STRENGTH VS PILATES: 5 ways we are incorporating strength training into our classes without diluting the principles of the Pilates Method.

Ash teaching strength on the reformer in 2024

Unless you've been living under a rock you'll know that strength training is having its moment (and rightly so) with all evidence pointing to resistance training being associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, better bone health and overall longevity. However, somewhere along the way, it got pitted against Pilates as if they were enemies, when in fact they work side by side (and sometimes even together sssshhh) rather harmoniously.

In an ideal world, we encourage clients to do Pilates and rehabilitation work with us and then find a suitable space to lift heavy and train for muscle gains or body composition, because we know that strength training will give those specific results both faster and more effectively. But in reality what we see is that most people are looking for one space where they can do everything - and that they don't have the time or money or energy to move between different communities. So this prompted us to look deeply at our own offerings and what we could do to support the people in the room to build strength as well as do Pilates.

Here are five things we have shifted to incorporate strength-based principles and progressive load into our studio without losing the integrity of what Pilates has to offer:

We have introduced strength protocols and equipment to support these protocols - Alongside our full Pilates apparatus, we also have a wall mounted cable machine, a gymnastics bar and a trap bar. These three simple pieces of equipment allow us to progressively overload clients beyond the strength of what the springs offer, whilst still remaining true to Pilates principles, working with multiple planes and building on some of the repertoire to move into more gymnastics or callisthenics work (which happens to be part of the inspiration and origin of Pilates' Contrology anyway).

Our Perth studio today - blending Pilates apparatus and strength training equipment to ensure our clients get the best of both worlds.

We change up our springs - there is no such thing as heavy for heavy sake in our studio, however we aren't afraid to change the spring strength to help people deepen their challenge in the Pilates method. Helping clients learn the repertoire and then explore whether that be making them heavier or lighter, so they feel the difference in real time and start to understand load the way they would in a weights room - heavier spring, harder set, more control required; lighter spring, more range, more work for stabilisers. It's the same conversation you'd have about a barbell, just translated into Pilates language.

We've started programming in blocks, not just sessions - Rather than every class being a one-off, we now build in progressive blocks so clients are working toward something specific over 4-6 weeks, whether that's more resistance on the reformer, a harder variation of an exercise, or hitting a strength goal on the cable or trap bar. This is a small shift on paper but a big one in practice, because it means clients start to think about their training the way a strength athlete would - are we progressing, are we plateauing, what do we need to change - rather than just showing up and doing "a Pilates class."

We've upskilled our own knowledge - none of this works if the person cueing you through it doesn't understand load principles. We’ve spent time upskilling on new equipment, learning how to programme progressive overload safely and effectively and how to read fatigue levels and form breakdown the way a strength coach would. We bring that knowledge into a Pilates space seamlessly so that it doesn’t feel like two different disciplines bolted together.

The result is a studio that doesn't ask clients to choose. You can build genuine strength, protect your joints, improve your bone density and still get everything that made you fall in love with Pilates in the first place - the control, the breath work, the way it makes you move better everywhere else in your life. We're not trying to water down Pilates or turn our space into a gym, we’re simply creating an offering that addresses the needs of the people in front of us, after all, isn’t that our job?

Strength and Pilates were never really enemies. That was always a fight invented by people trying to sell you one or the other.