Does Pilates Count as Strength Training?
After 15 years of teaching Pilates, I’ve watched this industry move through many seasons. I’ve seen trends come and go, and public perception of Pilates shift over time. But what we’re experiencing right now feels different.
With rapid growth comes comparison. Years ago, it was Pilates versus yoga. Now the question I hear most often is: Does Pilates count as strength training? And more specifically: Is Pilates enough?
I’m obviously not answering this as a researcher or a physician. I’m looking at this question as a Pilates educator who deeply cares about understanding what I teach—and why I teach it. I’ve personally always approached my work through a functional movement lens, with the goal of helping people improve how they move and feel in their everyday lives through consistent practice of this method.
So, this article is simply me sharing how I think through this question, with the intention of having a conversation and perhaps giving you a framework for answering it, if you’ve been asked the same thing.
Does Pilates Make You Stronger?
The first problem is that people often lump all forms of strength adaptation into one category when they are actually asking very different physiological questions. So in this discussion, we’re mostly addressing strength and muscle gains.
Along those lines, one of the comparisons people make between Pilates and strength training is comparing springs against weights to assess output potential. But that comparison tends to oversimplify how spring resistance actually works.
Unlike a dumbbell or barbell - which provides constant resistance through gravity - springs create variable resistance.
That means a certain spring is not equal to one fixed number of pounds but may feel relatively light at the beginning of an exercise and significantly heavier at end range.
For example, take traditional Reformer footwork with two red springs. At full extension, that load can reach approximately 140 pounds of peak resistance depending on carriage travel and spring stretch. That surprises many people because we can point to it and say, “that’s plenty of weight for a lot of people.”
And that may be true. However, peak load only exists briefly at end range.
Average resistance throughout the movement is often closer to 80–90 pounds, which is still meaningful loading for many clients. But does that make Footwork equivalent to heavy barbell squats?
No. But it doesn’t need to be. Footwork develops alignment under load, eccentric control, movement symmetry, lower-body endurance, and force transfer through the entire kinetic chain.
While it may not building maximal strength or muscle mass in the same way heavy resistance training can, it absolutely builds meaningful strength relative to your body - strength that supports better movement quality, joint health, balance, and long-term function.
Many people assume heavier loads automatically equal more muscle growth. But current research suggests it’s more nuanced than that. However, researchconsistently shows that lighter loads performed for higher repetitions produce the same hypertrophy outcomes as heavier loads performed for lower repetitions. The biggest predictor of hypertrophy is not weight, but effort.
This finding matters for Pilates teachers because it reinforces something many of us already observe: if students are not challenged enough, adaptation stops. So whether someone is using springs, dumbbells, barbells, or bodyweight, it’s less about the weight itself and more about tissues needing sufficient stimulus to change.
This always brings me back to my own work and the way I train both clients and teachers. In my teacher training programs, I place a huge emphasis on understanding how load changes in different positions, refining technique based on joint function and muscular contraction under load, and ensuring that every repetition is as effective, efficient, and as functionally challenging as a person can tolerate while maintaining proper form.
Aging Well
“How do I stay strong enough to age well?” is where I think this conversation becomes most relevant for Pilates educators. As we know by working with our student population, age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) is not only about losing muscle mass, but also strength, power, balance, resilience, and independence - qualities Pilates can absolutely support.
But bone health adds another layer of nuance. First, we can’t ignore that bone density is influenced not just by exercise, but also by hormones (particularly in women during perimenopause and menopause), lifestyle, and medical history, which is why simplified narratives like “Pilates is not enough” or “just lift weights” often miss the complexity of what is actually happening in the body.
However, while muscle can adapt to lighter loads when effort is high enough, bone typically responds best to higher mechanical loading, progressive overload, and impact or ground reaction forces. This means that the right approach depends heavily on the individual’s baseline, goals, life stage, and how they are practicing.
For some people, Pilates alone may be sufficient; for others - especially those with lower bone density or higher risk factors - it may need to be combined with additional loading strategies and broader lifestyle support.
This simply reinforces that no single modality exists in isolation, and that modern life also looks very different from the historically high-activity environments. This also means that, as a teacher, I have to understand the student’s baseline. Where is the person in front of you starting? How much support or challenge do they need based on where they are right now?
So where does that leave us?
Does Pilates count as strength training?
Yes - just not always in the same way, or with the same primary emphasis, as high-load weightlifting. While it might not maximize muscle mass, it does help build meaningful strength and promote joint health, mobility, and coordination. For many people, that may be exactly what they need.
So if someone were to ask me, “Does Pilates count as strength training?” I would say yes - but it depends on how it is being practiced.
And if someone were to ask me, “Is it enough for me?”, the answer becomes more nuanced. We have to consider their baseline, their lifestyle, their goals, and what kind of physical demand they are already exposed to outside of the studio.
So my answer would be, “Pilates absolutely builds strength and supports bone health, especially when it’s progressive and appropriately challenging. But whether it is ‘enough’ depends on your daily physical demands, your health markers, and your specific goals. For some people, it may be sufficient. For others, it may need to be combined with additional training strategies.”
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Maria Bardet is a Pilates educator, teacher trainer, and studio owner known for helping the next generation of Pilates teachers and studio owners find fulfillment in their careers. Her teaching approach is recognized for its depth, accessibility, and integration of Pilates principles into functional movement for diverse populations. Through teacher training programs, continuing education, and global masterminds, she helps teachers build confidence, technical mastery, and meaningful careers, while helping studio owners develop high-performing, skilled teams.
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