If you’ve just started pilates or have been going for a while and want to nail your routine, you may be wondering “how many times a week should I do pilates?”
The answer to this question depends on your lifestyle and your goals. By understanding both you’ll be able to decide a pilates workout schedule that best suits you.
The trainers at Vaura deliver carefully curated classes so that everyone can benefit – whether you’re attending every day of the week or just the once. Keep reading to learn how many pilates classes per week you should go to, based on your current lifestyle.
First, prioritize your fitness goals
It’s important to first understand what you want to get out of pilates. Common goals are improved strength and mobility, weight loss, injury prevention or recovery, posture correction and mental wellbeing. You may not necessarily have a measurement for a goal, and that’s okay, you’ll likely figure out some specific milestones after starting.
Generally, the more you workout (while allowing time for recovery), the better pilates results you’ll experience1. If you were to do pilates five times per week, you’ll enjoy greater increases in strength, mobility and flexibility then if you were to do pilates twice per week. However, this shouldn’t be demotivating if you can only do pilates twice per week, as you’ll still see great improvement with that amount.
Instead, use this knowledge to set your expectations for your goals. If your goal is to develop your body or improve at performing pilates exercises – the amount you exercise will influence how quickly your body and skills progress.
If your goal is to recover from an injury. You may begin by performing pilates twice per week and gradually increase the frequency as your muscles and confidence improve.
If your goal is to enjoy the stress relief and satisfaction of pilates—you will achieve that every class.
Should you do pilates every day?
If doing pilates more yields greater results, then you may be thinking “can you do pilates every day?”. We advise that you take one day of complete rest per week.
You can do pilates every day if you want to – however if you’re going to do that, the intensity at which you workout should change throughout the week.
Balance is key in a pilates schedule, it’s what stops you from overtraining and ensures your body is able to exercise again. A balanced pilates plan should include a mixture of high energy classes to challenge your body, followed by active recovery sessions to reduce muscle soreness and promote recovery. Here’s an example of a balanced pilates schedule.
Monday: Workout
Tuesday: Stretching
Wednesday: Workout
Thursday: Active recovery
Friday: Workout
Saturday: Stretching
Sunday: Rest
How long does it take to see pilates results?
The results you see will depend on how often you’re attending pilates classes and the actual classes you’re performing. Beginners can expect to see pilates results within a month of performing regular exercises. Whereas more seasoned pilates enthusiasts will see incremental changes over longer periods of time.
Remember that pilates results are about more than just visible changes to your body. For example, you can still experience improvements in strength without having noticeable toned muscles. Being aware of both internal and external changes will give you greater appreciation for your body and your pilates journey as a whole.
How often do you need to rest?
Taking rest days are essential when deciding how often to do pilates workouts. Rest days give your body time to recover and adapt, allowing you to resume any workouts with renewed vigour.
We recommend avoiding intense workouts if your muscles are still sore and to instead take part in a lighter recovery session; this reduces muscle soreness and fatigue2. Within Vaura workouts, this would be our Stretch or Nurture classes.
To give your body enough time to recover, the below tactic ensures each intense workout is followed with light exercise or rest the following day:
Monday: Reformer full body conditioning
Tuesday: Stretching
Wednesday: Reformer circuit workout
Thursday: Stretching
Friday: Reformer full body conditioning
Saturday: Stretching
Sunday: Rest
The benefits of consistent pilates practice
Consistency is key to enjoying the benefits of pilates. If you’re wondering how many pilates classes to do per week, your answer should reflect what you’re able to maintain. It’s better to work out three times per week consistently, rather than workout five times one week, feel exhausted, and only workout once the following week.
Sustaining a pilates routine provides empowering benefits for your physical and mental health, including:
- Increased strength
- Greater flexibility
- Improved mobility
- Fat loss
- Reduced aches or pains
- Posture correction
- Correct and maintained exercise form
- Revitalized mental health
Tips to consider before building a pilates plan
It’s normal for your first pilates plan to require a few adjustments. If you want to create an effective pilates plan, the expert trainers at your nearest Vaura Studio can help find what’s optimal for you. Otherwise keep reading below for two tips to creating a quality pilates routine.
1.Focus on quality
Any form of exercise and movement is beneficial, but if you want to start see pilates results from your classes then focus on the quality of your workout. A suitable pilates class will challenge you, but not be so challenging that you can’t complete the workout.
To maintain quality, consider moving up to an intermediate or advanced class. You should also try different workouts to experience the unique benefits of each. By focusing on the quality of your workout you can ensure that you’re reaching your goals and consistently push your body to new heights, regardless of the number of workouts you do each week.
2.Consider your lifestyle
When you set out to perfect your exercise routine, you also need to consider other hobbies and commitments. A pilates routine is most satisfying when you’re still able to enjoy the rest of your life as well – in fact making time for other interests is important for motivation.
At Vaura, we have a variety of membership and package options to suit everyone. To get started, let us know what you’re looking for. From there, we can take you through our options and help you decide how many pilates classes per week works best.
Whether it’s your first time trying pilates, or you’re a veteran, the team at Vaura are ready to welcome you. Next discover the differences between mat and reformer pilates.