Can Men do Pilates?

You may wonder if men can do Pilates too. Well, I can tell you that Pilates is great for men!

Why? Because it’s more effective to train towards your weaknesses than your strengths, and men in general tend to forget to work on their flexibility and core strength. Therefore, Pilates is a rather hard work out for men, which is why we have seen a steady increase in the numbers of men coming to our Pilates classes, watching our YouTube videos and signing up to the Kalm Pilates programmes.

As a teacher, I love it when a guy tries out Pilates and discovers how hard it is as they often see this challenge as a positive… they then really get determined to become better and I love this commitment. This is not only a male thing of course, but women are often already more aware what Pilates is about, so it’s the men I often feel I have to convince more to give it a try.

Can men do Pilates? Testimonials from Andy, Stuart & Mark

I wanted to share a testimonial from Andy, Stuart and Mark, who all follow my classes, on why they started Pilates and how it has changed their body.

Andy says: “I started Pilates as I’ve had a few issues with my back over the last couple of years so I wanted to improve my core strength and flexibility. I finally started as I injured my foot a few months ago and couldn’t play football for a few weeks, so my wife convinced me to give Pilates a go. It’s really helped my back and general fitness, although I’ve still got a long way to go with my flexibility!”

Stuart also started Pilates as a result of an injury. “I injured my back, tearing a disc, and needed to build up my core strength, which was weak after years of doing a desk job, to protect it”, says Stuart. “My Physio at the time used to do Pilates exercises with me and recommended I did it more regularly. I was also aware that I had general issues and bad posture, again due to sitting at a desk all day. Pilates offered a way of building up that strength in a gentler, more low impact way compared with other options.”

Mark has always been into fitness and find Pilates is a great all-body workout. He says: “I have done lots of different sports, from Judo to boxing, but I find Pilates really hard as it works towards my weaknesses. My legs may be shaking, my hipflexors may be crying, but I always come back for more as it definitely is one of the best workouts I’ve ever done.”