Buying a Pilates machine for home: reformers, cords and space
How to choose a Pilates machine for home: springs or cords, floor space and ceiling, weight limits, folding, noise, sliding boards and learning first.
Pilates Glossy: Pilates, mobility and everyday fitness
Latest story
Pilates
Pilates bar or weighted body bar: choosing the right one
A Pilates bar is either a take-apart bar with bands or a slim weighted body bar. How to choose each, which bands or weight to start with, and six exercises.
Mobility & Recovery
Yoga blocks for Pilates: foam, cork or bamboo, and how to use one
How to choose a yoga block for Pilates: foam, cork or bamboo, the standard 4 x 6 x 9 size, four ways to use one on the mat, and four blocks to consider.
Plant-based Food
How to choose a plant-based protein powder you will actually use
How to choose a plant-based protein powder: pea, soy, hemp and blends compared, how to read the label, pea protein vs whey, shakes and cooking with it.
Latest stories
Twelve hip mobility exercises, sorted by where you do them
Twelve hip mobility exercises sorted by position, standing, kneeling, floor and wall, with hip flexor stretches, how often to do them and easier options.
Keep reading: Twelve hip mobility exercises, sorted by where you do them
Why the Hundred comes first, and how to do it well
The Hundred opens the classical Pilates mat order. Why it comes first, how to breathe and pump, where the head and legs go, common faults and easier versions.
Keep reading: Why the Hundred comes first, and how to do it well
Who invented Pilates? The man, the method and its original name
Joseph Pilates invented the method and called it Contrology. Who he was, when it took shape, what he built, and where the legend runs ahead of the record.
Keep reading: Who invented Pilates? The man, the method and its original name
Does Pilates help you lose weight? An honest answer
Can you lose weight with Pilates? What a class burns by the Compendium figures, why food and daily movement matter more, and what Pilates adds to the mix.
Keep reading: Does Pilates help you lose weight? An honest answer
Three Pilates sessions a week, even as the evenings draw in
How to build a three-sessions-a-week Pilates habit for autumn and winter: where to put the sessions, the shortest one worth doing, and how to keep going.
Keep reading: Three Pilates sessions a week, even as the evenings draw in
Choosing a foam roller: density, length and how to use one
How to choose a foam roller by density, length and texture, how to use one safely on your legs and upper back, and three rollers that suit Pilates at home.
Keep reading: Choosing a foam roller: density, length and how to use one
Kit picks
- Power Systems high-density foam rollerFirm closed-cell foam in three lengths, with half-round versions for balance work.See it at Power Systems (Power Systems high-density foam roller)
- Power Systems Pilates resistance ringA studio supplier's ring: fibreglass under a soft foam cover, 15 inches across, in two resistances.See it at Power Systems (Power Systems Pilates resistance ring)
Links go to shops, and we may earn a commission. See the whole kit list
Workouts at Home
Ankle weights for Pilates and home workouts: how to choose a pair
How to choose ankle weights for Pilates and home leg work: how heavy, fixed or adjustable, fit, whether to walk in them, and three light pairs to consider.
Wellbeing
Pilates vs yoga, and how to choose between the two
Pilates vs yoga compared on origins, aims, breath, equipment and intensity, with Compendium MET figures, a table, barre in brief and who suits which.
Fitness Business
How to choose a resistance band set for home Pilates
Loops, fabric bands, long flat bands or tubes with handles: how to choose a resistance band set for Pilates at home, which strengths to buy and what to skip.
Lifestyle
Pilates equipment for home: the small kit worth buying first
What you need for Pilates at home: start with a thick mat, then add a ring, a small ball, loop bands and grip socks, in that order, and skip the gimmicks.
The archive shelf
Teachers, elders, history and the classical repertoire: the long reads we keep coming back to.
- What changes when an experienced teacher learns the classical order
- Why Pilates outlasted aerobics, step and every other fad
- How to find a good Pilates studio, and what to ask before you book
- How to learn Pilates from a book without picking up bad habits
- The craft of cueing, and how Pilates teachers find words that land
- How Pilates lasted a century, from internment camp to reformer club