Doing Pilates Daily

How to Make a Daily Workout Safe and Effective

It is not necessary to do Pilates everyday to reap the rewards of Pilates workouts. In fact, doing Pilates a few times a week is sufficient to create positive changes, but once the benefits of Pilates start kicking in, people are often inspired to do Pilates as much as they can.

The questions then arise: How regularly can I do a Pilates workout, and is it safe and beneficial to do Pilates every day? Let's take a look at how Pilates might be a little more adaptable to daily training than some other forms of exercise, and what you will want to keep in mind as you create a balanced Pilates workout routine over time.

Is Pilates Like Strength Training?

Many people are familiar with the caution that comes with strength training and other higher intensity exercise systems - that one should take time off between workouts.

The reason for this is that in order to build strength, you have to actually tax the muscle enough to tear it down a bit. Then, the muscle rebuilds stronger than before.

Pilates is a form of moderate strength training, and a challenging Pilates workout will breakdown muscle and prompt the body to rebuild stronger. However, a big difference between Pilates and regular strength training is that in Pilates we are also educating the body to move more efficiently. To this end, Pilates workouts will also emphasize things like functional alignment, breath, and co-ordination.

Find Your Rhythm

A good rhythm for doing Pilates workouts over time would be to do a physically challenging workout one day and follow it with a day or two that are easier on the muscles. Use those days to emphasize the integration of the Pilates principles into the movement and breath, working with full attention, and doing the moves in an easy flowing manner. Then, bring those elements into another more physically demanding workout. This way, the muscles get to rest and re-build for strength while you continue to train.

Variety Balances a Pilates Workout

Joseph Pilates firmly believed that the workout should be varied, and that the way to maximize the effect of each move was by doing it with full attention, not with too much repetition. Taking a cue from Joe, we want work different muscle groups, shift intensity levels, and balance the exercises in terms of flexion and extension within each workout, and within our workouts over time. Repeating the same routine everyday could result in an unbalanced routine and become as boring as doing too many reps. in a session.

“Contrology [Pilates] is not a fatiguing system of dull, boring, abhorred exercises repeated daily ad-nauseam..........The only unchanging rules you must conscientiously obey are that you must always faithfully and without deviation follow the instructions accompanying the exercises and always keep your mind wholly concentrated on the purpose of the exercises as you perform them.”
Joseph Pilates

So the answer to our question is YES, one can do Pilates safely and effectively every day. The key is to vary the workouts. Keep them interesting, and if a particular muscle group is challenged one day, give it just a moderate workout the next.

For more ideas on keeping your workout interesting and effective read:
Tips on creating variety in your Pilates workout.
Seven Ways to Maximize Your Pilates Classes