“Habits of nature, rather than artificial training and exercises, would maintain one in perfect physical and mental condition”. Joseph Pilates, Your Health 1934

Return to Life, 1943

Why are we asking the question?

I’ve been told several times in the course of rehabilitation from knee surgery that Pilates is great for me but I need to add in some functional movement exercises as well.  Huh? Where am I going wrong in my full Pilates system that is lacking ‘functional movement’?  

And then I realised, the current broad understanding of pilates is about core engagement, ‘getting a stretch’, or just gripping muscles trying to get a 'Pilates body', not working the entire body with every exercise to the full range of each muscle, through conscious and controlled effort, available to everyone. So, let’s dispel a few myths, shall we?

What is functional movement?

Functional movement involves training in patterns that mimic everyday activities to improve overall fitness, coordination, and balance, making tasks easier and reducing injury risk. Instead of isolating single muscles, functional movements engage multiple muscles simultaneously to perform actions like squatting, pushing, pulling, and rotating, which are fundamental to human function and sports.Great. Everyone totally needs that. So how is pilates not that?

What is Pilates?

First off, let’s just clarify: Pilates IS NOT JUST about core engagement. (And the core engagement we do in Pilates isn’t bracing the stomach muscles- but that is a different discussion for another time). Pilates is about moving with mental connection and control through a full range of motion, first building with basic movements to learn to maintain connection, then moving to more intermediate movements to stay connected through a larger range, and then finally into the advanced exercises, taking the muscles and body to their full range while still maintaining connection to the movement of the muscles.  What do I mean by maintaining connection? This is keeping all muscles active through the contraction and extension of a muscles without bracing or tensing. All muscles? Yes, each exercise in Pilates uses the entire body and the system is designed to work all muscles uniformly, much like functional movement.  Moreover, the system of Pilates was derived from natural movement patterns, making the movements of the system accessible to everyone.

But don’t take my word for it. Joseph Pilates wrote several books on his method of ‘Contrology’.  In Return to Life he stated:

“Contrology is not a system of haphazard exercises designed to produce only bulging muscles….  It was conceived and tested ( for over 43 years), with the idea of properly and scientifically exercising every muscle in your body in order to improve the circulation of the blood…  to limber and stretch muscles and ligaments so that your body will be as supple as that of a cat and not muscular like… the muscle-bound body of the professional weight-lifter…” “Therefore, when all your muscles are properly developed you will, as a matter of course, perform your work with minimum effort and maximum pleasure.” -Joseph Pilates, Return To Life, 1943.

The cover of Your Health

The full methodology of Pilates predates the concepts of functional movement and uniformly developing the body. 

So really, Pilates is the original functional movement system.  Not only are the movements of pilates ‘functional’,  by moving well in Pilates you will increase your flexibility, strength, breathing and circulation to improve your capacity in other forms of movement, be it weight lifting, running, golfing, netball, you name it!    I guess the real question is,  Is the Pilates you’re doing really the full system of Pilates?

 “If you will faithfully perform your Contrology exercises… you will find your body development approaching the ideal, accompanied by renewed mental vigor and spiritual enhancement”. Joseph Pilates, Return To Life, 1943.