Fact check: Does Pilates Help Burn Calories?

Does Pilates help burn calories? (Image via Pexels/Photo by Andrea Piacquadio)
Does Pilates help burn calories? (Image via Pexels/Photo by Andrea Piacquadio)

An interesting subject is whether or not Pilates help burn calories. Of course, it does. However, the question isn’t whether it burns any calories at all. Does it burn significant calories to make a difference?


What is Pilates?

Before understanding if Pilates help burn calories, you must understand what it is.

Pilates is a form of workout that focuses on improving flexibility and posture. Additionally, it can be done almost anywhere, as it doesn’t require a plethora of equipment.

Most individuals who do Pilates do not indulge in it to lose weight. Ideally, Pilates is done to improve mobility, flexibility and fitness levels.

youtube-cover

Benefits of Pilates

There are several benefits to doing Pilates. However, most of the major benefits focus on improving flexibility and posture. The movement also focuses on building core strength and full body fitness. Along with that, it focuses on breathing and mental health as well.


Does Pilates help burn calories?

For Pilates, your body needs significant energy. Keeping in mind how energy generation works, your body will burn calories to help fuel the session.

That essentially means doing Pilates will burn calories. However, your body needs to burn quite a bit to shed weight, which might not be achievable through Pilates alone.

youtube-cover

You'll need to couple Pilates with other workouts, such as cardio sessions, resistance training, circuit training, and others to lose the required weight.

Nevertheless, what Pilates does is add to your daily caloric burn. The more intense the session is, the more you burn. Pilates can be significantly helpful if you’re already following a calorie-deficit diet.

If you want to know exactly how many calories you’re burning every Pilates session, you can use a fitness tracker. Unfortunately, such trackers do not show the exact number but an approximation only, so you mustn't completely depend on those numbers.

Meanwhile, it’s not impossible to have a situation where Pilates help burn calories leading to weight loss. To accomplish that, you'll have to focus on a Pilates workout routine that includes Pilates resistance devices and bodyweight workouts.

Resistance devices and bodyweight workouts are a combination that can help you lose weight and burn significant calories. However, it's worth noting that Pilates do not use traditional weights. It instead uses heavy springs that have varying resistance levels. You should adjust the level based on your strength and muscle endurance.

youtube-cover

Bottom Line

You don't need to worry about whether Pilates help burn calories when you do it. Burning calories and losing weight shouldn’t be the only goal during workout sessions. Other aspects, such as improving fitness levels, muscle endurance, strength, breathing patterns and controlling your mind, etc. should also be the goal.

Pilates helps you in more ways than one, so using it to only burn calories will not allow you to gain the optimum benefits from it.