This is a question we hear often, and the answer is YES! Reformer Pilates can build muscle especially in those who are untrained, are recovering from injury, surgery or illness.
To build muscle you need to challenge your muscles against resistance. The reformer machines at Body Reformers Scarborough use commercial grade springs that provide variable resistance, allowing you to adjust the level of resistance and difficulty. This will create small tears in your muscle fibres, which your body then repairs and rebuilds, ultimately making your muscles stronger and larger. To stimulate continued growth, it is important to gradually increase the resistance or intensity of your workouts. The instructors at Body Reformers can introduce modifications or variations to the exercises and add that extra spring when required to increase intensity which will ensure your muscles continue to be challenged. This will lead to muscle growth in a safe and controlled manner. On that note, did you know that the instructors at Body Reformers Scarborough are all qualified and well experienced? They are clinically trained, professional dancers, a doctor and others are in the field of Sport and Exercise Science and Education.
There are so many benefits of strength and resistance training. Here are my top 5…for you there may be a different top 5?
1. Rebuilding Muscle/Prevent Muscle Loss
Muscle mass peaks at age 25, and adults who don’t engage in resistance training can lose between 8% and 10% of their muscle mass every decade. So, we advise you begin strengthening your muscles at Body Reformers Scarborough as resistance training can prevent this loss of muscle mass. Let’s prevent these loses and begin strength training by age 30 at least and did you know muscle mass can be developed at any age even at 80 to 90 years of age. It’s never too late!
2. Bone health/ Bone density
Resistance training is the only exercise which prevents natural bone loss or reverses the loss even in menopausal or post-menopausal women. More recent studies that combine dietary changes with adequate weight training have been proven to increase bone density in menopausal and post-menopausal women. Nearly all older women living beyond 80 will experience osteoporosis which makes them susceptible to fracture related to falls. So, make the time to include at least 3 reformer Pilates sessions into your week so you can help offset bone loss and maybe slow the progression of osteoporosis later in your life.
3. Better Quality of Life
Strength training can increase your quality of life, especially as you age. Studies have shown adults aged 50 years and older showed a significant correlation between resistance training and better mental health, physical functioning, pain management, posture, general health, and vitality.
4. Weight Control/Reduce fat
Do you want to know how NOT to gain weight, total fat, and belly fat with age? The answer is strength and resistance training at Body Reformers Scarborough! Why should you care about belly fat? Fat stored around the abdomen, especially visceral fat has been linked to and associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Strength training will help you lose weight and keep it off by building muscle tissue. Resistance training will also help burn calories and fat.
5. Improving metabolism/Increase Metabolism
Strength and resistance training can help you manage or lose weight by increasing your metabolism and in turn helping you burn more calories. Put simply, the more muscle mass you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate. And did you know that after a strength training session your metabolism stays elevated too, known as the afterburn effect also known as EPOC meaning excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. After working out your body needs to take in oxygen at a higher rate than it did pre-exercise oxygen to cool down, repair and return to resting state. This requires the body and metabolism to work at a higher rate, so it continues to burn calories.
There are so many more benefits so I encourage you to take the time and do some of your own research and you will be pleasantly surprised with what you find. It may even persuade you to book into a class with us. If your new to Reformer Pilates, it is important to start slowly and to begin with a strength and stretch class first as this allows you to ease into your sessions with a combination of resistance and stretch. Please treat your Pilates sessions as important appointments with yourself and schedule them into your calendar, just like any other commitment. If you remain consistent and dedicated with your training you will reap the rewards of a stronger, more flexible body and a calmer mind.
