Dr. Vonda Wright

It gets harder to recover as we get older, regardless if you're male or female.

But in perimenopause, we don't have the benefit of estrogen supporting anti-inflammatory responses.

So we have to be very cognizant that we need more recovery.

There are whole brands built around mid-intensity and... And that falls into the whole sociocultural thing where we've grown up that if you don't have a good sweat sesh and feel completely smashed when you leave, it wasn't a good workout.

But that's a misconception.

Right.

There's a social aspect to it.

Yeah, because we did this reel talking about how Pilates was not appropriate as strength training, especially as rehab.

When we look at Pilates, it's a complement to true strength training.

What I mean by true strength training is you're lifting a load that's heavy in multiple planes.

With Pilates, it's really good for isometric control, core strength, balance, proprioception, but it isn't a stress that's going to create adequate muscle gain and strength of the bone, which is what we want from strength training.

So just like yoga, Pilates has a place.

It does definitely fit in the scheme of things, especially from the social and the fact that it does give you control and proprioception, but it isn't the be-all, end-all for strength.

For the most part, yes.

And we also have to think about when you're doing strength training, you're creating a multidirectional force through the muscle and the tendons and the bones.

With Pilates, especially if you're looking at the reformer, it's not multidirectional in the movements.

Each movement is one plane.

Up, down.

Yeah.

You can be in different planes, but each motion isn't multiplanar.