Wall pilates

Suzannemarieamato7894

Does anyone have experience with wall Pilates? Is it good for weight loss or mostly conditioning?

AnnPT77

No particular type of exercise is "good for weight loss", strictly speaking. It just burns a relatively small number of calories. If you enjoy Wall Pilates, it will help.

Long answer:

Weight loss is about eating fewer calories than we burn, right?

The average person burns the most calories just being alive (basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR). Next biggest burn typically is daily life stuff: Job, home chores, non-exercise hobbies.

Exercise can be the next greatest contributor to calorie burn, third in magnitude. But most normal, sustainable exercise routines will just be a small percent of the daily calorie burn total. (I exercise quite a lot, because I enjoy it, but it's still only maybe 15% of my daily calorie burn, maybe up to 25% on a very rare day (that I couldn't keep up as a daily schedule, personally).)

So, exercise - any way of moving more - burns some extra calories, lets us lose weight while eating a bit more, basically; or lose a little faster eating the same amount. Some exercises burn relative more calories, but the numbers aren't huge.

Especially if a person is more of a beginner, intense exercise can even be counterproductive: If it tires us out, we may drag through the rest of our day, reducing the calories we burn in that daily life stuff.

If you enjoy Wall Pilates, it will be a good adjunct to a weight loss routine. Any exercise we enjoy (or at least find tolerable and practical), so do more often, burns 100% more calories than exercise we skip or procrastinate at the slightest excuse because we dislike it.

IMO, what most of us really want is to reach a healthy weight and stay there long term, ideally permanently. If that's true, then what works is to find a relatively happy set of habits, new routine ways of eating and moving, that can continue almost on autopilot when other parts of life get demanding (because they will).

As far as conditioning, any exercise that manageably challenges our current capabilities will improve fitness in that challenged way. (Weight lifting challenges/builds strength, running challenges/builds cardiovascular capability, etc.) Most Pilates can increase strength, endurance and flexibility, as long as it challenges the person's capabilities in those areas.

springlering62

Suzannemarieamato7894 wrote: »

Does anyone have experience with wall Pilates? Is it good for weight loss or mostly conditioning?

I did a wall Pilates class Friday, and frankly got the impression that our (very excellent and thoughtful) instructor had substituted it at the last minute because we - very unusually- had a class full of young teens who had not done Pilates before. School being out and all that.

I don’t find wall classes very challenging and Apple Watch confirmed my thoughts by recording fewer calories than the more traditional mat Pilates class that instructor usually offers.

I’m guessing that this is normally a mat class done on the floor. Most instructors I know rotate wall classes in once in a while to change things up. I’d be surprised if a wall class were a regular thing. YMMV, depending on your studio.

Everything I record on my docket is ultimately for calorie burning. I’m in maintenance so for me, it mainly means more food (‼️). But imho, and having been there many, many pounds ago, it would take a lot of Pilates to lose weight.

However for core and strengthening, it’s awesome. I can totally kick other women’s *kitten* in group power classes thanks to having Pilates of any kind under my belt.

Keep Pilates. Add weights and/or cardio. The mix of all has been crazy beneficial for me.

Also…… by comparison, I can easily burn twice the calories in a hot power yoga class versus the heated mat Pilates. I often do Pilates directly after yoga, when it should be easier to pick up a higher burn since I’m already starting at a high activity rate (wrong term but you get what I mean) but it still runs a fraction of the burn of the yoga class.

Just my idle observations. Again, YMMV.