By in Yoga & Pilates

Is Pilates For Men?

There are many misconceptions about Pilates.

Many say it is only for dancers, or you have to be a really flexible, fit and coordinated girl to be suited to Pilates. Perhaps this comes from the fact that Pilates was a preferred method of rehabilitation for the New York Ballet, back in the 1930ies, when Pilates was still being developed. Hence there are many influences from dance in the classical Pilates repertoire and it is still favoured by dancers today.

Many people say Pilates is for older, sedentary ladies with back pain. Strangely this could be not more opposite a picture to the above, and yet it is another idea that people, particularly men tend to have about Pilates. Perhaps this comes from the fact that Pilates indeed can be a great option for elderly people in pain. It can work very positively on very subtle levels and does not require great physical abilities in order to make a difference to injury recovery and overall well being.

Many also say that Pilates is for pre-and postnatal women. Of course, Pilates can be made to suit women in these circumstances very well.

However, you rarely hear that Pilates is for men. To be fair, when we look at Pilates mat classes out there, there are very few men to be seen. Also, most Pilates teachers are women. It makes sense that some men would not feel comfortable joining such female-dominated gatherings to work on their body and mind.

But here is the thing, Joseph Pilates, the inventor of the method was a man. When he first started to work with people in Germany, using his method, he was hired to rehabilitate WW1 soldiers. After that, he was asked to train the police force. So it was only in the latter days of his career that he started to work with females. Originally it was developed for people in very male-dominated professions, such as the military and police. In fact, you can see the influences of this in the classical repertoire.

Also, when I look at my client base of 1-1, -so non-group based clients, I have to say that my average client is a professional male between 35 – 65 years old, who is dealing with a health condition or a chronic, often work-related, injury. Fact is that the vast majority of my private clients are men.

Men, just like women hold stressful, often office-based jobs. With these stressful jobs often come repetitive strain injuries, back pain, sciatica or shoulder pain. And that is what I am seeing at my studio a lot. Men tend to choose private sessions over group classes, perhaps because they know they are worth having their own individualised session that addresses exactly what they are dealing with rather than being taken through a generic program, designed for the needs of most people in the class who tend to be, as mentioned, female.

In fact, many of my male clients tell me, that they were very hesitant to start Pilates at first because they thought it was “a women thing” or would be too easy for them. Needless to say that they all changed their mind as soon as they started meeting their very own movement challenges within Pilates and realised the benefits Pilates gave them.

What we need to understand is that Pilates can be a very different thing to different people. It can be practised at a low intensity, where an injured person can move safely and it can be a challenging practice for a healthy athlete. Men and women have slightly different requirements, based on the fact that genetically men tend to be muscularly stronger but less flexible than women. Pilates can respond to that, just like it responds to different requirements, needs and abilities for individuals. In the end, Pilates teaches you to move healthier and more efficiently, something that both men and women need in order to overcome injury and maximise their potential.

If you would like to find out more about Pilates or book a session or class, contact Kristin at The Body Matters on 01702 714968.

Kristin Loeer
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