How Many Times Per Week Should I Do Pilates as a Beginner?
When I first started working out during my senior year at Michigan State, I thought the only way I'd see results was if I worked out every single day.
Then one of my friends convinced me to join an eight-week fitness challenge.
The commitment?
Just two classes a week.
I'll admit...I laughed.
Two workouts? That wasn't going to change anything.
Fast forward eight weeks, and not only had those two workouts become one of my favorite parts of the week, but they completely changed the way I looked at fitness.
Because I learned something I still tell clients today:
You don't need to do more. You need to do what you can actually sustain and then build from there.
How Often Should I Do Pilates as a Beginner?
Starting something new always comes with questions and a learning curve, but honestly how often do we get the opportunity to be beginners as adults? When kickstarting your Pilates-inspired strength training journey, we typically hear these questions from potential clients.
How many classes should I take?
How often should I come?
When will I start seeing results?
The answer depends on your goals, your current fitness level, and your schedule—but the biggest factor is consistency.
It’s all about creating a routine your body can adapt to and your schedule can support.
Do I Have to Lift Heavy to Build Lean Muscle?
The internet is screaming about Pilates vs Strength Training and lifting heavy vs the pilates body. And while I get that people have experienced transformation doing different modalities, we also have to understand that one of the most persistent myths in fitness is that muscle growth only happens with heavy weights and low reps.
Scientific consensus has largely debunked that idea. To get technical for a minute..multiple randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses—including landmark research led by Stuart Phillips at McMaster University—show that hypertrophy (muscle growth) can occur across a wide range of loads, as long as the working sets are taken close to muscular failure.
In other words, muscle growth is driven less by how heavy the load is and more by how close you get to the point where the muscle can no longer perform the task.
That is the definition of hypertrophy stimulus: sufficient mechanical tension and fatigue. Heavy loads are simply one way to reach that threshold. They are not the only way.