When it comes to fitness, you need to be very wary of anyone who claims that any particular approach is the ‘best’. There’s rarely a best unless it’s for a very specific ability.
Unfortunately, this dogmatic attitude is quite prevalent.
With over 20 years in the fitness industry, I believe I’ve learned a thing or two about training people. One of those lessons is that there’s room for all kinds of different exercise methods in a general fitness plan.
So rather than create an imaginary matchup of Pilates vs Weight Training, let’s look at why you should combine them to make you better at both. Not only will you benefit from the variety, but you’ll learn complementary skills and abilities that will cross over from one to the other.
Hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll be thinking less about Pilates vs weight training and more about Pilates and weight training.
Tale of the tape…
Let’s look at what benefits both Pilates and weight training can bring to an overall exercise regime.
We need to celebrate both of the methodologies so we can understand why they each have a legitimate place in a workout schedule. It’s unrealistic to expect that each of these methodologies will adequately target every aspect of your fitness.
Pilates
Pilates is an excellent approach for improving core strength, postural health, body awareness, and movement quality. It can help people to eradicate muscle imbalances, correct and prevent injuries, and improve flexibility.
Pilates is also excellent for helping introduce strength training to people with existing injuries.
Weight Training
There’s no doubt that weight training is the undisputed king of the hill when it comes to building strength.
A well-designed weight training workout helps to build muscle, improve metabolic health, improve your injury resistance and help build confidence. It’s also an effective way to reduce body fat and in some cases, improve endurance.
The limitations of both
While Pilates will introduce strength training to a person, it’s not going to build serious athleticism-altering strength. You’re also not going to add a lot of muscle to your frame with Pilates classes.
Weight training will introduce aspects of body control, but without light weight, and focused movement (not generally the reserve of weight training), you’re not going to develop the body control you would with Pilates
So there’s a clear complementary overlap when it comes to Pilates and weight training. It’s not Pilates vs weight training – they’re allies!
Why you should combine Pilates and weight training…
Let’s address some of the complimentary elements that both approaches have. This is why you should use both types of exercise in your training…
Pilates will improve your weight training technique
One of the limitations many people have when they lift weights is in their core. A lack of core strength can impact technique, leading to potential injury.
Commonly, you’ll see lifters lose form in exercises such as squats because they lack sufficient core strength (these leg day workouts may come in handy if you’re a beginner looking to strengthen your legs).
Introducing regular Pilates into your workout schedule will help improve your core strength, which will have injury-prevention benefits.
Weight training will improve your body control in Pilates
Regardless of the exercise, eventually, fatigue is a limiting factor. As you start to fatigue, you will lose the ability to maintain a position or posture.
Weight training will significantly improve your muscle strength and endurance, enabling you to maintain positions and postures more effectively.
A feature of reformer Pilates is the high rep work you do, so stronger muscles with better endurance capabilities will improve your practice.
Pilates will improve your strength
As odd as it may sound, you don’t always fail a lift because you’re not strong enough – it’s because you ‘leak’ power. When I see people failing lifts like overhead presses or squats, often it’s because their core collapses, making them lose power transfer between their upper and lower body.
Pilates will improve this postural stiffness, which will help to prevent power leaks during your lifting.
Weight training will rapidly advance your Pilates
All things being equal, strong muscles, bones, and joints are more capable than their weaker equivalents. By engaging in regular weight training, you’ll develop strength at a far faster rate than you would by doing Pilates alone.
When you build strength, you enable your muscles to do more. This means you’ll be able to do advanced movements and exercises much earlier in your Pilates journey, and you’ll perfect them faster.
Pilates will reduce your injury risk when lifting weights
One of the most vulnerable areas when it comes to weight training is the lower back. With exercises such as deadlifts, a weak core doesn’t offer much protection.
This can lead to injuries that could be easily prevented with more core strength.
By performing Pilates you’d build up the necessary core strength to reduce injury risk. If you’re a weightlifter or powerlifter it’s a very good idea.
Weight training will allow you to get more from your Pilates training
You’ll be able to get far in Pilates with a basic level of strength. With regular weight training, you’ll build a lot more strength, and that will allow you to take on more advanced exercises. When you perform the more advanced movements, you become functionally better at Pilates.
This is an example of how being strong will help you advance your Pilates practice at a faster rate. All fitness abilities are complementary.
Pilates and weight training will make you more athletic
What do you get when you combine great strength with exquisite body control, a wide range of movement at several joints, a strong core, and fantastic posture?
An incredible athlete!
Weight training and Pilates combined will give you all of these abilities, and plenty more. There’s a reason why so many professional athletes engage in Pilates alongside their traditional strength training. They’re in the business of maximizing performance, so will do everything they can to improve their physical capabilities.
It’s not Pilates vs weight training – it’s Pilates AND weight training
The reality is no one exercise type covers every aspect of our fitness. With that in mind, we should combine approaches to leave no stone unturned.
If we relied solely on Pilates, we’d miss out on strength and endurance benefits. If we relied solely on weight training we’d miss the flexibility and body control aspects. Frankly, it’s time we started to look at exercise more holistically and stop thinking we have a one-size-fits-all answer to training.
The different approaches to training are complementary to one another, so ideally would both feature in your program.
Combining training routines and methods regularly yields the best results. A convenient way to diversify your fitness routines is to include a Total Gym in your workout regimen. This is another example of adding a new challenge to your training.
Pilates Vs Weight Training: Should You Combine Them? – Final Thoughts
In my opinion, Pilates and weight training are super complementary to one another.
They offer improvements to different aspects of fitness, meaning that adding weight training to your workouts will help your Pilates, and vice versa.
Rather than look at them as competitive endeavors, seek ways to do them both. Your body, your fitness, and your overall athleticism will benefit. Doing both types of exercise will also add a new dimension to your training, giving you a new challenge and skill to master.