Jackie Florence started doing reformer Pilates 26 years ago, long before the likes of Justin and Hailey Bieber and Kate Hudson began flaunting the exercise on social media.
When Florence gave birth to her daughter, she suffered a slipped disc, leading to shooting pains down her arms. She could barely drive. Her sister-in-law, a Pilates instructor, recommended Pilates performed on a reformer, a specialized machine with a platform that moves along a track that can be adjusted with cords to add resistance, and straps for arms and legs. (Mat Pilates, on the other hand, is done on the floor leveraging just body weight.) Right away, she felt better
“I learned how to take cues from my body and I learned pretty quickly how to keep that disc happy,” Florence says. “I am not a flexible person and I found that when I used the reformer, I was able to manipulate my spine better and do more.” Florence still does reformer Pilates once a week on the reformer she purchased for her home.
Joseph Pilates invented the workout method as prisoner of war during the First World War. He helped rehabilitate injured prisoners by creating exercises that could be done on hospital beds. With its history as a rehabilitation method, it makes sense that those with mobility issues would be drawn to Pilates.
Kelsey Adams, 29, started attending reformer classes last year as a way to stay fit and build muscle around her knee joints, which had suffered damage during her years as a track and field athlete. Her physiotherapist endorsed the idea as a way to rehabilitate her knees and other weaker muscles and joints, and now Adams goes once a week.
Pilates can come with a high price tag (Adams pays $145 monthly for classes, and Florence bought her reformer for $1,200). But the cost can be well worth the results.
Here are four reasons to try reformer Pilates
It improves your mobility
According to Veronica Jamnik, a professor teaching health and performance-related exercise at York University’s School of Kinesiology, the design of the reformer allows people to get a wide range of motion thanks to “a combination of resistance bands and calisthenics,” which works to improve mobility.
“The biggest factor is that there’s tension: You’re physically pushing and pulling,” says Jennifer Winter, the founder and creator of Nice Day Pilates in Toronto. “It offers a much deeper range of motion because you’re being suspended by straps with tension.” On a mat, you’re fighting against gravity.
It’s gentler on the joints
As Florence and Adams can attest, you can still do reformer Pilates even when injured or dealing with a chronic issue. Pilates is low-impact to begin with (there’s no jumping or heavy weights), but the reformer also helps guide you through the motion to avoid further injury. “You’re rewiring your joints on how to take on impact,” says Winter. There’s a lot of repetition with Pilates, but Winter says it’s because your body is learning how to absorb the shock.
Plus, you have built-in support. According to Pirkko Markula-Denison, a professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation, the reformer straps support your body – particularly your legs – as you move them. “You can really see how the reformer was originally developed to make exercising easier.”
It improves your core, which has a whole suite of benefits
Reformer Pilates requires your core to be engaged and stabilized while lengthening your spine, says Jamnik. “You’re moving a lot of things while keeping your core stable,” she says. This in turn improves core strength, yes, but also overall balance and stability, which your core muscles are responsible for maintaining. A stronger core – both the front and back – also leads to better posture: When your core muscles are weak, you tend to lean forward and slouch.
It works your entire body
The best part of reformer Pilates is working out many muscle groups at once. Winter says that, as you do more repetitions, you start to “build healthy habits for your entire body.”
These compound movements include squats (which work your quads, glutes and calves at the same time) and push ups (which work triceps, pecs and shoulders).