Welcome to the January edition of Pilates Central News.

In this edition:

• On the road to recovery
• Reformer chic
• Standing up for Pilates
• Garden Pilates

On the road to recovery

Reformer Pilates is an excellent tool for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. It can also be very useful for “prehabilitation” before an operation. Indeed Joseph Pilates invented his contrology system, later called Pilates, as a means of rehabilitation for hospital patients on the Isle of Man, where he was interned during the first world war. It is said that the earliest version of the Reformer was improvised by Joseph using hospital beds. After he emigrated to the United States many of the early clients at his New York gym used Pilates’ system to help their recovery from dance injuries.

The Reformer is very versatile when it comes to rehab work. For example there are exercises where you can use your body and arms, but not put weight on an injured foot. It is low impact and relies on resistance. The moving carriage, springs and straps can be adjusted to make exercises easier or harder, activating and strengthening important muscle groups. A footballer who has injured say their anterior cruciate ligament can avoid putting too much stress on their knee in rehab work, working on strengthening the muscles around the hip and thighs such as the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings.

After injury many people lose confidence and worry about when they can return to full impact sports or hobbies. Pilates can help by starting with slow controlled movements and then move on to high impact exercises, preparing gradually for a return to full action.

Pilates can also be useful before an operation when it is used as prehabilitation. Due to its low impact nature of Pilates, you can use prehab Pilates to maintain your existing range of movement and improve strength before having surgery. Some pre-emptive Pilates can help patients get out of hospital quicker, reduce pain and the risk of complications and get them walking quicker after, say, a knee or hip operation. Clients need to work within pain boundaries, but even basic exercises such as sit to stand, step-ups and quad sets can improve resilience. Reformer work can be even better tailored to the user’s particular needs.

Sound prehab work can help prevent muscle loss while in bed, improve cardiovascular fitness and leave your body better equipped to heal. Surgery is obviously stressful and mental health might also improve through concentrating on breathing and de-stressing thanks to regular exercise.

Many physios now recommend Pilates before surgery. They emphasise that it helps to strengthen the tissues around joints so mobility will come back more quickly. With its emphasis on core strength and balance Pilates will also make moving around on crutches easier and reduce the risk of falls.

After an injury the body can often develop compensatory movements such as a limp or not putting weight on a particular area. These habits can become ingrained so Pilates exercises can help with alignment and to restore normal movement. While getting those core muscles firing again will mean a quicker return to old hobbies and sporting activities. Pilates is a great tool for both preparing for and recovering from injury or surgery.

Reformer chic

We’ve seen many different uses for the Reformer, but now it seems the Reformer is also a modelling accessory. The Daily Mail reports that, “Rita Ora works up a sweat in skimpy gym wear as she launches Pilates-inspired Primark collection.”

The singer’s Every Move Counts collection is based on her love of Pilates and designed to be work both in and outside the studio. In her promotional snaps Rita is seen balancing on a Reformer in a, “cropped chocolate brown t-shirt featuring a dropped back design, paired with high-waisted skintight shorts.” She also models, “a striking bright red high-neck shell jacket with a drawstring waist and a pair of matching gym shorts.”

Ora says of her new gear: “I wanted pieces that support you when you’re really pushing yourself, but still feel soft, flattering, and stylish enough to wear beyond the studio. From sculpting fabrics to buttery-soft layers, everything is designed to move with you – whether you’re training, stretching, or just getting things done. It’s about redefining performance on your own terms, feeling confident in your body, and looking good while doing it. I’m so proud of how this collection brings style and function together in a way that feels effortless and real!”

The collection uses a BodySculpt fabric designed to “support, smooth and sculpt.” If buttery-soft layers are your thing, then Rita’s collection is very affordable with prices ranging from £2.50 to £26.

Standing up for Pilates

“Taking up Pilates after an accident a year ago has helped me breathe better and stand up straight,” is the verdict of Edward Lucas in the Times. The author and foreign policy expert adds, “I wish I had done this 40 years ago.”

Lucas had been averse to indoor exercise since his traumatic early years at boarding school. A year ago he fractured bones in a cycling accident and afterwards found everything a struggle. After encouragement from his wife he took up Pilates.

At his first session, he writes, “at least it did not smell like my school gym (sweat mixed with fear). Nor were there any persecutors waiting in the changing room with knotted wet towels.” He soon bonds with his “brilliant” teacher Barbara who lets him play classical music rather than Europop while exercising. Lucas is also grateful that, having found quackery in other exercise routines, “Pilates is blessedly free of any such pseudoscientific flimflam.”

He concludes: “It is certainly working for me. I caught sight of myself in a reflection of a reflection on the street and wondered who this strangely familiar person was. My rounded shoulders are squaring up. My legs have stopped hurting at night. My “core” muscles, which I suspect never developed properly in my youth, are for the first time waking up and doing their job. My breathing is deeper and slower. Those bullies, finally, are beaten.”

The Times’ man is now so enamoured with Pilates that he has booked a further 26 sessions, “one for every letter of the alphabet.”

Garden Pilates

Something of a Pilates war has broken out over a garden studio in sleepy North Wooton in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. Or as the Daily Mirror describes it, “Influencer blasts ‘small-minded’ neighbours over her £30K Pilates studio complaints.” The story also made the BBC, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Sun.

Influencer Megan Smith, who has 23000 Instagram followers and trained in Dubai, sold everything she had to fund building her Luco Wellness Pilates studio and cafe, named after her dachshund Luco, in the garden of her grandparent’s house. However planning permission had not yet been granted and several locals objected to her application when they saw that she might be hosting hen parties, as well as saying it would cause noise and parking problems and interfere with church on Sundays. One local told the Daily Mail: “We have Pilates at the village hall. It’s not as if there’s a paucity of Pilates classes around her.”

Megan told the Mirror: “I had put everything into this, months and months of planning and I thought, ‘Why would I let small-minded people stop me from trying to do this?” Megan’s grandfather Bernie also defended her studio saying: “We paid £1,000 for a sound test in the building and it came back with a completely clean bill of health. Reformer Pilates is silent and gentle.”

The BBC reports that at a heated council meeting this month studio was granted planning permission for one year, “to see how the small business will work.” Councillor Simon Ring commented: “I hope the neighbours can get back to being the neighbours that they once were and not objecting to what each other is doing.”

Phew. One good thing about Pilates Central is that it’s not based in anyone’s garden, we do have planning permission and Sunday opening hasn’t proved too controversial.

If you would like our newsletter you can subscribe on the Home page. Follow us on social media:
Facebook | Instagram | X | Linkedin.