Firstly, what is Pilates?
While there are lots of different styles of Pilates, fundamentally it is all about exercises focused on getting you moving the best you can and feeling great!
Building your strength, improving mobility and flexibility, balance, co-ordination and motor control.
All in all helping you feel great, move well and perform better!
Should runners do Pilates?
Definitely! There have been a number of studies into the benefits of Pilates for runners. The most notable being the 2018 study by Finatto et Al. The study was looking at runners over a 12 week period, and found that those who introduced weekly Pilates to their training improved not only their 5km time, but their VO2 max and trunk strength as well.
What are the benefits of Pilates for runners?
Aside from the performance benefits, Pilates also provides some key balance to your training.
With a reported 50% of runners getting injured every year, and stress levels (both physical and mental) being one of the major factors which increase your risk of getting injured, taking positive action to reduce and limit stress on the body and mind is a must for runners.
Running is high impact and highly repetitive, which is great in appropriate amounts for building your fitness and tolerance. However, because of the impact and repetitive nature of it, it’s easy to overtrain, put the body under too much stress and then increase the risk of injury as a result.
The low impact nature of Pilates, added to the focus on breathing, varying your movement patterns, and building your strength, stability and control all add to the many ways Pilates can help balance out the impact of running and help to keep you injury free.
Pilates is also hugely adaptable, enabling you to vary your sessions to support your running at different stages of your training. Using the mobility-based sessions to help you recover from races and hard training weeks, then adding in strength and stability sessions to help you in the build-up and preparation for races and tough training blocks.
How can I try Pilates?
Don’t over think it!
The low impact nature of Pilates means it can be done ANYTIME and not impact on your running training.
So get started with short but regular and consistent sessions tagged onto your runs or existing strength/weights sessions.
Just 10 minutes 3-4 times a week at the start will have you seeing results. From there you can scale and adapt your sessions around your running.
If you’re ready to get started then grab a free session at www.pilatesforunners.co.uk or download the PfR app for easy to get quick access to some free short sessions.
No previous experience or kit needed to start!
Move better, feel better, run stronger! 
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