Become stronger by adding weights to your Pilates Routine
Why do we need to be strong?
Put simply, having physical strength, makes life easier. You can work for longer, your body tires less quickly and you can perform daily tasks efficiently. This of course means we can remain active and independent for longer giving us freedom and allowing us to stay feeling young!
Strong bones
Strong bones help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. 1.75 million women in the UK are estimated to have osteoporosis. We reach our peak bone health at 30 years old, and this naturally declines as we get older, especially for women around menopause. By increasing our bone density, we can reduce the risk of injuries, broken bones and fractures. When we are inactive, bone is reabsorbed by the action of osteoclasts, resulting in loss of strength, size and density. When placed under mechanical load, gravitational force and muscle contraction it increases in size and strength.
Strong muscles
Strong muscles help us balance and maintain a good posture, which is turn reduces the risk of falls and injuries. Increased muscle mass also helps hormones like oestrogen, testosterone and insulin work efficiently. After the age of 40, we gradually lose muscle mass each year. Consistent resistance training along with a good intake of protein has been shown to reduce this progressive loss. This age-related loss of muscle mass and strength is called sarcopenia. After age 35 we lose 3 – 8% of our muscle every decade!
Muscle Hypertrophy – the increase in size of skeletal muscle tissue is stimulated by strength training.
Muscles generate muscular or mechanical tension when they shorten (concentric contraction), lengthen (eccentric contraction), or stay the same length (isometric contraction). This muscular tension happens when you contract your muscles against resistance. This then sets off a chemical reaction in your body leading to muscle growth.
Do you get Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)?
You know the day after, or two days after a workout your muscles can feel a bit sore. (American College of Sports Medicine) Once you’ve moved around a bit and stretched out by the next day you are generally feeling ok again. You will normally experience DOMS symptoms when you start a new kind of exercise that your body isn’t used to, perform eccentric exercises, return to exercise after a long break or increase the intensity of your workout. But as you keep exercising, your body adapts.
If you don’t experience muscle soreness after a workout it is by no means a sign that you are not working hard enough. You will still be gaining strength and fitness.
The soreness comes from inflammation in the body in response to the microscopic tears in your muscle fibres as a result of placing muscular tension on your muscles when exercising. This mild damage can be helpful toward muscle growth, but too much damage is NOT better.
If you already do Pilates, you are already strength training
Pilates is strength training because you use your body weight against the force of gravity, in many of the exercises as resistance and to apply a load to your muscles and bones. By adding resistance bands, activations bands and free weights we can increase the load and muscular tension on the musculo-skeletal system.
Pilates is great just as it is, to maintain and improve your overall strength. If you add extra resistance and light weights, you will build your strength further as well as tone, shape and lengthen the muscles. Don’t worry about developing bulky muscles and looking like a body builder, you need to lift very heavy weights in order to achieve this look. And in CORE, we focus on improving function, being able to move with ease and grace.
Tips for introducing weights to your Pilates Routine
- Perform exercises with a good technique before adding weights
- Make sure you control the weights or resistance, rather than the other way round
- Modify your practice by using different weights.
- Ensure you engage your core before moving with a weight
- Pilates is hard enough without added weights, so even if you just add 1lb, it will make a huge difference
- No weights – use resistance bands, tins of beans, bottles of water instead!
- Rest and recovery are important in building strength too – allow the muscles to repair stronger
Want to get stronger?
Introducing our new 6 week ‘Stronger’ Bitesize Pilates Programme inside CORE.
All NEW recorded sessions.
If adding some free weights and extra resistance to your Pilates routine, then members can follow this programme. It’s In CORE NOW for you.
And if you don’t like the idea of using weights, then you can still build strength just by doing Pilates 3-4 times a week. The bitesize sessions and programmes in CORE allow you to work at your pace and easily remain consistent, even if you have a busy schedule.
It’s all done for you – except the exercise. You’re the ONLY one that can do that!
You can become a member of CORE here: https://www.gilaarcherpilates.com/core-pilates-membership
