Pilates vs Yoga: Which One Should You Practice and Why? Pilates is typically practiced to build strength or rehab after injury, while yoga is good for flexibility (if you’re wondering, “What does stretching do to your body? (opens in a new tab) read our article to learn more). But there is some overlap between the health benefits of the two different disciplines. For example, yoga has been found to increase muscle strength, particularly in the ‘trunk’ area of the body while Pilates has been shown to improve hamstring flexibility.
There is evidence to suggest that both yoga and Pilates can improve flexibility.
A long review, published in the Muscles Ligaments Tendons Diary (opens in a new tab) , gathered a lot of evidence showing that Pilates increases flexibility. A to study (opens in a new tab) mentioned in the review measured the distance from the fingertips to the floor of Pilates participants and found that this improved over a six-month period.
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But yoga has also been shown to increase flexibility. A 2016 study conducted by the International Yoga Magazine (opens in a new tab) It followed college athletes over a 10-week period. There were two groups; one that had bi-weekly yoga sessions and a control group that did no yoga activities at all. There were significant differences in flexibility in the group that attended biweekly yoga sessions, while there were no significant differences in the group that did not do any yoga activity.
So it seems that Pilates and yoga can help improve flexibility (opens in a new tab) , although yoga may have the additional advantage. Most studies on Pilates found that there was a difference in the flexibility of the participants’ hamstrings, while with yoga there appears to be an increase in total body flexibility.
Strength When you think about strength development, Pilates seems like the most obvious choice compared to yoga. You wouldn’t be wrong. Pilates is designed to build core strength, working on the abdominal muscles, as well as strengthening and toning other muscle groups.
A study in clinical biomechanics journal (opens in a new tab) evaluated 19 subjects 12 weeks apart. The experimental group practiced Pilates for two one-hour sessions a week. The results indicated that Pilates is effective in improving abdominal strength.
Another study, in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (opens in a new tab) , found that the participants could do significantly more sit-ups and push-ups than control subjects, who had not practiced Pilates. It was also found that the Pilates training group was able to lower their legs closer to zero degrees without lifting their lower spine off a flat surface. This indicates that greater abdominal strength was obtained through the practice of Pilates. The same study showed that in active middle-aged men and women who practiced Pilates for 12 weeks, doing two 60-minute sessions a week was enough to see significant increases in abdominal strength.
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But yoga is not without its benefits for gaining strength. A study in the magazine. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine (opens in a new tab) demonstrated significant improvements in muscle strength and flexibility in men and women who practiced yoga compared to the control group.
Unlike Pilates, the strength you can develop through yoga depends on the type of yoga you do. To build muscle strength, you must create resistance to tense and strengthen your muscles. Some more rigorous forms of yoga can achieve this, such as Ashtanga or Hatha, however forms of yoga such as Yin and Restorative will not strengthen or tone your body. So if you’re looking for an exercise to help you build strength, Pilates may have the upper hand.
Mental health It is not uncommon to hear that yoga has many more benefits than just physical fitness. It is well known for helping people with stress and anxiety. the International Yoga Magazine (opens in a new tab) found that practicing yoga and meditation as a means of managing acute and chronic stress can help people overcome comorbidities associated with disease and leads to a better quality of life.
This study also found that a regular yoga practice positively affected people’s ability to fall asleep. They found that it took less time to fall asleep and there was an increase in the number of hours they slept. Participants also reported feeling more rested in the morning. Pilates, on the other hand, has yet to be fully researched into its effects on mental health.
Rehabilitation When it comes to exercise, sometimes we’re trying to find something to help our body heal after an injury. We may think that a gentle exercise like yoga might be right for us or maybe we want to be more active and build strength so that Pilates is more appealing. What can be done to help the rehabilitation process?
the Clinical Biomechanics (opens in a new tab) The study concluded that a lack of abdominal strength and upper spinal posture can lead to problems in the neck and shoulder region, and therefore, since Pilates works directly on building strength in these areas, it argued that would support the use of Pilates in the prevention of neck pain. and shoulder disorders.
However, this is a preventative measure. What happens after an injury?
Low back pain is a common injury and can cause all sorts of problems for people. There is not enough scientific evidence to support or refute the use of Pilates as a treatment for diagnoses such as low back pain. A study published in Journal of orthopedic and sports physiotherapy (opens in a new tab) sought to determine the effectiveness of using Pilates as a therapeutic exercise approach for chronic low back pain. Subjects participated in a four-week program with Pilates equipment. They noted significantly lower levels of functional disability and average pain intensity after the Pilates weeks.
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Interestingly, this study also found that people in the specific exercise training group reported a significant decrease in chronic low back pain and disability and this was maintained over a 12-month follow-up period. This study concluded that treatment with a modified Pilates-based approach could be more effective than consultations with doctors, specialists, and other health professionals.
Pilates may focus on physical rehabilitation by strengthening the body, but yoga’s approach to rehabilitation is different. Yoga has been shown to be an effective treatment for low back pain. There have been many studies indicating that yoga postures, meditation, or a combination of the two can reduce pain and disability and can also increase flexibility and mobility in people with various conditions that cause chronic pain.
It seems that Pilates can rehabilitate your physical body with strengthening exercises or prevent injury in the first place. Yoga, on the other hand, can rehabilitate your body and work on your mental attitude towards your injury, helping you work through pain and discomfort.
Weightloss Most people think that to lose weight you need to exercise like running. Studies have found that Pilates and yoga can help you lose weight, but the way they do it is different.
A study published in Preventive medicine (opens in a new tab) found that after participating in Pilates for four weeks, there was a significant reduction in the participants’ BMI percentiles. Another study of Quarterly research for exercise and sport (opens in a new tab) who investigated the responses of beginning adult Pilates practitioners after an eight-week mat Pilates program found that there was a relative reduction in body fat and waist, chest, and arm circumferences.
These results could be due to the strength that is developed during a regular Pilates practice. Yoga, however, takes a different approach to weight loss.
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The findings of a Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine (opens in a new tab) study implies that yoga could offer various behavioral, physical and psychosocial effects that may make it a useful tool for weight loss. The same study concluded that the role modeling and social support provided by the yoga community may also contribute to weight loss, particularly for those who have struggled to lose weight.
the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (opens in a new tab) shared that 63% of adults who practice yoga report that it makes them exercise more regularly. This alone can be an important factor in keeping someone healthy and losing weight. Yoga can be the building block for creating healthier habits, leading to weight loss by other means.
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