Is Pilates the same thing as calisthenics?
- Nadea Knodel
- Oct 7, 2024
- 3 min read
Calisthenics are resistance exercises using your own bodyweight — functional movement akin to gymnastics. It’s an incredibly useful (and very cool) exercise approach and it’s accessible to pretty much anyone because it just requires your body. The concept has been around for centuries, with roots and references to the practice going all the way back to Ancient Greece, Ancient China, and Ancient India, spanning everything from yoga to military training.
Really common/familiar calisthenic exercises include:
Push ups
Sit ups
Pull ups
Tricep dips
Squats
Hand stands
Planks
L sits
… you probably get the idea
It’s pretty obvious that Pilates and calisthenics have a lot of overlap and Joe was almost certainly heavily inspired by the concept. But is Pilates just the same thing as calisthenics?
Well, first off, the complete Pilates method does make extensive use of Joe’s unique equipment and apparatus. While calisthenics is known to make use of props like pommel horses or bars or weights, Joe's springs in particular (such as on the reformer and cadillac) are probably too much of a stretch to be classified in the same box as pure calisthenics.
What about the Pilates matwork specifically?
We’ll be the first to enthusiastically acknowledge there are a ton of similarities, and many of the movements might look identical (at least at face value).
The Pilates method (originally called “Contrology”) goes deeper and beyond just an individual physical exercise’s actions and instead requires a highly specific approach and state of mind when it comes to the process of execution.
The Pilates method (originally called “Contrology”) goes deeper and beyond just an individual physical exercise’s actions and instead requires a highly specific approach and state of mind when it comes to the process of execution.
Pilates focusses on combining stretch, strength, and breath, and it requires the practitioner to focus on flow, organization, process, and methodology, leading to full-body harmony. One could argue that if your mindset is not in the “Pilates zone”, then you might be acting out or miming the Pilates exercises without actually doing “Pilates” — missing the soul and the meaning, as it were.
Pilates exercises are far from random or individual; all exercises fit together and build off one another. Pilates/Contrology is a comprehensive system or intricate library of movements that become more complex, layered, and nuanced as a practitioner becomes more familiar, adept, and strong.
By the time you’ve completed a classic Pilates workout, you are almost guaranteed to have moved your spine and your major joints in all natural directions and to have connected to and harmonized all of your major muscle groups (and plenty of the little bitty muscles that are oft overlooked), so that you finish by feeling organized, grounded, and stretched out — Joe called his method “an internal shower”.
If you compare some of those calisthenic exercises that we mentioned at the outset (push ups, sit ups, tricep dips, planks, etc) to classic Pilates exercises, you’ll definitely see similar vibes… But in Pilates a “sit up” is so much more than just a “sit up”… You have roll ups, teasers, half rollbacks, ab preps, and so on — and to do those exercises in the “proper” Pilates style, you’d be paying a ton of attention to how you’re approaching the movement, including breath, flow, and more. A “tricep dip” is fancier than just a “tricep dip” — it becomes incorporated into your reverse chest expansion, your long back stretch, your Wunda chair teasers, and more. In Pilates, a cigar is often not just a cigar and when you hear hoofbeats in Pilates class, you should be at least entertaining the idea of Zebras, not mere horses.
So is there overlap? Yup, for sure. But Pilates has some extra ingredients and some pretty specific intentions to its all-encompassing method that make it an exercise form all its own.
Featured images sources:
https://blog.alomoves.com/movement/pilates-roll-up
https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/pilates-exercises/reformer-exercises/reformer-long-back-stretch/
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