How Is Pilates Different From Yoga

Who May Benefit Most From Barre

Barre workouts are appropriate for individuals of all fitness levels. It is ideal for individuals who wish to improve their core strength and posture. Many of us often sit in a hunched position at a desk or in front of a computer for long periods, and it takes its toll over time. Barre is appropriate for individuals who are seeking an intense but low-impact workout that will offer quick results.

Barre is also best for people who wish to work out their whole body every time they work out. Barres focus on small, isolated groups of muscles means that you will most likely be sore after each workout. Both former dancers and also those with no prior dance experience will enjoy and benefit from the upbeat nature of barre workouts.

Who May Benefit Most From Yoga

Yoga is appropriate for individuals of all ages and fitness levels. Those who are seeking a workout that increases their mind, body and spiritual awareness will find yoga to be a good fit for them. Those who wish to increase their fitness level at a slower pace may find that yoga is perfect for them, although the physical intensity is just as high as in many other exercise methods. Yoga exercises utilize a variety of muscle groups at the same time, so an entire body workout is often achieved during each class. Yoga is effective in toning muscles without creating a bulky look.

Pregnant women may find yoga to be a beneficial workout, but you should always consult your physician before engaging in any exercise program, especially during pregnancy. Individuals who want a more relaxing form of exercise while improving upon their current level of fitness will find yoga to be enjoyable. Many people benefit from the clear-headedness that comes with the deep breathing and mind-calming exercises that take place with yoga.

Feel Grounded With Yoga

Yoga is a total mind-body workout that requires flowing through a set series of exercises called poses while using the breath to focus the mind. The practice originated in India and each yoga pose has an English or Sanskrit name. 

There are many different styles of yoga, from dynamic Vinyasa yoga to gentle and restorative yin, making it a great option for everyone.  

If youre a beginner looking to get started with yoga, the good news is that you dont need any fancy equipment although you may want a non-slip mat if you decide to start an at-home yoga practice.

Sweat instructor Phyllicia Bonannos Yoga with Phyllicia classes on the Sweat app are a gentle, accessible way to learn the fundamentals, with a focus on slower flows that help you find stability in each pose or posture. If youre ready for a challenge, you can try Ania Tippkempers Yoga with Ania or Sjana Elises Body And Mind programs which both follow a powerful and dynamic Vinyasa style of yoga.

Are There Any Drawbacks To Pilates

I don’t think anyone should avoid Pilates, says DeLuca. I do think that some people should be in private Pilates training with a seasoned teacher, while others would be fine in group settings. I always encourage people to do at least three private sessions before joining a group. One other caveat that she points out: There are also many different forms out there calling themselves ‘Pilates’ when they’re not the tried and true version, says DeLuca. Consumers should do their homework and find the right fit.

Pilates Vs Yoga: The Key Differences And Benefits

Yoga and pilates are both beneficial, and their variety allows practitioners to find a style that works best for them.

Pilates and yoga offer multiple health benefits, with results including improved strength and flexibility. Both exercises involve mindful movements that support body weight and work various muscles.

People interested in yoga or pilates are typically looking for a relaxing low-impact workout that offers beneficial physical changes.

As the popularity of yoga and pilates continues to rise in the world of health and wellness, the confusion surrounding the difference between the two forms of exercise is also increasing.

Heres what you need to know about the practices and which one may be best for you. 

Contents

• The Takeaway

Best For Back Pain: Yoga Or Pilates

Pilates uses thoracic breathing and exercises to strengthen and bring flexibility to the deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles that support the back. With this as the main focus, hands down, you would assume that Pilates is better for your back. After all, strength and flexibility are essential for any rehabilitation programme. 

Yoga, however, can also improve back health and could be argued to be better for maintaining back health or avoiding injuries in the first place. 

Yoga’s focus on mindfulness also makes us more body aware, helping us to avoid injuries as we learn to understand how our body reacts to certain positions. We learn how to adapt positions to suit our abilities and we become more aware of the minutiae of our body. 

In this way, yoga gives us more knowledge about our body, helping us to recognise when something is good or bad for us. In yoga, there are postures that target tight lower back muscles and build core strength to find the same spinal stability that Pilates works to achieve. 

Yoga postures are designed to move the spine in all the ways its able to go. This alone can help maintain back health. 

Just as Pilates works on the pelvic floor muscles, its not commonly known that yoga also does this. There are things known as Bandhas within yoga, one of which is to contract the pelvic floor muscles, known as Moola Bandha, while holding postures. 

Barre Vs Yoga Vs Pilates: Which Is Right For You

Congratulations on your decision to make yourself a priority and commit to a regular workout routine. The addition of physical fitness into your life requires hard work, but yields great rewards. Now, which method should you choose? With the vast choice of fitness workout options available today, it can be overwhelming to know which one is right for you.

Which Is Better Yoga Or The Gym

Yoga is a gentle way to tone up, build strength, and boost your mental and physical health. While you can also reach these goals in the gym, it can be a far more aggressive and crowded environment. With a yoga or Pilates class, you are instructed throughout. At the gym, youre more likely to be on your own .

Burn Many Calories During A Yoga Session

Yes, you can burn around the same number of calories in either Pilates or yoga, however, Bikram yoga will have you sweating and burning calories by the minute.

Since the studio is kept at 105-degrees Fahrenheit , your bodys metabolism will increase which will help you burn more calories. Holding the positions in this temperature will also leave your muscles feeling a sense of depletion and increased flexibility.

Yoga V Pilates: Both Are Popular But Which Would Work Best For You

Increasing stress levels and growing awareness of wellbeing have contributed to the success of both forms of exercise. But their benefits depend on your body type and temperament

Yoga may have taken 5,000 years to evolve into a western phenomenon, but its 21st-century profile has rocketed at lightning speed. The number of US practitioners has doubled in just a few years, reaching 37 million in 2016, while there are half a million in the UK. The global market is estimated at $80bn .

Pilates, yogas more modern associate, has seen similarly rapid growth since it was devised almost 100 years ago. Increasing stress levels, coupled with a greater focus on physical health and wellbeing, are cited as factors in the growth of both, as well as celebrity endorsements Madonna and Geri Halliwell have long sworn allegiance to yoga, while Beyoncé and Emma Stone fly the flag for pilates.

But despite the longevity and global popularity, confusion persists about yoga and pilates, compounded by the increasing variety of classes offered in each discipline. Ashtanga, iyengar and vinyasa are all considered relatively modern incarnations of yoga; inevitably new variants of pilates have sprung up, too, as the market has become more commercialised. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, whose mother, Doria Ragland, is a yoga teacher, is a fan of Megaformer a souped-up version of reformer pilates while gyrotonic yoga is credited with helping Andy Murray with his longstanding back issues.

Which Is More Difficult

Again, this varies somewhat by style and class type. With either workout, its important to start with a beginner program in order to learn good form. In most cases, Pilates is a more intense workout. With equipment, the movements can be more complicated and difficult than yoga poses. On the other hand, advanced yoga can be challenging as well.

Both yoga and Pilates are excellent choices for regular practice. Along with other healthy lifestyle habits, both can improve physical and mental health. Choose the practice that best meets your needs and matches your goals.

Is Yoga Or Pilates Better For Your Back

Although there are many differences between yoga and Pilates, both are good at battling back pain and increasing flexibility. As they offer a gentle workout, they can slowly build up your flexibility without harsh movements.  If you have chronic back pain, some yoga poses can aggravate this, so you do need to be careful when you start.  Make your yoga teacher aware of any issues before you begin. It also doesnt hurt to talk to your doctor, orthopedist, or other specialist before trying any new stretching or workout routines.

Yoga Vs Pilates What Are The Differences And Which One Will Work Best For You

Weighing up yoga vs Pilates can be tricky. After all, at first glance, they both seem very similar. If youre looking to gain flexibility, get stronger and ease stress, then it can be argued that both of these workouts are equally brilliant for boosting physical and mental wellbeing.

What’s more, the beauty of both yoga and Pilates is that anyone regardless of age or ability, can simply roll out one of the best yoga mats, and start reaping the benefits from the comfort of their own home. 

So, what sets these two workouts apart? And is one better for you than the other? We asked one yoga instructor and one Pilates expert to explain how both exercises can improve your health. All you need to do is pull on a pair of your best leggings and get ready to stretch out your limbs.

Who May Benefit Most From Pilates

Pilates is great for individuals of all fitness levels. People who are just beginning a fitness program will find its a great way to ease into more intense methods of exercise. Its also beneficial for pregnant and postpartum women and people wishing to strengthen their muscles after an injury. A physicians approval should be sought before beginning any exercise program.

People who enjoy yoga but may be looking for a more vigorous core workout can benefit from Pilates, as they both incorporate similar mind-clearing techniques. Pilates is great for people who desire a full-body workout during each class. Though an intense fitness method, Pilates provides an effective workout with minimal impact on the joints.

What About Doing Both

Some people research Yoga vs. Pilates and cant decide which one they want to do. For some, it would seem like a combination of core strengthening, mat exercises would go great with meditation. It is perfectly fine to do both routines together and those who do combine them find they blend nicely. You can do your Yoga stretches first and then move on to Pilates for your abdominal muscles. Then you can do your Pilates machine work and use that to help improve your Yoga poses. While doing Pilates you can incorporate meditation, and while doing Yoga you can use the Pilates power breathing techniques. You will notice yourself getting stronger and dealing with stress and illness better.

If you are trying to lose weight, you can take these notes into consideration:

1)     Try switching Pilates machines and doing intervals between cardio and mat work poses. Making brief changes helps to increase calorie burning by the body and increases weight loss potential.

2)     Whether Pilates or Yoga, both should be done while eating a very healthy diet. Reduce processed foods, fast foods, and sugars. Increase fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meat, whole grains, and healthy fats . Drink plenty of water before and after working out. Try to drink coffee and alcohol in moderation.

Super SlimDown: Pilates Yoga Blend

Are There Any Drawbacks To Yoga

Says Russo, The biggest drawback is that yoga, for better or worse, has become very mainstream, and in many studios its turned into a workout much more than a full mind/body practice. A poorly trained teacher who is not proficient in anatomy can easily injure someone. Also, if you have a long list of injuries and need special attention, opting for private one-on-one yoga is a safer option than a group class. Its hard for even the best trained teacher to give someone with serious injuries the attention they need in a group class.

Similarities Between Yoga & Pilates

There are a few attributes that overlap between the two. Both practices fall under the category of “mind-body” exercise because they focus on the mind’s ability to control and guide the physical body. This allows many practitioners to gain self-confidence and poise not only in their practice, but in everyday life. Both yoga and Pilates concentrate on building physical strength, flexibility, and full-body coordination. Also, both apply methods of breath control, which in turn has a calming effect on the mind and internal body.

Open Leg Balance/boat Pose

Verywell / Ben Goldstein

A core strengthener, this move is familiar to both Pilates and yoga students. Yoga might present boat pose with the legs together, and with or without grasping the ankles.

In Pilates open leg balance, the legs are in a V shape and the ankles are held. The basic move, using the abdominals to hold the body in a V while perched on, or just behind, the sit bones are the same for both.

This exercise brings up another general difference between Pilates and yoga which is that though there are some held poses in Pilates , Pilates generally keeps moving. Open leg balance is also part of Pilates exercises teaser and open leg rocker.

The Benefits In Pregnancy

With specific adaptations, yoga and Pilates are both considered safe and highly beneficial in pregnancy.

One of the most popular prenatal classes, yoga helps to strengthen your core muscles, ease back pain and maintain muscle tone while being a gentle exercise thats also kind to your joints and helps you to relax.

Simpson says that in prenatal classes, we address the key areas of pelvic floor, aching neck and shoulders, loss of stamina and maintaining flexibility. I would really encourage expectant mothers to practise yoga, as it can improve sleep, reduce stress and help maintain a healthy posture during pregnancy, too.Indeed, students report a whole host of benefits.

Pilates is considered one of the most effective exercises in pre- and postnatal women as it targets the muscles that generally weaken during pregnancy.

Erica Foulds, master trainer at Ten Health & Fitness explains: During pregnancy, the body is constantly changing. Pilates is an effective and safe way to build the strength and endurance that will help you cope better with those changes. Its also great for keeping the pelvis strong to assist the process of a natural birth; labour can last for several hours and core muscles will fatigue easily if they have not been trained throughout pregnancy.

Foulds also states that mothers-to-be who regularly exercise their core muscles can expect reduced lower back and pelvic pain and even shorter labours. Well, heres hoping.

Both Can Help You Lose Weight

If you’re trying to lose weight, how many calories you burn while exercising matters. The calories you burn during yoga and Pilates will depend on the type you practice. 

For example, the American Council on Exercise found 50 minutes of: 

• Hatha yoga burned 144 calories
• Power yoga burned 237 calories
• Beginner Pilates burned 175 calories
• Advanced Pilates burned 254 calories

Other measurements have found yoga can burn even more: 540 calories per hour for vinyasa yoga, a vigorous style.   

A 2013 review found that yoga programs often help people lose weight. A small 2020 study of obese young women with elevated blood pressure found mat Pilates also reduced body fat. 

To lose weight safely and effectively, you should work with a doctor or nutritionist to create an individualized plan for diet and exercise. 

Yoga Vs Pilates: The Similarities

Yoga and pilates both share a mind and body approach to exercise and health, in that having an awareness of your body how it feels, how it reacts is important to its health. This is reflected in the movements that yoga and pilates exercises emphasize. Yoga practitioners, for example, always say to hold poses youre comfortable with, or to modify a pose to your ability level. Pilates originated as a rehabilitative exercise and is about controlled movements. This is why its sometimes known as Contrology.

Another similarity between yoga and pilates is some While yoga has five basic principles and pilates has six, the two overlap in the following principles: breathing, and flow/proper exercise.

Breathing is essential for both exercises and one of the core principles for both. Although they take slightly different forms between yoga and pilates, both emphasize breathing as part of the sequence of movements or asanas . The principle of breathing aligns with the principle of flow and proper exercise. For both yoga and pilates, the movements are intended to flow or move into each other in a relaxed, but controlled manner. This is where the assistance of breath comes in.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Pilates

There are many reports on the health benefits of pilates. However, few of these have been subjected to rigorous scientific examination, and there’s a need for more research in this area.

Practitioners say regular pilates can improve posture, muscle tone, balance and joint mobility, as well as relieve stress and tension.

Best For Gaining Flexibility Yoga Or Pilates

Yoga does aim to improve the flexibility of your muscles, while Pilates may achieve this as a side benefit of the exercises. 

Pilates focuses more on relaxing tense muscles, so you can work on strengthening them. But the Pilates exercises do also lead to improved flexibility in the joints, your range of motion, and relief from stiff joints, even if this isnt the primary goal. 

Yoga is known to be a go-to for improving flexibility, because the main focus is to refine posture by making the body more limber, so we can sit for meditation. Yogas aim is to increase your feeling of comfort in your own body, helping you to move with ease. Yoga works by moving you through the range of motion available in your joints, while simultaneously increasing the flexibility of your muscles. 

Its important to remember that we cant actually lengthen or shorten our muscles. They remain the same length but we can improve their ability to contract and expand further without the pain signals from the nervous system.

Barre Vs Yoga Vs Pilates

If youre trying to decide which fitness method is best for you, or you think a mixture of all three would be ideal, consider the barre method. It incorporates its own positive techniques along with some from both yoga and Pilates.

Barre will help you build and strengthen your muscles, improve your core strength and posture and give your body a lean and toned look. Unlike yoga and Pilates, which can sometimes take weeks and even months to see visible results, barre participants start seeing results in as little as eight workouts.

Another positive aspect of the barre method is the upbeat nature and feeling of community and camaraderie that is a natural result of the barre atmosphere. Unlike yoga and Pilates classes that often require quiet self-reflection, having fun is acceptable and encouraged in barre classes.

Theres plenty of opportunities for quiet concentration when you are focusing on the tiny muscle movements that are working your entire body from head to toe during every class. Your arms, abs, thighs and glutes will quickly reflect the results of your hard work.

Unlike yoga and Pilates, barre incorporates aerobics into each workout to strengthen your cardiovascular system and help you burn loads of calories. Barres ability to give you an intense cardio workout while remaining low-impact is another desirable benefit of the program.

Yoga Vs Pilates: Choosing Whats Right For You

Like many modern exercises today, yoga and pilates are both practices that can be done either in a group setting or at home as a solo practice. For both fitness forms, there are plenty of tutorials for those who like to learn on their own. Group classes are great for beginners, and many other fitness classes tend to incorporate some moves or principles from each form, like the meditative cool-down at the end of a workout. If deciding whether to choose yoga or pilates as your next exercise practice, it really comes down to personal preference.

Health Benefits Of Pilates

The health benefits of Pilates include:

• improved flexibility
• increased muscle strength and tone, particularly of your abdominal muscles, lower back, hips and buttocks
• balanced muscular strength on both sides of your body
• enhanced muscular control of your back and limbs
• improved stabilisation of your spine
• improved posture
• stress management and relaxation.

The Varying Histories Of Yoga And Pilates

Yoga is a sacred tradition that spawned in India some 5,000+ years ago. Its purpose was to connect the individual consciousness to the universal blissful consciousness.

Together with asanas , breath control, and simple meditation, it improves your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, explains Nichola Dunne, yoga instructor at YogaWorks in Brentwood, California.

The repetition of the asanas and the attention to the details of the poses, helps to calm and quiet the busy mind while building flexibility and strength.

Pilates is more new-age, although its been around for nearly a century. Pilates was founded around 1925 by Joseph Pilates and was mostly used for physical rehabilitation, according to Dunne.

The main goal is to strengthen the core, improve posture, stabilize and elongate the spine, and develop balance and overall strength. Its since changed and developed dramatically over the course of the last several decades.

However, its main goals of strengthening the core, improving posture, stabilizing and elongating the spine, and developing balance and overall strength, remains intact, Dunne adds.

Aaptiv has yoga workouts that can help strengthen and tone your core. Download the app today and see all our workout classes.

How To Choose Between Yoga Or Pilates

Who said you have to choose? If you want to stick to one form of exercise for now, here are a few tips to help you decide between yoga and Pilates::

Try one class of yoga or Pilates at Genesis Health Clubs and you will quickly be able to decide which one is right for you!