For the last four years, I’ve been training several times a week at my CrossFit gym, slowly leveling up on my strength and conditioning while growing in both muscle and power. Sessions include Hyrox, gymnastics and Olympic lifting with OG CrossFit classes to hone a stronger, mobile body — and I’ve loved every minute.
More recently, I hit an intense personal period in my life and fell out of love with high-intensity workouts. In need of a drastic routine change, mentally and physically, I decided to rebuild mental stamina by swapping out my current CrossFit routine for low-impact reformer and mat Pilates (alongside maintaining some yoga, running and a weightlifting session).
Just over 30 days later, here’s what I’ve already noticed about my body, physically and mentally.
My core (and overall) stability has improved
I don’t agree with the poor press CrossFit gets; if you’re consistently getting injured, I believe that’s down to a mixture of personal responsibility and your gym’s coaching, rather than the CrossFit modality. That said, I feel more injury-proof than ever after just one month of Pilates classes under my belt because I’m working on building slow and steady stability and control.
An hour of Pilates can do for your body many things, but leaving the gym drenched in sweat isn’t really one of them, which is why it can be quite a shock if you’re used to higher-intensity training like CrossFit, Hyrox, or running.
Pilates has a strong focus on mind, body and breath, teaching control, balance, stability and coordination while using your breath to guide your body’s movement. It’s known to strengthen the many stabilizing muscles in your body that are responsible for proper posture and help correct improper movement mechanics that can spell injury.
I’ve found overall stability has improved already, particularly within my core, back and glutes.
Rather than heavy lifting, you’ll find light weights, props, reformer beds, high repetitions and very specific, controlled movement patterns. Alignment is everything; your core will get stronger, and you may notice a stronger, more mobile body after even one month of consistent practice.
I’ve found overall stability has improved already, particularly within my core, back and glutes, which are muscle groups crucial for injury prevention and posture. Even while training at CrossFit, I’d argue my back and glutes were the least worked muscle groups, and Pilates is already strengthening those weaker areas.
During reformer classes, you’ll find a lot of single-sided work, isolating muscle groups without your dominant ones taking over. I’ve noticed my left side is far weaker than my right, for example, which now allows me to balance things out. I’ve also noticed that I don’t need heavy weights to feel fatigued because my weaker muscles tire out quickly, even using just 2kg dumbbells. I can’t wait to see further improvements.
I’ve put on fat
A controversial one: I have gained fat, and it doesn’t feel surprising given I have gone from two to three sessions of intense workouts per week to a lower-impact Pilates modality. None of the other variables in my life, like diet or lifestyle, have changed, but I know that without a controlled testing environment, I can’t say this is down to my exercise routine for certain.
I’m a woman, after all, and we deal with a lot of hormonal changes throughout the month, plus there’s life to be lived, and holidays to be had.
I still walk my dog twice a day, hit my step count daily, eat the same and have the same job as a fitness editor and a trainer; the only difference is that I’ve removed high-intensity metabolic conditioning workouts from my routine, and I can see it reflected in my body.
Pilates, yoga and steady-state running all offer a multitude of benefits, strengthening the body, improving cardiovascular fitness (running) and increasing flexibility and mobility (yoga and Pilates); but are they huge calorie-burning or metabolism-boosting workouts? Certain types of running, yes, but otherwise, not really.
I’m a woman, after all, and we deal with a lot of hormonal changes throughout the month.
As a personal trainer, I always say that you need a mixture of progressive overload and lifting weights to build muscle; the more lean muscle mass you have, the more metabolically active your body becomes, combined with a lower body fat percentage.
CrossFit combines high-intensity and explosive training with strength and hypertrophy (muscle-building) principles, meaning greater muscle gain and a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR). Interval training can also improve EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), which creates an afterburn effect; post-exercise, your body burns calories at an elevated rate as it returns to balance.
Besides, metabolic conditioning, as the name suggests, can improve metabolic health and the efficiency of your energy systems. In summary, because CrossFit can improve fat loss and help you build muscle, it could lead to improved body composition.
A promising study — like one published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness — found that eight weeks of Pilates could improve body composition in sedentary and overweight women; however, I am already a trained individual, and Pilates doesn’t primarily focus on fat loss, either. The shift from high to low intensity (I believe) has had an impact on my body composition.
I feel stronger in a different way
I feel stronger, but not in an obvious way, like being able to throw heavy weights overhead. I think it’s about having more control over my body and how it moves before I hit fatigue.
During Pilates workouts, you’ll move your joints and muscles through range of motion while they are under constant tension (a technique called time under tension). This includes during the eccentric, isometric and concentric phases of an exercise; in other words, during the entire movement.
If you asked someone who snatches (a popular weightlifting exercise performed in CrossFit) to go through a technique refresher, fixing up all the little areas that could be improved with complete control and focus, I guarantee they’d need to drop down in weight load. Full stability and strength come from having proper control over your movement patterns, and this has definitely changed for me.
Aside from physical changes, I also feel calmer and I’m sleeping better. Again, this could be down to something else, but I do feel that the change of pace was much needed by my body, and I’m responding well to low-impact movement right now. Did you know that stress could be the real reason you’re not seeing workout results? If you feel the same way, perhaps a switch-up to your routine could be the tonic you need.
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