Pilates and walking: how to combine them in your weekly routine
Walking and Pilates complement each other. How Pilates trains the balance, muscular endurance and mobility that support every step.
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Walking involves more than putting one foot in front of the other. With every step, you shift your weight between your legs, control your body's position and adapt to the ground.
Pilates can complement walking by working on capacities involved in these tasks, such as muscular endurance, mobility and balance.
Balance to keep up with every step
When you walk, your body has to control successive changes of support. That challenge increases when you change direction, step over an obstacle or cover uneven ground.
Pilates can include weight-shifting and body-control exercises. A systematic review found improvements in dynamic balance in healthy people who took part in Pilates programmes.1 This capacity matters for moving around, although how well it carries over to each situation depends on the training done.
Muscle work for more demanding routes
Hills, stairs and long walks place different demands on you than a short walk on flat ground.
Pilates exercises can work the muscles of the hips, legs and trunk, complementing the repeated effort of walking. Building muscular endurance can be useful for sustaining movement over time.1
Mobility and coordination
In class, you can explore movement of the hips, ankles and spine, as well as combining arms and legs in different sequences.
This work offers opportunities to develop control and use the range you need, without chasing an artificially longer stride or a rigid trunk position.
Can it help me walk better?
Pilates can contribute to the physical preparation that supports walking. To specifically improve your pace or your ability to cover longer distances, it's still important to walk regularly and progress gradually.
So the two practices play complementary roles: walking builds your walking capacity; Pilates adds targeted work on the capacities that support it.
At DUO
Strength, balance and mobility classes can complement your walks and routes. Fit them in according to the weekly plan and how demanding your walks are.
Train your body so you can keep exploring the path.
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