Pilates Fitness Friday: Strength Training and the Changing Body

Strength progression shown through dumbbells, highlighting importance of resistance training across ages

It’s an interesting moment when you start to realise the body doesn’t quite respond the way it used to. Not dramatically at first. Just small things. Recovery takes a bit longer. Strength doesn’t build quite as quickly. Flexibility feels a little less forgiving.

Most people assume this starts later in life. In reality, it begins much earlier.

From around the age of 30, we start to lose muscle mass. Slowly, but consistently. By the time we reach our 50s and 60s, that loss becomes much more noticeable, especially if we haven’t done anything to challenge it.

This is where strength training becomes essential. Not extreme training. Not aggressive training. Just effective, consistent strength work. Research from the World Health Organisation and the American College of Sports Medicine is very clear on this. Strength training at least twice a week can significantly slow muscle loss, support bone health, and improve overall function as we age.

So this isn’t about fitness trends. It’s about maintaining the ability to move well and stay independent. As Pilates teachers, this is where we need to be honest with ourselves.

Pilates gives us an excellent foundation. It improves alignment, control, and awareness. It connects the body. But if we are not progressively challenging strength, we are only doing part of the job. And this is where things need to shift slightly in how we teach.

When clients are in their 30s, it’s about building good habits. They can generally tolerate more load, recover more quickly, and adapt well. This is the time to encourage progression, not just repetition.

In their 50s, things start to change. Hormonal shifts affect muscle and bone. Recovery needs to be respected. But that does not mean backing off. If anything, strength work becomes more important, just delivered more thoughtfully.

By the time clients reach their 60s and beyond, the focus becomes very clear. Strength is directly linked to independence. Getting up from a chair, climbing stairs, maintaining balance. These are not abstract goals. They are everyday necessities.

And here’s the part that often gets missed. Light work alone is not enough.

If the body is not challenged, it has no reason to adapt. That means we need to introduce load. That might be through springs, small equipment, bodyweight, or simply changing the leverage and position of an exercise.

It doesn’t mean turning Pilates into a gym session. It means understanding resistance and progression. It also means allowing clients to feel that something is working. Not to the point of strain, but enough to create change.

This is where your teaching becomes everything.

The same exercise can be easy or challenging depending on how you cue it, how you set it up, and how you progress it. That’s the difference between simply delivering movements and actually teaching Pilates.

The body will change. That part is inevitable.

What we do as teachers is help our clients respond to those changes in a way that keeps them strong, capable, and confident in how they move.

And that is where Pilates, when taught well, really proves its value.

Sources:

World Health OrganizationGuidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour, 2020https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128

American College of Sports MedicineACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 11th Edition, 2021https://www.acsm.org