I Swapped Heavy Lifting for Pilates for 30 Days and These 3 Results Blew My Mind
Have you ever felt stuck in your fitness routine, wondering if there's something more out there? As a personal trainer and CrossFit coach, I've spent years chasing intense workouts and heavy weights. But when a hip injury forced me to slow down, I discovered a whole new approach to movement. I'm passionate about helping others find joy in fitness and feel at home in their bodies. Here's what happened when I traded burpees for the reformer machine—and why it might be worth trying yourself.
What Motivated Me to Try Pilates
When I first embarked on this experiment, to be completely honest, my CrossFit-coaching, triathlon-dabbling, spin-class-teaching brain thought I was essentially giving myself a month "off" from intense exercise. I was on a mission to heal a persistent hip injury (more on that later) and was curious if Pilates, along with Physical Therapy exercises and light activity like walking, could speed up the healing process. I quickly learned that while Pilates is low-impact, it's far from just "light activity." These 30 days challenged me physically and mentally and introduced me to one of my new favorite forms of movement.
I've always been drawn to all kinds of fitness–from yoga to boxing, spin classes, triathlon—you name it. When I began teaching indoor cycling, I ran into overuse injuries, which led me to strength training. Working with personal trainers to prevent injuries on the bike, I went from barely racking an empty barbell to chasing PRs on squats, deadlifts, and pull-ups. Strength training has become an avenue for me to challenge self-limiting beliefs and show myself how much I'm capable of, and it continuously teaches me the power of community, consistency, and showing up for myself. It has become a piece of who I am and a large part of my career.
Finding Balance: Why Enjoying Your Workouts Matters
With that said my type-A nature can get caught up in the "optimal" health and fitness trap. It's easy to forget about bio-individuality, the fact that we all have unique bodies and needs, and remember that, ultimately, feeling good in my body is what matters most. While "listening to your body" is crucial, it's also easier said than done. It's a skill that takes consistent practice. I know how easily I can fall into feeling like a prisoner to a plan, struggling to tune into what my body is actually telling me.
CrossFit reminded me that fitness doesn't have to be so rigid. Its constantly varied approach helped me see that there are endless combinations of effective exercises and made it easier to let go of some of the pressure I'd put on my strength training regimen. While intensity is central to CrossFit, its philosophy also preaches consistency over sheer intensity. Fitness progress isn't just about pushing ourselves—it's about the right balance of challenge and recovery. Ultimately, I believe that finding joy in the work is key and that the best routine is the one you love–not because it's easy, but because you've learned to enjoy the challenge. As the famous Lao Tzu saying goes, "The man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination."
How My Hip Injury Changed Everything
A few months ago, while training for a triathlon and trying to maintain CrossFit and strength training in my routine, I injured my hip. I'd had some smaller injuries in the months prior– a sign that I was overworking and under-recovering. But this injury was different. It wasn't just a minor setback— it felt like my body was hitting the brakes hard after I'd been ignoring its warnings to slow down. As any CrossFitter may have heard before, Brianna Wiest famously said, 'Rest before rest chooses you.' Safe to say, this time, rest chose me.
The injury made walking painful. With a job as active as personal training, I felt like it had knocked me down. I knew I needed to take an honest look at how I was approaching my intense training regimen.
Though the gym wasn't off-limits during my rehab, I was beginning to dread my workouts. Strength training was vital to me, but I also knew the importance of enjoying my movement. The "proceed with caution" nature of rehabbing an injury made it difficult for me to enjoy training. My gym workouts, which had become my cherished "me time", stress relief, and a form of empowerment for so long, felt riddled with fear and anxiety.
In part, this apprehension in the gym was for the same reason I was still limping. Though the doctor said it was safe to bear weight, it still hurt–not a lot, but there was a slight, lingering pain with every step.
How Pain Shapes Movement—And Why Listening to Your Body Matters
Pain isn't just physical—it's biopsychosocial, influenced by biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Even minor pain can trigger a neurological response to "guard" the affected area, like a limp. Pain is often mentally and emotionally uncomfortable due to the complex beliefs, fears, emotions, and expectations we have around it.
From an evolutionary standpoint, this hypervigilance makes perfect sense: in caveman times, any injury that impaired our ability to quickly move away from danger meant our lives could be at stake. Being in a sympathetic nervous system state (fight or flight) when experiencing pain could be crucial for survival. While modern life has removed many immediate threats, like needing to run from a lion, our biology hasn't caught up yet—our nervous system still responds to pain as if we're vulnerable prey, even if we know we're not in any life-threatening danger.
Though I wasn't enjoying my workouts, I was hesitant to step back from the gym. This partially stemmed from how much I value strength training and partially from a fear of losing progress, strength, and muscle. I was still determined to keep going and hopeful that the enjoyment factor would slowly return as my hip healed. One day, feeling particularly unmotivated, I decided to try a group Pilates class instead of lifting. I was craving a challenge and a boost of motivation, and I knew I wanted something gentler on my hip than a traditional group fitness class.
My Surprising Pilates Journey
In my first Pilates class, the instructor asked about injuries. I mentioned my hip, and she, also a physical therapist, said she had dealt with a similar injury in the past. She gave me a few modifications, but surprisingly, I didn't need them. I went in with every intention to modify as needed, but my hip felt fine in every movement. Walking still felt worse than Pilates.
Naturally, I got home that night and dove headfirst into researching the Pilates reformer, curious as to how I felt completely uninjured on that machine.
The origin story fascinated me. Joseph Pilates, its creator and namesake, was a German boxer and self-defense instructor who originally developed the reformer machine during WWI to rehabilitate injured soldiers. His method combined resistance–from hospital bed springs–with his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, yoga, and breathwork. The goal was to strengthen the soldiers' limbs through mind-body movement.
I became curious about using Pilates as my main form of exercise for a month. I wanted to see if it could improve my hip, and possibly reignite my passion for training. I also wanted to challenge the irrational fear that I'd lose all my muscle by taking 3-4 weeks away from heavy weights. Pilates is a form of strength training, so even if I lost a little muscle and strength, I knew it would return quickly once I resumed lifting. This wasn't a breakup with heavy weights–it was just an experiment, knowing I could return to lifting whenever I wanted.
Pilates as My Primary Workout: A 30-Day Experiment
For 30 days, Pilates became my primary workout–not active recovery or "extra" movement. Walking was still uncomfortable, so I swapped out my daily walks for light indoor biking or the elliptical, typically while listening to a podcast or doing computer work. I stayed consistent with my PT exercises and took two full rest days each week. By the end of week one, I felt great–better than I had since far before the injury. Without the release I got from higher intensity workouts, I expected to feel anxious or agitated, but I didn't. Instead, I felt the same fire that lit up when I first learned why strength training works: it builds resilience, longevity, and confidence in our capabilities. I felt like each class flew by, and always left feeling energized and excited for the next.
Now, just to be clear, my goal here is not to say you should scrap whatever you're doing and commit to pilates forever. I'm still a firm believer in the importance of strength training. This experiment was driven by curiosity—I wanted to challenge my own discomfort around changing my routine, and was genuinely curious to see if Pilates and low-impact movement could support my injury recovery.
The Impact of Pilates on Strength, Stability, and Hypermobility
By the end of 30 days, I was amazed at how my body responded. My hip felt stronger and a lot more stable. My pain had completely subsided. While this is definitely due to a variety of factors, and not Pilates alone, I do believe it played a huge role.
Something I've known for a while is that I am hypermobile: my joints often lack strength at the end ranges of motion. The emphasis on slow, controlled movements in Pilates helps to strengthen the stabilizing muscles around the joints, which plays a crucial role in improving stability and reduces the risk of injury over time. Rather than the emphasis on passive flexibility that some may associate with Pilates, I felt like the approach was all about working to develop control within more vulnerable ranges of motion, something that is often lacking in those with hypermobility. I wasn't just stretching deeper; I was learning to engage my muscles and develop control through these deeper ranges of motion, creating a foundation of stability that I could build on across other fitness modalities. If you're not hypermobile and lack mobility, the pairing of resistance and mobility in Pilates can be a safe and effective way to develop more range of motion. I was feeling much more secure in my movements overall, and more confident in my body's ability to handle movement without re-injury.
Did I need to give up strength training in the gym entirely to focus on pilates for a month? No. But taking that break reignited my passion for other forms of movement, and reminded me of the importance of joy in our routines.
The Most Challenging Exercises
Holy planks. Wow. I'd never done a plank extension on an unstable surface with resistance before, and let me tell you, nothing has made my core work so hard. In one of my first classes, I swear we were in a plank for 5 minutes straight. Okay, maybe it wasn't a full five minutes, but it sure felt like it. The slow, meticulous targeting of each muscle group was astounding. I didn't think my core was weak before, but I quickly realized I lacked the muscular endurance to maintain tension like the Pilates warriors around me.
Yes, warriors. Don't be fooled by their composed appearances, sleek hairstyles and matching workout sets–I'm convinced these women are training for the apocalypse. Pilates studios may appear gentle and tranquil on the outside, but once class starts, it's a battlefield. These instructors and students are training to survive anything and everything. Trust me, if you ever have to be stuck on an island with anyone, pick the Pilates woman who can withstand a spring-resisted plank with perfect form for minutes at a time–who knows what else she's capable of.
How This Experience Changed My Approach to Fitness
Overall, this experience has been transformative in my approach to fitness—both for myself and with my clients. Something I've reflected on a lot these past couple of months is the importance of diversifying our fitness identities. While I believe wholeheartedly that movement is medicine and a foundational pillar of holistic health, if we tie our self-worth or sole form of stress relief to just one type of movement, it sets us up on an unstable foundation (like a Pilates reformer platform) when facing the inevitable curveballs life throws at us. While structure and specificity are important elements of progress, factors like adaptability, cognitive flexibility, and enjoyment are just as crucial.
I've become more aware that true strength comes from stability, resilience, and consistency—not just heavy weights. Pilates has helped me embrace the idea that movement can be fun and restorative—not about burning calories or PR-ing all the time. It reminded me that it's okay to slow down and explore new things—especially the things that initially seem scary or unfamiliar. This experiment was a reminder to trust the process and find enjoyment in learning new ways to move. I've been practicing letting go of some of my perfectionist tendencies, and learning to embrace fun over fear in fitness. Movement is meant to feel good.
Pilates as a Key Part of My Routine
I am definitely keeping Pilates in my routine, as a complement to strength training, CrossFit, and whatever fitness endeavors I choose in the future. As I've reincorporated heavier weights and some CrossFit classes, I've seen the benefits of Pilates carry over into my other movement modalities. I feel more in tune with my body—I've learned to trust its signals, whether it's needing a rest day or wanting to switch from an upper body lift to a Pilates class, or vice versa. If I ever feel analysis paralysis starting to take over, I remind myself that my biceps don't know what day of the week it is, and I ask myself which form of movement sounds appealing. Having a broad range of fitness modalities to pull from, while possibly less "optimal", makes me more consistent with moving my body, and overall, a happier person.
I do think consistency with movement needs to come first, but I want everyone to leave with the message that truly enjoying and individualizing your fitness approach isn't out of reach. If you're feeling stuck, burnt out, or bored, try something new—even if it's not "optimal." Fitness shouldn't make us feel like we are stuck in a box, it can and should be fun. Continuously overloading the same tissues can lead to injuries or burnout, and sticking to just one type of discomfort—whether that's powerlifting, long-distance running, or anything else—can mean we are neglecting other important aspects, like mobility or agility.
Long-Term Fitness
There's nothing wrong with focusing on one form of movement if you've found something that lights you up. Focusing on one modality for a long time means you probably enjoy it, and that's amazing. Truly, that's the goal–for fitness to be something we want to do, for life. But trying something new that challenges you in a different way can be a great way to broaden your discomfort tolerance, which is an important element of consistency.
You definitely don't have to overhaul your entire routine, but try to stay open to new and different forms of movement. Expanding our view of what "counts" as a workout helps us build a more resilient approach. Resilience isn't about never getting knocked down by life's turbulence—it's about always getting back up, and being able to bend without breaking.
By embracing different ways of moving, we create more opportunities to stay active and in ways that bring us joy, ensuring we can keep moving for life, forging our own unique balance of strength, structure, and enjoyment.
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