Understand The Pilates Method

Pilates is becoming more well known, which is wonderful! Thanks especially to social media, more people want to understand the Pilates method and are trying out all “types” of Pilates (more on that later). It’s taken me decades to unravel what Pilates is, and every year I seem to uncover something new or understand the method more deeply. There’s a lot to unravel the longer you do Pilates – but no matter where you’re at in your practice, you can benefit – exactly as Joseph Pilates intended! 

The Point of Pilates

Joseph Pilates wanted the world to know about his method of movement because he felt passionately that everyone could benefit from it. He believed that all people could benefit from being stronger, having a more flexible spine, and improving their posture. With better posture, people could breathe better, and he taught his clients to focus on their breath in many of the Pilates exercises. He strongly believed  that if we kept moving, with focus, control, and concentration, we would live longer, happier lives.  

Pilates is a System

In addition to the mat exercises, Joseph Pilates invented apparatuses like the foot corrector, the breathisizer, the toe exerciser, and the larger items that are more well known, like the reformer. He intended them to all to work together as a system to help each individual become stronger and more balanced in their bodies.  

When I first started doing and then teaching Pilates, I had no idea about any of this. I thought you just put a bunch of individual exercises together that made sense or would be fun to do; just like I did when I taught aerobics. As I dove into my PIlates training, I was first taught the mat work by a teacher who was classically trained in the full Pilates system. This is where I began to learn that there was, in fact, a sequence in which the exercises went in.  

The Order of the Exercises

As I started to understand the Pilates method and exercises, things started to make sense. I saw that each exercise was done in order to prepare you for the next and future exercises. The movements started off easier to build you up to more difficult ones. I also started to see similarities in other places. Many of the exercises are actually the same, only flipped upside down or done on your side. Pilates has you working against gravity in a variety of ways. 

The Role of the Apparatuses

As I moved on to learn more about the Pilates apparatuses, I saw those same exercises showing up again and again. (No, you can’t dodge doing The Hundred!) Still, I hadn’t figured out that the apparatus work was helping me with the mat work; I thought they were different types of Pilates, like there are different types of yoga.

Today, it drives me nuts when I hear someone say that they “do Reformer Pilates”, because it all goes together. I stop myself before getting too frustrated, though, because I thought the same thing before I came to understand the Pilates method as a whole. Even as a new teacher, I didn’t know enough about how the different apparatuses could be used to help a client find better connections, improve awareness of how they’re moving, or get stronger and improve mobility so they can then go back to an exercise elsewhere and achieve more success.

Pilates Never Gets Boring

I’ve heard the occasional person say that doing the same exercises in the same order must get boring. On one hand, you can probably say that about many types of fitness (but I won’t). On the other, I have to disagree! There are hundreds of Pilates exercises, from the pre-Pilates exercises that prepare you for the foundational movements, all the way up to advanced exercises. There are exercises at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels on every apparatus as well. 

As a Pilates teacher, I get excited when I see a client begin to understand the Pilates method and utilize the apparatuses to improve their mat work. I love it when they find a new connection in their body or achieve an exercise that was once out of reach for them. In my own practice, I’ve been going back to the foundational Pilates exercises. I’ve been getting even stronger and I’m excited to help my clients get there, too.