Pilates Q&A: How often should I do Pilates?
How many times a week should I do Pilates?
I get this question often from new clients, and I wish I could give a simple answer. Truthfully, there is no magic number of times a week you “should” do Pilates, as we all have different goals and amounts of time available to dedicate to our Pilates practice.As with any new physical activity, consistency is the key to success.
Two to three times a week is recommended to achieve and maintain results. While you may start to see some results with only once a week, your progress will be slower than if you were to do Pilates more often.
Does each session need to be an hour long?
A Pilates session does not have to be an hour long to count towards your weekly workouts. In addition to your hour long studio sessions, your other session(s) could be as simple as a ten minute workout. An example of a ten minute workout could be: Fundamentals warmup, Hundred, Stomach Series and an extension exercise.
What if I want to do Pilates on two or more consecutive days?
Unlike strength and resistance training which recommends 24-48 hours of rest in between workouts, Pilates can be safely done two days in a row, or more. Since Pilates is whole body work (meaning we work muscle systems, rather than individual muscles) and low impact, it can be done every day. Varying the exercises, intensity, length of workout and choice of equipment can be a good idea if choosing to do Pilates on consecutive days. In Pilates, our goal is never to fatigue a muscle to exhaustion – Joseph Pilates wrote in bold (he must have really wanted to emphasize this) "be sure NEVER TO REPEAT THE SELECTED EXERCISE(S) MORE THAN THE PRESCRIBED NUMBER OF TIMES... There really is no need for tired muscles." (Return to Life, p. 31)
Be honest. How many times a week do you, as a Pilates teacher, do Pilates?
As much as I would love to say that I do a Pilates workout every day, or five times a week, I do not. While each week differs slightly, a typical week will see me doing a combination of Pilates, GYROTONIC®, GYROKINESIS® , and Dailey Method barre - I do not rely solely on one type of exercise for all of my activity needs. I am also a big fan of at-home workouts for additional resistance training. I am like many of you – I enjoy variety!
For the Pilates portion of my weekly workouts, I will usually do one 45-60 minute equipment workout, and then one to two additional 10-30 minute workouts (mat, or combination of equipment) depending on how much time I have that week. While I do not do a Pilates practice every day, I do practice Pilates every day! In all my other daily activities, I focus on my breathing, alignment, and work towards embodying the Pilates philosophy of whole body health and commitment.
What would Joseph Pilates recommend?
If you were to ask the late Mr. Pilates himself, he would say: “If you will faithfully perform your Contrology exercises regularly only four times a week for just three months as outlined in RETURN TO LIFE, you will find your body development approaching the ideal, accompanied by renewed mental vigor and spiritual enhancement (Return to Life p.18-19)
Luckily for us, Pilates was also a realist. He later writes, “Make up your mind that you will perform your Contrology exercise ten minutes without fail.” (Return to Life, p.21). Starting with just ten minutes is enough to set us on the Contrology “Road to Health”.
In summary, there is no right number of times a week you should do Pilates. Do what feels best for your body. However, you will find that the more you do your Pilates exercises and apply the Pilates principles to all of your activities, the more it becomes a way of life – not only on the physical level, but as Joseph Pilates stated, a complete coordination of mind, body and spirit. How often do you do a Pilates workout? How do you embody the Pilates lifestyle? I would love to hear your comments below!
xo,L