weight training and pilates

I have been weight lifting for years and recently started working with a Pilates trainer. He says I need to stop lifting weights though I'm ok with cardio and Pilates. Anyone doing both weight lifting and pilates? Do they counteract one another??

Sun. Feb 18, 11:50am

Piates does strengthen, so the only reason I could think of to not do both Pilates and weight lifting is that you don't want to overwork your muscles which can lead to injury. Also, weight trainers tend to neglect flexibility thus making pilates less effective. If you don't want to stop weight training, then don't, but maybe consider cutting back since pilates will be helping you build strength as well. I do pilates but mainly because I've been instructed by my doctor not to lift weights due to an injury. Pilates has not only been helping me stay strong and recover, but I daresay it's more effective overall. WIth weight training I would work groups of muscles - pilates hits then all then goes on to hit muscles you never knew you had! I don't really miss the weights and Pilates has been a more than sufficient replacement for me.

However I do not body build and was mainly concerned with building strength and some toning, so that's the end result I'm looking for. You may have different goals and would need to evaluate how pilates makes you feel and if it is indeed sufficient for your strength training needs. I am giving your trainer the benefit of the doubt that (s)he is concerned for your safety and not trying to just get you to exclusively train with them since I do not know the spirit in which the advice was given.

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 12:46 PM

weight training and pilates

I've been practicing this for more than a year and it works. This combination focus on QUALITY rather then QUANTITY. With this method u r forced to use the core muscles at all times to execute the exercise correctly.
You stretch after or during ur training session and it is easy on the joints and on the body as a whole.

To do this u will have to understand how pilates works. If u go to a gym and look at waht all those people r doing to their bodies, it is scary. I can guarantee u that 99.9% of all those people r going to suffer from some kind of joint or health problems 10 - 20 years from now and it is all related to heavy weight training. I used to do it and I can feel it in my knee joints as well as elbow. Since I started with the light weights, I have less pain and discomfort. I have 1 day of pilates all by myself per week and love.

Take it easy m8.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 6:59 AM

Light on the weights...a little extra Pilates

I used to lift 3-4 times a week until I discovered Pilates. Since one of my goals is to run a half-marathon and do a few triathalons, my trainer recommended lowering the weights and focusing on Pilates and using my own body weight. Since doing that I have less problems with my knees, my legs are leaner looking, and I less joint pain. Weight are good for building strength, but so is Pilates. Think of it as the quiet strength....ballet dancers have been doing it forever and they have some very powerful bodies!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 8:21 AM

there is NEVER any reason to STOP lifting weights, take it down a notch...go down to one full body weight lifting session a week sure, but NO weights - NO WAY!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 10:35 AM

I workout with a trainer 2X a week which involves Pilates AND weight training. I have defininitely noticed an increase in both flexability and muscle. I do 30 minutes of cardio before starting. It is a mix of reformer and weights (machines and free weights). It is callled Pilates Fusion. I have been weight lifting for over 20 years and thought I wouldn't really put on much more muscle. I have definitely been pleasantly surprised.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 9:59 PM

Continue to do both

I'm a natural body builder, Pilates instructor, physical therapist and owner of Pilates Nation a Pilates and Fitness Center. I have been doing both systems of exercise for many years and believe they work very well together. Joseph Pilates himself was a keen body builder and he drew inspiration from this when developing his own system of exercise.

I would strongly recommend doing both.

Link

Saturday, April 10, 2010, 1:34 PM

Both

I have done both for over a year consistently. They compliment each other. So you can lift weighs one day, and do the pilates the other without a rest.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011, 1:57 AM

Weight training v pilates

I have done weight-training since 1977. Yes! I was one of the few women on the gym floor back in the day. It's Sunday and I'm just about to go to the gym to do weight training now, having skipped my usual close-to-a-mile swim (crawl and reverse breast stroke) for 3 days, because your post re-inspired me to the weights. I have shied away from Pilates because: not used to the equipment, can't take it on the road (but neither can I take free weights and machine weights!) Winds up that when I'm away from home, which i am a lot, I resort simply to walking. Any suggestions? Oh. I have some degeneration of a lumbar disc, so I do PT (really yoga) exercises for that.

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 12:41 PM

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