Pilates ensures a safe and effective strategy to gradually work towards a greater range of motion through multi-joint movement. Through stretching and flowing through movement, Pilates provides the inevitable side-effect of better flexibility. 

2. Increase Overall Strength

While the aim of Pilates isn’t to inherently build muscle, those that participate will likely earn some lean muscle along the way. Pilates is largely a balancing act, meaning over time: you will build strength and tone muscles through functional movements and muscle contractions… Not to mention strengthening your core, another fantastic side-effect of Pilates!

3. Balance & Coordination

This is the main function of Pilates. Without improving these skills, the exercises would never be able to be executed properly. Through consistency and effort, Pilates will ultimately improve your balance and coordination! Not only will this benefit how you function in every-day life, but it will also help increase your longevity as well.

4. Posture and Spinal Stabilization

Pilates naturally trains the body to act harmoniously through proper form and alignment. If you’ve ever met an avid Pilates participant, they likely have impeccable posture. Whether you’re a beginner or expert, going through the progressions of Pilates [from fundamentals to complex movements] will naturally create good posture.

5. Provides Stress Relief + Supports Relaxation

Pilates is all about becoming centered and connecting the body to the mind with focus and concentration. Some consider this act to be quite a spiritual one. Much like yoga and meditation, Pilates often provides participants with a sense of oneness with the present, allowing them to focus only on the task at hand. This typically results in true relaxation, contentment with the moment, and/or stress relief.

Remember: Change happens through movement, and movement heals!

There are many methods for learning Pilates, and there’s room for everyone! It’s adaptable, scalable, and most importantly, enjoyable for all fitness levels!