Does Pilates Build Muscle? How It May Support Strength

Does Pilates build muscle? Yes, Pilates may help support muscular strength and endurance, particularly for beginners or when resistance is progressed over time. However, it’s usually not the most direct way to build significant muscle size. It can be a low-impact conditioning practice that may feel approachable for some beginners.

Are you considering Pilates as an entry-level muscle builder or looking to support muscle strength with a low-impact routine? Perhaps you’re wondering if Pilates could complement your strength and weight training. Pilates is a popular option for people who want a lower-impact way to work on strength, control, and movement quality alongside or instead of traditional weight training.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider before starting a new exercise routine, especially if you’re new to exercise, pregnant or postpartum, have health concerns, or experience discomfort during movement.

Understanding Pilates and Muscle Conditioning

Pilates was originally developed around controlled movements that challenge strength, coordination, posture, and body awareness. The practice is guided by traditional principles that include centering, concentration, control, precision, flow, and breathing (1). Practitioners use breath, focus, and controlled movement to guide each exercise.

Many Pilates exercises involve moving into a position with control, then coordinating the arms, legs, and core through a set movement pattern. You focus on the motions and breathing.  This makes it different from traditional resistance training, which is usually designed to increase maximal strength or muscle size through heavier loads and progressive overload. Let’s see how they differ by first understanding what muscle mass is.

Will Pilates Build Muscle Mass?

Many Pilates routines use full-body movements rather than isolating one muscle group at a time, typically using body weight, springs, or controlled resistance to challenge the muscles. As with other forms of resistance exercise, Pilates can challenge neuromuscular control, particularly when movements require precision and sustained effort. Meaningful hypertrophy usually requires enough resistance and gradual progression. Apparatus-based or higher-resistance Pilates may provide more challenge than mat Pilates alone.

Hypertrophy is defined as an increase in muscular size, which can be achieved through exercise (2). Resistance training with enough challenge and progression is commonly used to stimulate muscle growth. Classic Pilates often emphasizes muscular endurance, control, and sustained effort more than maximal force production (3). Higher-intensity resistance exercise is generally more effective for building muscle size than low-resistance movement alone.

Classic mat Pilates alone may be less likely to produce noticeable increases in muscle size than progressive resistance training. In practice, Pilates may support strength and endurance, while significant muscle growth usually requires progressive resistance, adequate nutrition, and consistency. Combining Pilates with progressive strength training may be more effective if your goal is muscle growth.

Read more: Barre Vs Pilates: Which Is Right For You?

Pilates vs. Traditional Strength Training

To better understand how Pilates compares to traditional strength training, consider the following differences:

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The Purpose of Pilates: Beyond Hypertrophy

Pilates is often used for more than muscle size alone. Pilates uses controlled resistance and may support coordination and balance. It may also support body awareness, muscular endurance, flexibility, and movement control. Some research has suggested that Pilates may support core stability and movement control (4).

Muscle Definition Support

Pilates is often used to support muscular endurance and definition rather than significant muscle size. Classic Pilates is less likely than progressive weight training to create large increases in muscle size. However, it may help improve muscular endurance and body awareness, which can contribute to a more defined look for some people when it’s combined with overall activity and nutrition. Body-composition changes vary widely and depend on training frequency, nutrition, starting point, and overall routine. When body-composition changes happen, they are usually more modest than those that are seen with progressive resistance training focused on hypertrophy (5).

Pilates and Body Weight Management

Pilates may support body weight management when combined with appropriate nutrition and a consistent routine. Pilates isn’t usually as calorie-focused as many traditional aerobic workouts. One meta-analysis in specific adult populations reported associations between Pilates and changes in body weight, body mass index, and body-fat percentage. Results may not apply to everyone (5). Pilates may be one way to add regular movement to a broader weight-management routine.

Core Stability, Endurance, Strength, and Flexibility Support

Why can core stability, strength, endurance, and flexibility matter? The core muscles aren’t specific to your abdomen. Instead, they consist of two major muscle types: the inner and outer core.

The inner core muscles provide stability and control when you move. They lie deep in your body and close to your back, and include:

• Diaphragm muscles control breathing and abdominal pressure.
• Internal obliques help move the body sideways and breathe.
• Multifidus muscles run along the back to offer stable support.
• Pelvic floor muscles help support pelvic stability and pressure management.
• The transversus abdominis is a deep abdominal muscle that helps support trunk control during movement.

You also have the outer core muscles that control the more extensive movements and your body’s trunk. These muscles and their responsibilities include:

• External obliques are on the outside and front of your abdomen, and they help you move side-to-side and support inner core muscles.
• Erector spinae muscles line the sides of your back and help with all upper-body motions.
• Rectus abdominis muscles are what we think of as abs and help you bend over.

Other muscles, such as the hip flexors, comprise the core structure. However, you have the main inner and outer core muscles, which are also known as global and local muscles. This anatomy lesson matters because we see how the inner core muscles work with the outer core muscles. Some Pilates exercises focus on deeper core control. However, research has suggested that Pilates may engage deeper core muscles, with a review finding that Pilates may support core strength similarly to some other exercise approaches when the exercise dose is comparable (6).

Pilates Muscles Worked

Studies have examined which muscles are commonly engaged during Pilates movements. Here’s how the muscles in your inner and outer core work with Pilates:

• Abdominal core muscles: Many Pilates exercises emphasize the rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, and internal and external obliques while using controlled movement. One study reported greater core muscle activation in experienced Pilates practitioners, particularly in the external oblique muscle group (4).
• Body position core muscles: Pilates movements may involve muscles around the pelvis, back, and trunk that contribute to posture and movement control.
• Motor control core muscles: Pilates may support flexibility and muscular endurance in several trunk and hip-related muscles. This may support better movement control for some people over time.

Some Pilates movements also challenge the arms and legs. Working on core control may support coordinated movement of the arms and legs. Some people may notice better control during repeated, well-practiced movements.

Pilates can engage the inner thighs, glutes, and hip muscles, depending on the exercises used. As many Pilates movements require trunk control, they can feel like a whole-body workout.

The hip flexors connect the hips, pelvis, and trunk and can contribute to lower-body movement control. They connect the hip and back, creating stability at a significant point. Pilates engages these hip flexor muscles during various movements.

These movements also rely on supporting shoulder muscles, not just the larger visible muscles. The rotator cuff plays an important role in shoulder stability and control, particularly the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor (7).

Read more: 3 Pilates Hip Exercises for a Stronger Lower Body

3 Ways to Support Strength with Pilates

If your goal is to support strength or muscle development with Pilates, these approaches may help. These approaches can complement a broader strength routine. You can cross-train, add apparatuses, or use Pilates as a beginner trainer. Let’s see how each technique works.

1. How Can Beginners Use Classic Pilates for Strength?

As previously mentioned, Pilates may help beginners build muscular endurance, control, and some strength, particularly if they are new to regular exercise. It may feel approachable for some beginners because many of the exercises can be modified by range of motion, tempo, and resistance. In addition, some people include other forms of activity together with Pilates. This is often called cross-training, and it can add variety while giving your body time between harder sessions.  Strength and endurance changes may be more noticeable for people who are moving from a low-activity routine to regular exercise. New exercisers may notice early improvements in strength or coordination as their bodies adapt to a new routine (8).

2. How Can Pilates Apparatuses Increase Resistance?

Pilates with apparatus can increase the intensity of your whole-body workout. For example, an adjustable Pilates reformer can add spring-based resistance to certain movements. The reformer is a resistance exercise device consisting of a sliding platform within a frame connected to a system of springs, pulleys, and ropes (7). These springs and pulleys can add resistance to your movements and may challenge your muscles more than body weight alone. One randomized controlled trial reported changes in body composition, muscle strength, and endurance after reformer Pilates in a specific study group (7).

3. Cross-Training With Pilates To Build Muscle

Cross-training involves mixing different types of workouts as part of a more varied fitness routine. Combining Pilates with traditional strength training or cardio may support a more balanced routine that includes resistance, endurance, mobility, and core-focused work. Pilates is likely to be more useful for muscle growth when it complements progressive resistance training rather than replacing it entirely.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Does Pilates help you build muscle?

Pilates may help build muscular strength and endurance, particularly for beginners or when resistance is progressed. It doesn’t usually create the same muscle-size increases as progressive weight training, but it can challenge the core and support muscular endurance. Muscle-related changes from Pilates are usually more related to endurance, control, and possible definition than large increases in size.

• Is Pilates good for strength training?

Pilates can be a useful form of resistance-based exercise, particularly for some beginners or people who are looking for a lower-impact format. It uses body weight and resistance to challenge the muscles and may support strength and stability over time.

• What does Pilates do to your muscles?

Pilates uses controlled movement that may support flexibility, muscular endurance, and strength. It primarily targets the slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for sustained, endurance-based activities (3).

The Bottom Line

Pilates may support strength, endurance, and muscle control, but it’s less likely to result in significant muscle bulk. Adding Pilates to your routine may support core stability, flexibility, and movement control, depending on your consistency, exercise selection, and starting point.

Disclaimer: Always consult a healthcare provider before you start a new exercise routine.