Results from Yoga Pilates

Pilates is incredible for strength, tone and stretch (fan of yoga too but always been more into pilates). Many (many many) moons ago I was a ballerina - with lots of ballet classes, walking (fast past) and pilates a few times a week my stomach was so flat it was ridiculous. More importantly than that my stomach muscles were so strong that when I had an ovarian cyst (size of a grapefruit), it was being pushed inward, couldn't tell at all from the outside when most people with a cyst that size would have had a bulge. When they went to remove it - under full anasthezia (spelling??) my incision was suppose to be about an inch, but they couldn't move my muscles so they had to make it about 4-5 inches! So YES pilates works!!!

Before I had kids, I did Bikram yoga 3 times a week. It really strengthens your back, tones your butt and your arms AND you get a lot of cardio to boot. This is my favorite practice as it is the only one that I get much of a kick from. My husband says I was my fittest while taking those classes. I've done other practices in the past and we are runners if that helps you calibrate my advice.

LOVE IT!!! Pilates is my favorite workout ever! I am also just trying to maintain body weight, now. (But it didn't hurt that combined with the cardio I lost 30 pounds over 6 weeks right after I had my little one) When you first start your workouts you may not feel as if you are doing much because the workouts are so low impact... but don't let this discourage you. You will be amazed at the results after just a few weeks of doing it and how your body is starting to miraculously transform:-) Good luck and have fun!

Hi and congrats on starting. First off, Yes - they both work! Yoga and Pilates are 2 separate workouts. They can be "fused" together, and yes, they are similar, low impact workouts. But remember, they are different principles. Yoga comes in many, many different forms and I have been a student and a teacher of many of them over the last 15 years. My favorite is Bikram Yoga, followed by Vinyasa flow. I practice yoga 1-2 times a week for balance, strength and meditational reflection.

Pilates is predominantly a core, butt, inner thighs workout. It is more physical than mental. I love Pilates for prep for swimsuit season! I used Pilates principles after both kids to get my stomach flat again. I am a triathlete and Pilates really helps my swimming.

Hope that this helps! Both workouts are excellent at bringing balance to total body conditioning.

I LOVE yoga and try to go to a class twice a week. Yoga and pilates are similar, but yoga really focuses on the breathing with the moves and relaxation aspect where pilates focuses on the core, and the moves originate from there. The positioning of the poses in both is REALLY important and if you are not doing them correctly, you can at the worst injure yourself and at the least not get the most from these two great forms of exercise. I would highly recommend going to a class with a certified teacher who can give you pointers on how to do the moves correctly and to correct your positions while in the poses. I think doing that, even just a couple of times, would make your at home workoust more beneficial. Good luck!

I did pilates and yoga for a year before I got married. I didn't lose weight, but I didn't gain weight either. If you want to lose weight, you're probably going to need to do some kind of cardio too.