What Pilates is Really About

jaimepalinchak
Jul 20, 2025
3 min read

Learning a movement is one thing.

Learning the spirit of Pilates? That’s something else entirely.

If you’ve ever read Joseph Pilates’s books, you know exactly what this method was created for — it’s right there in the titles:

"Return to Life"

"Your Health"

Not “Better Abs in 30 Days”

Not “Pilates for a Bikini Body”

Not “How to Be the Strongest Person in the Room”

Because Pilates isn’t about beauty standards, sculpted abs, or beating the person next to you.

[This is all the result of influencer culture, social media, and trendy boutique studios which may or may not actually be founded on real Pilates principles.]

It’s about feeling better in your body. Reconnecting with it. Moving with strength, ease, and clarity — not strain.

It’s about participating fully in your life. Doing the things you want to do, not just the things your pain or stiffness still allow you to do.

Think of Pilates as "pre-hab" - that thing you do to protect and build up your body.

It’s not enough to run through a series of exercises or hit all the “right”steps of an exercise.

If we don’t practice with the goal of health, connection, control in mind — if we lose the “return to life” part — then we’ve missed the point.

This doesn’t mean every class has to feel like rehab or move at snail's pace.

But it does mean that the why matters just as much as the what.

It means asking ourselves:

Are we moving with intention?

Are we helping ourselves feel better?

Are we honoring the method’s original purpose?

This is why cookie cutter, trendy, social media Pilates becomes ineffective.

To reap the benefits of Pilates, it's less about just mastering the next move — but more about choosing the right one.

Pilates is a system and was developed to be a tool for us to use and benefit from our bodies also being a system. To single out one muscle group or try to raise heart rate sky high or sweat all over the mat is outside of the parameters of true Pilates principles.

We must move with nuance, clarity, and care.

Pilates was not developed to build "aesthetic" or a Pilates princess body. It was developed to help physically illuminate the manner in which we are connected to our core and power as human beings. This is a process that has no ultimate end or finish line. It is a lifelong practice.

Another note:

The current Pilates vs. Strength Training arguments all over the Internet are simply invalid. They serve two different purposes altogether. Pilates was never intended to be used for muscle growth or bodybuilding. It is an integrated system that promotes more than just muscle gain.

The two can (and should, in my opinion) co-exist.

My goal is that when someone finishes a Pilates class, he or she feels more invigorated, more mobile, more aware, more connected to themselves (both physically and mentally). It should not be perceived as the kind of class that just destroys you and leaves you panting for breath. It should be the class that fortifies you and compliments your other endeavors, fitness or otherwise.

After all, Pilates only gained its current name after Joseph Pilates passed away. He called it "Contrology." Keeping that perspective in mind changes the way it should be embraced: as a means by which use the body with precision and purpose for greater efficiency and functionality... NOT as a "booty burner" or "ab shredder."

I may be a purist, but it's important to respect the role that Pilates was originally meant to play for its practitioners. All things become diluted or modified with time, but losing sight of its original intentions and applications would be a disservice to all those who embark on the Pilates journey.