My Experience Switching From Pilates To Weight Training + Tips

I was an avid pilates-goer for five years straight. I’d pop into reformer classes, practice at-home mat pilates, and sprinkle in a yoga class when I could. Over time, though, I started to find myself unhappy with this routine and its (lack of) results. I knew weight training could help me gain strength and muscle definition, but I was hesitant to give it a try. 

Part of me just didn’t want to start the journey to learn something new. I also had the common fear that I’d grow muscles bigger than I wanted.

For years, I went to countless studios, tried online courses, and pieced together my own pilates workouts, yet I was still feeling uninspired. The workouts started to bore me, which made me less motivated to engage in exercise at all. 

In addition, I wasn’t feeling much stronger or noticing increased muscle definition. While my motive wasn’t to fully transform my body visually, I still wanted to see or feel something, given that I was putting money and effort into the process. 

On the topic of money, pilates became quite an expensive hobby after moving to New York City from a small town in California. Reformer classes were undoubtedly my favorite, but they typically charge about $30 a class here, which is beyond what I wanted to pay for the sake of working out. Still, I struggled to get past my fear of “bulking up,” so to speak, so for a while, I just sat in the exercise discontentment.

But then, I began to notice a trend in my job as a mindbodygreen editor: Most experts I interviewed for articles and many of the guests on the mindbodygreen podcast reiterated that weight training will not inherently bulk you up, even if the stigma is widespread. 

Plus, as Nike Master Trainer and Hyperice Ambassador, Betina Gozo, told me, the benefits of muscle mass far surpass your physical appearance. Simply being able to keep up with daily activities and balance are worthwhile reasons to lift weights.

"I always advocate for pilates to be a complement to a weight lifting program versus being the only thing you do," Gozo told me. "As we age, our bone density and muscle mass decrease, but adding a heavy load to that can help keep them strong." In fact, a 2022 study1 found that strength training can help prevent sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss. And the longevity benefits don't stop there. A systematic review from the same year found that just 30-60 minutes of strength training per week reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

My first step was signing up for a complimentary personal training session at my gym. I came armed with a list of my goals, what I’ve tried in the past, and what I wanted to learn. When I arrived, I asked my trainer to teach me how to use some of the machines so I could have at least a little bit of experience with supervision. They also checked my form on basic workouts like squats and bicep curls. 

My trainer recommended I split my workouts into upper body days and lower body days since I was committed to weightlifting 3-4 days a week—but to be clear, there's an array of options to choose from in terms of scheduling your workouts.

Gozo recommends splitting up the upper body workouts to keep the pushing motion exercises separate from the pulling exercises, for example. For the lower body, she likes to keep hinge exercises separate from knee-dominant exercises (this is a great tip for anyone with sensitive knee joints). But still, it's all about what works best for you. In my experience, I liked keeping my upper and lower body days separate and simple, but I may decide to switch that up later on.

After my intro session, I made a few buddy-system visits to the gym. I don’t know about you, but the thought of walking into a new gym by myself made me feel nervous, so I enlisted the help of some friends who regularly visit the gym to show me around and make me feel more comfortable—and it did just that. 

With the help of my trainer, some personal research, and plenty of trial-and-error experimentation to find what I liked, I came up with a routine that I’ve stuck with. 

Per expert recommendations, I kept most exercises to three sets of 10 repetitions. Once I could do the exercise with ease, I’d bump up the weight. Now, I don’t work myself to the point where I literally drop the weight on the ground (dangerous), but rather to the limit of completing the repetition correctly—if I had to sacrifice my form, that told me I should stick with lighter weights. 

I always begin and end my workout routine with stretching. I’ve skipped it once or twice, and I could definitely feel it the next day.

A quick disclaimer before I jump into my routines: I definitely don’t do the same routine every single time. On some days, I have less energy so I keep my workouts quick so I don’t overextend myself. Some weeks I only practice strength training once or twice and add in a yoga class (a regular occurrence during my menstrual phase); other weeks, I’m too busy to even reach three workouts. I try to listen to my body and give it the rest it needs so I can perform my best the next time I go. 

Here are some of my favorite exercises from experience so far: 

Now to the fun part: My results. 

I recently moved into a new apartment, which required lifting a seemingly endless amount of heavy boxes and moving items up five flights of stairs. I did a lot of it on my own—something I doubt I could have done before I started weight training. 

When I was only doing pilates and yoga, I felt the need to schedule in movement five or six days a week. While this wasn’t a requirement by any means, it was just what made me feel the best at the time. Now that my workouts are more intense, I stick with three or four days a week, meaning more time to spend with friends or resting solo.

I wasn’t unhappy with how my body looked before weight training, but as I mentioned earlier, I personally wasn’t seeing any increased definition with pilates. But after just three months of weight training, I noticed my entire body looked more toned, especially my arms and my thighs.