Pilates: How often and for how long do you do it?

YepLilly

I'm trying to incorporate Pilates into my weekly routine, but I'm still deciding how to do it. I think I might go with one long session (60 mins) once a week and then a couple 10-min sessions (focusing on abs) on my cardio days. What do you think? How many times a week, and for how long, do you practice Pilates?

KayVee

For a solid practice, I recommend 3x a week. Try a mat class, then take home what you learned and apply it! Also, once you get into a nice mat routine, bump it up with some reformer work. 50-60 minute sessions are ideal for an entire body workout. I often throw in some of the fab 5 after a cardio session Good luck, glad to hear!! It changed my life

sarah692

I've been doing it everyday for about 20 minutes. I'm not really sure if that's overkill or not, but I enjoy it. lol

jendon7

kayvee....I do two 1-hour equipment sessions each week. It's not cardio, but pilates isn't listed under strength training in myfitnesspal. I don't know how to track it (i just started on MFP on sunday). I was thinking about just choosing it under cardio and putting 50 calories or something? thoughts?

katehad

I do it everyday minimum of 60 mins (when I started I started with 15-20 mins), I have the AeroPilates machine, so it's very convenient for me. I like starting my day off with some good stretching, getting the heart pumping and it's a good way to clear my head for the day. I am not a "work out" kind of person so really it's perfect for me. I am slowly incorporating more stretches, etc. into my routine. Good luck!

YepLilly

Thank you all for the replies!

My current plan is: 3 Cardio days and 3 Strength Training days, with some short Yoga sessions here and there. So I'm thinking about replacing one of the Strength Training days with a long Pilates session and see how it goes, as well as adding some short Pilates sessions along with the Yoga ones.

jendon7

i could NOT believe how much stronger i was after starting pilates classes 3.5 years ago. i love it. i don't really do much strength training beyond pilates b/c i get such a great workout on the reformer & cadillac. great that you are branching out and trying new things!