Mat Pilates or Reformer Pilates? Where to begin…

I’ve been asked this question a lot. It never really made sense to me because as a Pilates teacher, I see the practice as a whole — from the mat to the apparatus. With the rise of Pilates in both popularity and accessibility, we see studios branch in typically one of two directions: mat or reformer. Even when they start as a mat studio, the huge growth in reformer clients usually sees them add to or replace their mat with reformers. I don’t think this is always the best idea, but the classes fill and it often makes the most sense for the bottom line.

If you’re currently trying to decide whether to spend your time on the reformer or on the mat, I’ve got some questions for you to ask yourself, to help you decide. Before we get into the personal choice side of the process, let’s start with the differences between the two types of classes.

When thinking about this question, it’s important to remember that we’re not talking about “Mat Pilates” and “Reformer Pilates”. We’re talking about Pilates, taught to you on either the mat or the reformer. Pilates is a practice focused on (all) your core muscles. Strengthening and stabilising them to allow you to move freely through your body with control. The original pilates, as designed by Joseph Pilates, was quite hard, and not overly accessible for all experience levels and body types. As we’ve evolved, so has the way we teach it.

Mat Pilates is what I’d describe as the groundwork. It’s the building blocks that prepare your body for some many different shapes and challenges on the Reformer and other apparatus. I love matwork because it brings a much deeper sense of awareness to your body, your strengths and your imbalances. Mat Pilates is focused on strengthening your abdominal muscles, while challenging their stability through various exercises. People will often comment on how much harder matwork feels. It usually is harder. You have only your body for support, and if you don’t know your body very well, it’s unlikely that you’ll trust it to help you. This is why I see people often gravitate to Reformer classes. They believe their body can’t do something, so they rely on the Reformer to do it for them.

Reformer Pilates takes the fundamentals of matwork, and adds various levels of resistance to them. For example, a chest lift on the mat can begin with feet on the floor, but on the reformer, our supine abdominals series begins with legs in table top and arms in the air. This is instantly a more challenging version of a chest lift. This can be great for people who are looking for something more challenging, but you can imagine how hard that would be for someone who struggles to hold their legs in tabletop on the Mat. The reformer machine uses springs with different resistance levels to challenge either your strength, or stability. Heavier springs typically equals strength exercises, lighter spring typically equals stability and control exercises. Reformer is a lot of fun, and can be a really great challenge. If you’re an able bodied person without injuries who is using Pilates as a form of exercise (instead of rehab) then I would encourage you to master a high plank, a roll up and a 60 second supine table top hold before moving to the Reformer. These will set you up well to get even stronger in your practice once you have the Reformer in front of you.

At the end of the day, the way you practice Pilates depends a lot on your goals and what you enjoy doing. I like to tell people to find movement they like, because they’re more likely to show up to those classes. I’ve recently started to adapt that advice slightly… I now tell people to find a challenge they like. There’s little to no point in choosing exercise purely based on emotion. You need something that delicately blends joyful movement with experience based challenge, to build both strength and trust in your body.

Don’t be afraid of the mat! (If you are, it might be that you need to reevaluate the confidence you have in yourself and your body).