Pilates Is for Every Body

One of the things we love most about Pilates is that you don’t have to be fit to start. You don’t have to be flexible. You don’t have to be young, strong, coordinated or experienced.

You just have to start where you are.

Pilates is incredibly adaptable. The same principles of movement can be used with someone taking their first steps back into exercise, someone in their 80s wanting to stay strong and independent, or someone fit and athletic looking for a serious physical challenge.

And that is what makes it so special.

Your body doesn’t have to fit Pilates. Pilates fits your body.

So many forms of exercise ask you to keep up.

Run at this speed. Lift this weight. Complete this many repetitions. Follow everyone else in the room.

Pilates can be different.

Exercises can be adapted, supported, progressed or simplified depending on the person in front of us. The reformer is particularly brilliant for this because the springs can provide support as well as resistance.

That means two people can be doing what looks like the same exercise while working at completely different levels.

The goal isn’t to keep up with the person next to you. The goal is to move your own body well.

But there is a difference in who teaches you

This is something that is really important to us at movement&co.

We aren’t simply instructors who have completed a short Pilates course. Our team is made up of highly qualified and experienced exercise professionals with a deep understanding of physiology, anatomy, movement and exercise.

And we believe that matters.

Knowing a repertoire of Pilates exercises is one thing. Understanding why you’re asking someone to perform an exercise, what you’re seeing when they move, when something needs adapting and how to progress that person appropriately is something quite different.

A qualification can teach you exercises.

Years of education and experience teach you to understand the person performing them.

At movement&co, we look at the individual in front of us. Their movement, strength, limitations, history and goals all influence how we teach them.

That’s particularly important when you’re working with a huge variety of people — from complete beginners and older adults to experienced athletes and people returning to exercise after injury.

It’s also one of the reasons we deliberately keep our classes small.

We don’t believe great Pilates is about standing at the front of a room and delivering the same sequence to everyone.

It’s about watching. Understanding. Adapting. Progressing.

There is a difference — and we think you should expect that level of knowledge from the person you trust with your body.

Pilates can grow with you

Perhaps one of the most important things about Pilates is that it doesn’t have an obvious starting or finishing point.

If you’re new to exercise, we can start gently.

If movement feels difficult, we can adapt.

If you’re returning to exercise and have been advised that it’s appropriate, we can gradually rebuild.

If you’re already strong and fit, Pilates can become incredibly challenging.

And as you get stronger, more confident and more coordinated, the exercises progress with you.

There is always somewhere to go.

It’s about more than flexibility

Pilates sometimes gets labelled as stretching. It is so much more than that.

Good Pilates develops strength, control, balance, coordination, mobility and body awareness. It asks you to concentrate on how you move rather than simply getting through an exercise.

You begin to notice things.

How you’re standing. How you’re breathing. Where you’re holding tension. Whether one side is doing more work than the other. How your body responds when you slow something down and move with control.

Those small things matter.

And age really doesn’t matter

At movement&co, we see such a range of people walk through our doors.

Different ages. Different bodies. Different fitness levels. Different reasons for coming.

Some want to feel stronger. Some want an hour for themselves. Some want to complement running, cycling or another sport. Others simply want to continue getting up from the floor easily, carrying their shopping, playing with their grandchildren and feeling confident in their body as they get older.

Those goals may sound very different, but Pilates has a place in all of them.

Because exercise doesn’t always have to be about being faster, thinner or lifting heavier.

Sometimes the most important goal is simply being able to keep doing the things you love for as long as possible.

Fewer bodies. Better Pilates.

Pilates being adaptable doesn’t automatically mean every Pilates class is right for everybody.

The quality of the teaching matters.

An instructor needs to see the person in front of them: how they move, what they find difficult, and when they need more support or more challenge.

That’s why we believe in fewer bodies, better results and a more tailored approach.

We don’t want people disappearing into the back of a huge class and simply trying to copy what’s happening at the front.

We want to know you.

Because Pilates shouldn’t be about making your body fit an exercise.

It should be about finding the right exercise for your body — taught by someone who understands why.

And whether you’re 18 or 100, completely new to exercise or incredibly fit, that’s a pretty wonderful place to start.