Will Pilates help with weight loss?
Pilates has a rapidly growing worldwide following that includes athletes looking for performance and injury prevention, older people who treasure good quality of life and want to age well, and a plethora of models and actresses who strive to stay in peak physical condition.
There is proven science behind the belief that Pilates is exceptionally effective at sculpting and shaping our bodies. At Suna we talk about strengthening and lengthening as our high intensity workouts develop long strong muscles. The more Suna Pilates you do, the more lean and sculpted you can expect to look, and the stronger and more resilient your body will be.
In a combination nutrition and pilates programme like our Minus 5 Programme, Pilates will help you shift excess weight. Intense physical training plus strategic healthy eating (eating right for YOUR body type!) can have dramatic weight loss results. The Suna Pilates Minus 5 Programme is designed so that participants who want to shed a few surplus kilos can safely lose 5 kilos in 5 weeks.
Pilates is not just about losing weight!
The proprietary Suna Pilates classes are bespoke designed to deliver fast fitness results that include loss of extra weight, stronger core muscles, and longer leaner limbs.
We don't want anybody 'just getting skinny' - our pilates classes will help you uncover and unleash a gorgeous new stronger, sculpted, energetic version of yourself!
Pilates makes hot bodies - It's scientifically proven
This scientific study tracked the results of Pilates on a group of women (aged 32-48) over 16 weeks of pilates training - for one hour, twice a week. That's only 32 hours of Pilates, over almost 3 months.
To eliminate beginner incompetence, they chose participants who knew how to do Pilates, but asked them to do no exercise for 4 weeks before beginning the training, so they were women used to working out, who were out of training for a while.
The results of the study on Pilates effectiveness were compelling:
"The women showed significant decreases for body mass, BMI, upper limb (biceps and triceps) and trunk (subscapular, iliac crest, supraspinale and abdominal) individual skinfolds, 6 and 8 skinfold sums, endomorphy and fat mass. [They showed] significant increases for muscle mass.
The [Pilates] caused changes associated with health state improvements on anthropometric variables, especially on skinfolds which significantly decreased, body composition (fat decreased and muscle increased) and somatotype."
That's scientist jargon for 'the women were leaner, stronger, and looked better after doing Pilates'.
Losing extra weight is not as basic as 'exercise more, eat less'
Generic weight loss advice only goes so far. We believe that it's far more important to follow YOUR body's needs than the latest fad.
Using Suna Wellbeing's Metabolic Typing and Muscle Testing with Kinesiology, we can let you know how your body wants to live. In a Wellness Assessment we use Kinesiology to identify:
- Your body's Metabolic Type - to understand what foods you should eat most of, and when
- Your body's rest requirements - how much sleep do you need?
- Your hydration levels - are you dehydrated or powered up?
- Your body's fitness style - does it need 3 Pilates classes a week, plus an hour's walking in the morning twice a week? Or more? Or less?
- What stresses or issues is your body dealing with? Are they physical or nutritional?
- What about your emotional and mental state - are they impacting on your weight loss?
We know that working with your body's Metabolic Type and unique requirements amplifies the effect of all the actions you take towards your weight loss gains.
Even simply knowing that the weight loss plan you are following is designed for you means it will be more effective.
A Duke University study on 134 overweight participants, predominantly women, who also struggled with health conditions like hypertension and diabetes, found that those who were referred to doctors who gave generic advice like 'exercise more' or 'cut down what you eat' lost less weight than those who were given specific advice, tailored to them. Participants who experienced more empathy from the professionals advising them lost more weight, but most incredible was that participants who were given specific weight loss advice lost on average 7 pounds more excess weight!
Come and give our Wellness and Pilates programmes a try - tell us your weight loss, fitness and health goals; and we'll work with you to reach them.