Pilates, yoga and barre all serve as excellent ways to improve posture, strengthen your core, and increase balance and range of motion — without putting a lot of stress on your joints.
“They can also be a great first step for anyone trying to build a new exercise routine,” says Heather A. Smith, group fitness manager at Mayo Clinic’s Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center.
Each fitness option offers slightly different pros and cons, says Smith. Here’s what you can expect.
Pilates
Joseph Pilates popularized the Pilates method in the 1930s to train and rehabilitate athletes. His method combines a series of core-strengthening movements with specialized breathing patterns.
“You’ll strengthen your spine through its entire range of motion,” says Smith.
If you’re looking to ease low back pain, improve balance, reduce fall risk and increase your mobility, Pilates is a great option.
How to get started
If you’re new to Pilates, start with a mat or chair class. These options use your body weight as resistance, along with hand weights, bands, balls and other small equipment. “You’ll learn the basic movements and principles,” says Smith. “That will give you a foundation.”
Once you dial in these movements and principles, consider trying a reformer class, which involves exercising on a machine with adjustable straps and pulleys.
Yoga
In the East, people have practiced yoga for thousands of years as part of a cultural quest to understand the true nature of the self.
Yoga was introduced to the United States a little more than a century ago. Since then, it has continued to gain popularity.
Like Pilates, yoga helps strengthen the core and improves mobility and balance. However, yoga’s main attraction is often more mental than physical. Research links the practice with reduced stress and depression and improved sleep.
“Most people find that yoga teaches them to slow down and be still,” says Smith. “If you need to settle your mind down and work through the range of motion of your joints, I’m going to send you to a yoga class.”
How to get started
You can choose from dozens of yoga styles.
Some, like ashtanga yoga, are highly strength-based. In a vinyasa class, you’ll flow through a series of connected movements. For yin yoga, you hold poses for a minute or longer to target connective tissues such as tendons and fascia.
If you’re new to yoga, start with classes marketed for beginners or as gentle yoga. As you learn how to do the various poses, you can branch out to more intermediate and advanced styles, says Smith.
Barre
Developed, perhaps not surprisingly, by a dancer, barre workouts involve movements borrowed from ballet. As with yoga and Pilates, barre helps build core strength, balance and mobility.
“You may use a ballet barre for varying types of movements, such as plies, arabesque and tendu,” says Smith.
In addition, some classes employ light hand weights, balls, straps and blocks to target tiny muscles that help stabilize the joints, especially in your feet, ankles and calves.
Because the typical barre class involves the use of hand weights, it’s an excellent way for beginners to become familiar with strength training, says Smith.
How to get started
If you’re not sure of the difference between a plie or arabesque, don’t worry. Your instructor will walk you through what you need to know.
“You don’t need to have any expertise in ballet to enjoy these incredible full-body workouts,” says Smith.
If you dislike exercising in bare feet, which is typical for a barre class, talk to your instructor. Most will allow you to wear shoes, especially if you need them for stability. Instead of wearing your street shoes, you can buy footwear, called a grip sock, that’s specifically designed for barre.
How to choose the right option for you
When weighing your fitness options, try to maintain an exploratory mindset, says Smith. Rather than searching for the perfect fitness routine, set out to find a class that you enjoy. That way, you’ll be much more likely to do it regularly, she says.
For most people, the hardest part of the workout is showing up.
“Once you’ve gone to your first class, you’re going to feel great,” says Smith. “Don’t be afraid that you won’t know what’s going on. Everyone in the class was a new person at one point.”
Even if you don’t enjoy your first Pilates, yoga or barre class, be willing to try others, says Smith. Explore a variety of styles and instructors. Eventually, you’ll land on an option that feels like a good fit.
Regardless of the style you try, use the following advice:
- Wear comfortable attire. The typical yoga outfit — leggings or gym shorts with a breathable top — generally works for all three exercise styles.
- If you have a health condition such as osteoporosis or high blood pressure, talk to your healthcare professional before trying any new fitness class. During this conversation, find out what types of movements you may need to avoid. For example, if you have osteoporosis, you might want to skip yoga poses that involve twisting or forward bending.
- Before the class, let your instructor know that you’re new, along with any critical pieces of health information, such as a recent hip replacement or chronic back pain.
- If you’re new to exercise, use Pilates, yoga and barre to build the fitness and confidence you need to try other forms of exercise, such as resistance training. Ideally, Pilates, yoga and barre will complement — and not replace — resistance training and cardio, says Smith.
Relevant reading
The Doctors Mayo
The classic biography of a family of physicians and the medical center that bears their name. This book has been acclaimed as the authoritative biography of Dr. William Worrall Mayo and his physician sons since it first was published in 1941. Page count: 437
