Looking to tone up, ease joint pain, or improve posture? Reformer Pilates might be the life-changing workout you need. Photo / 123RF
Reformer Pilates machines are considered the ultimate tool to tone muscles, ease pain and shed the pounds.
It’s been 25 years since I last did a Pilates class, and now I’m remembering why I strayed for so long.
The movements are precise, the positions very specific and the classes can be eye-wateringly pricey. But as I’m lying on my back in Michelle Kemp’s Northern Sky reformer Pilates studio in Worthing, with limbs suspended in straps, doing repetitive sequences and feeling those core muscles tightening, I know that when you get it right, the results are amazing.
Since I last did it, Pilates has evolved, integrating current bio-mechanical thinking and modern equipment. The reformer machine is a bed-like frame with a flat platform that rolls back and forth, attached to weighted springs that allow for a greater depth of movement during exercise.
I have to admit that there’s something a bit Carry On Doctor about lying prone on a bed, legs up, feet in straps, surrounded by bars and pulleys. This medical vibe, as it turns out, is no coincidence.
Joseph Pilates, a German physical trainer, was interned in an English hospital during the First World War. While working as an orderly, he attached springs to the hospital beds to create rudimentary equipment so that injured prisoners of war could maintain their fitness while bed bound. Pilates as we know it was born.
Doing reformer Pilates while eating a good diet is supposed to do wonders for weight loss. But with group classes of reformer Pilates pricing at around £25 ($55) for a single session, and private one-on-one sessions from as much as £50 ($111), why is it so popular – and is the expense justified?
While mat-based Pilates is a type of strengthening exercise that requires no extra equipment, reformer Pilates involves the same moves performed with the added boost of a machine. So what’s the difference?
Tracy Ward is a physiotherapist, Pilates teacher and author of Science of Pilates. She explains: “Pilates has always been popular due to its multiple benefits of working your core, strengthening your whole body and developing flexible, lean muscles. Reformer Pilates does all this, while adding in the constant resistance aspect to further tone and strengthen the body.”
And it’s the springs attaching the platform to the frame that make the difference, says Kemp, who charges £50 ($111) an hour for one-on-one sessions.
“Mat Pilates just uses your body weight and gravity, whereas with reformer, the springs are weighted, so it resists and assists you, intensifying your workout.”
Most reformer moves involve pushing or pulling the platform against the spring resistance and controlling the movement back. This engages several muscles, particularly the core. The machine allows you to perform a wide variety of exercises, whether standing, seated on a block or lying down.
“It’s a whole body workout that benefits every muscle group every time,” says Ward.
The benefits include:
A study showed that 12 weeks of consistent reformer Pilates, when combined with a weight-loss diet, can positively change your body composition (the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in your body).
People who do regular Pilates often look incredibly toned and poised. This, says Smith, is due to their muscles being so much stronger.
“With Pilates you are really improving your strength and body composition. Having increased muscle versus body fat, you can move more easily with better posture and flexibility.”
We lose muscle mass progressively as we age, so improving muscle strength is vital. This can enable us to:
Kemp discovered reformer Pilates as a way of solving her own chronic pain issues after giving birth, which were exacerbated by hypermobility, a condition that means people have abnormally flexible joints.
Physiotherapist Ruth Smith uses both mat and reformer Pilates to help treat people who have injuries or who have had surgery, as well as pregnant women and those with specific musculoskeletal complaints. She says that while both types generally target your deep core muscles, “you may get a better quality of movement and be able to access those muscles better with reformer Pilates”.
Tracy Ward agrees: “It can demand more deep muscle strength and joint stability in order to hold the positions or transition from one move to the next.”
This can build better strength because you are controlling the machine’s moving carriage and also pushing or pulling against the pulley system at the same time. “Therefore, there is more demand on your muscles.”
If you have painful joints, a reformer workout can help with that too, as it’s not a heavy-loading form of exercise. “Reformer is particularly useful in this instance as you can put less pressure on the joints by adjusting the springs to move with less resistance,” says Smith.
There are some differences between the two. The reformer version of Pilates claims to target core muscles with even more depth and precision than mat Pilates.
The fact is you can make both types of Pilates as hard or as easy as you want, depending on the exercise routine you choose – and your own physical issues. “You need to find the appropriate level of challenge and resistance, and factor in your medical history and any injuries and pain,” says Smith.
The good thing about the reformer is it can help you take your exercise to the next level, “It adds a whole new dimension to the workout to make it more challenging overall,” says Ward.
The options are much greater for reformer than mat work. In fact, the exercises you can do on a reformer are infinite, you can do:
Yes. Reformer Pilates can be done by almost anyone regardless of age or injuries because the exercises can be modified, and as it’s low impact, it minimises joint stress and caters for all ages and fitness levels.
However, if you’re a newbie, says Ward, it is best to start reformer Pilates with a class that’s specifically for beginners or a one-on-one session.
“Initially there’s a lot to learn, like how to set up and work the reformer and its different parts, as well as the principles of Pilates.”
In a group class, you have to adjust the equipment yourself, so starting with a one-on-one enables you to get the most out of your sessions. “It will also give you some understanding of what you’re trying to achieve and how to activate the muscles that you want to,” says Smith.
“Reformer Pilates gives you more mobility and flexibility than you get from other forms of exercise,” she continues. “In each case, I will design a programme that’s safe and appropriate for that person, and because they’re doing the movements on a reformer, the springs give assistance to the movements so they can do them without pain.”
For anyone nervous of doing themselves some damage, this is welcome news.
“If you have a weakness, you discuss it and work on it in a supported way to strengthen the muscles around it,” says Kemp.
You won’t necessarily see your belly reduce in size just by doing reformer Pilates – you’d have to be reducing calories to do that. “But you will notice a change in body shape, posture and composition, which will change the way you look, even if it doesn’t affect your overall weight,” says Smith.
“Strengthening through your deep core muscles – your pelvic floor, your deep abdominals, your deep spinal muscles and your diaphragm – will give you more strength through your trunk and core, changing your shape through your tummy and hips,” she adds.
But there are weight-loss benefits if you do reformer Pilates regularly. Research shows that it causes people to burn more calories (2.6 calories per minute) than mat Pilates (1.9 calories per minute).
“By building more muscle through strength training, you will be burning more calories, so reformer Pilates can help as part of a weight-loss plan,” says Smith.
One study showed that people who followed a regular reformer programme for nine weeks had improved cholesterol levels and lower insulin levels, suggesting that it has overall favourable effect on health.
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