If there’s one exercise style that has taken the fitness world by storm in the last decade, it’s Pilates. Everyone is doing it, from dancers to footballers and the benefits are said to be as much mental as they are physical.

So should you give it a go? YES!

Pregnant women should also get the okay from their doctor or women’s health physiotherapist before proceeding.

When our muscles are weak they make compensations for each other which lead to instability and injury. Take your back for instance: if your posture is bad, your lower back and hips will then adjust themselves accordingly which means they’re essentially out of whack.

Pilates encourages you to think about how you perform everyday movements. It heightens your body awareness which in turn improves your overall agility, flexibility and strength. It helps you ensure your body is working at its optimal level all the time.

Muscle tone, increased strength and flexibility and improved overall mobility and precision at which you move. It’s perfect for people who like a meditative element in their exercise regimes. Pilates will give you more of a holistic result than most other exercises regimes. It will make you focus on your breathing which is great for improving circulation and relieving stress. It’s a fantastic way to balance out your health and wellbeing

Pilates is actually great for people with injuries, weak muscles and particularly bad posture because it encourages you to strengthen your problem areas in a relaxed and low impact way. It is advisable that anyone with serious injuries consults their physio first. You may also like to consider our Physiolates small group exercise classes.

Pilates based exercises are also great for Pregnant women. We do encourage anyone considering our Pregnancy Pilates classes to get approval from their Obstetrician prior to commencing and also see one of our Women’s Health Physiotherapists for a FREE assessment. Please refer to our Antenatal Fitness tab for further information.

Pilates is a very intense stretching class that incorporates workouts for your abdominal, leg, arm and back muscles. The classes usually last for around 45 minutes and aim to work all areas of your body. We use the very latest clinical Pilates machines which allow people to do the Pilates moves using a pulley-system of resistance (pictured above).

You should wear socks (pilates socks available for purchase) and bring along a towel to lay down over the mats for hygiene reasons. It’s also advisable to wear loose, comfortable clothing and bring a water bottle.

If you are new to Reformer Clinical Pilates it is necessary to have a private 1-on-1 session with one of our instructors in order to learn specific fundamentals that are relevant to you (which differs for each person). The instructor will assess and correct your alignment and posture (from head to toe) and instruct you on the correct way to activate different muscles and exercise correctly. A 1-on-1 session is by appointment only. Please book your session at either the Physio reception desks or through our online platform Gymmaster or call or email us.

Reformer Pilates classes are $18 per session or 10 and 20 passes available, all other group fitness classes are included in a Gym Club Membership starting from $20 per week.