Weights, Pilates and that word, "Toning"

Don't get me wrong, I like Pilates as much as the next person....

But why are Pilates and weights constantly pitted against each other?

“Weights make you bulky, but Pilates makes you toned.”

It's absolute rubbish. Create divisive narritave to get likes and shares on socials, that is all it is good for.

Both are brilliant forms of training. They just do different things. So toning is essentially, building muscle and reducing body fat so that your muscles are more visible.

Pilates is fantastic for mobility, flexibility, stability, posture, alignment and body awareness.

But if your goal is to build significant strength and muscle, you need progressive resistance training that provides enough mechanical tension to stimulate those adaptations.

That’s where weight training come in, because Pilates has a ceiling height with progressive overload.

So this isn’t about choosing one over the other.

The fitness industry loves to sell us the idea that there’s one “best” workout, the magic solution that will get us to our goals faster. There isn’t one!

Pilates is great. Strength training is great.

They have different purposes, and both can absolutely have a place in a well-rounded training programme.