Revisiting Pilates and Yoga

I want to follow up on my previous entry on how Pilates and Yoga differ. I am really only writing about the Classic Matwork routine of 34 exercises. There are well over 500 different exercises invented by Joseph Pilates when you include all his different apparatus and other matwork routines, so be assured a complete program with equipment is comprehensive.

Surprisingly there is only a little overlap between Pilates Matwork and Yoga. Although both practices are varied between different instructors, general differences are clear in the focus of the exercises. Perhaps 70% of Pilates Matwork is focussed on forward bending and neutral (vertical spine) positions. Yoga Matwork exercises focus much more on backward bending work. Developing core strength through Yoga, comparable to Pilates is difficult as normal Yogic breathing (Natural Abdominal Breathing as opposed to Reverse Abdominal Breathing) impedes the deep abdominal contraction necessary to effectively recruit and strengthen the Pelvic Floor muscles. Much of the time spent in Pilates classes developing the core, would in a Yoga class be focussed on flexibility and upper body work in the form of what could be loosely classified as modified Plank exercises: Upward Dog, Downward Dog, push up style transitions and so on.

The strength and understanding of the core developed by Pilates is beneficial to stretching. A weak muscle is hard to stretch as it will tend to contract to protect itself but a strong muscle can relax even under significant load while stretching. Strong muscles also have good blood supply and can recover quickly from the overuse injuries which is a big risk in starting a new program of exercise.

To summarize the core work of the two: Yoga will strengthen the back more than Pilates with abundant backward bends such as the Cobra, Pilates will strengthen the Abdominals in forward bends such as Rollup and the back in vertical positions (standing or lying down) with exercises like the Double Leg Stretch. The results from the two systems are different and complementary.

New Yogalates Class

I've been attending Patricia's Yoga classes at Studio Scene for a few months and I include some asanas in a new class I teach at the Studio. We've called the class Yogalates as it is commonly used in the media to describe a fusion of the two. My class is not the same as the program of exercise trademarked in USA or Yogilates. I mix in Yoga asanas to improve my clients twisting, side and back bending and hip flexibility as well as providing the benefits of Pilates.