The Best Pilates Machines for Your Home Gym

There's no reason you shouldn't be doing Pilates. Just because you're a guy doesn't mean the practice doesn't fit your fitness profile.

For one, it’s really going to make you sweat and torch your muscles. “It’s a common misconception that Pilates is essentially a form of stretching, when in truth it’s a type of resistance training that was developed over 100 years ago to help wounded soldiers recover from injuries during World War I,” says Jordan Galloway, CPT (NASM), certified Pilates instructor and teacher at Good Day Pilates in New York City. As Galloway notes, while classic Pilates focuses primarily on core training, the modern version she teaches focuses on functional movement, and integrates stabilization, flexibility, muscular endurance, core, and strength training into each workout.

“Some benefits of the practice include better balance, improved strength endurance, and increased mobility,” she adds. And doing Pilates can also help you avoid injury. “One of the primary benefits of Pilates is that it puts an emphasis on building strength and mobility simultaneously, which allows you to become more flexible and increase your range of motion safely,” says Galloway. That, in turn, can reduce your risk of injuries, she says. Another reason it can lower your injury risk: Pilates “also focuses on helping people form proper length-tension relationships between their muscles so that they’re working optimally and [ensures] some aren’t overcompensating for others or putting unnecessary pressure on joints.” Finally, Galloway says, a big component of Pilates is proprioception, meaning the ability to sense your body’s movement in space without looking at it. “This helps improve your balance and prevent injury and falls.”

While Pilates may be more popular among women as a form of exercise, there’s no physical reason for that. “Quite a few guys come to take Pilates at the studio where I work, and every one that I’ve taught has told me at least once how challenging they find the classes. It’s not a workout that you can muscle through—it’s intended to make you go slow and ensure that you’re executing exercises using the correct primary mover muscles and stabilizers,” she says. But more than that, Galloway also appreciates that Pilates targets muscular endurance—so low-weight, high reps—which is often more challenging for men who are used to lifting heavier weights.

“In a lot of ways, Pilates is a perfect form of cross-training for guys who are used to weightlifting and doing cardio, which is why I think so many professional athletes, like LeBron James, for example, practice Pilates.”