Why Control Can Make Pilates Feel Harder
Updated: Oct 3
When we think about making exercise harder, we often think about doing more repetitions, adding resistance or moving faster.
Pilates can challenge you in a different way.
Sometimes, simply slowing a movement down can make an exercise feel completely different. Without speed to carry you through, you have more time to notice what is happening and more of the movement becomes yours to control.
Why Does Moving Slowly Make Pilates Harder?
When you move quickly, momentum can sometimes help you get from one part of an exercise to the next.
Slow the same movement down and that momentum is reduced. Suddenly, you have to pay attention to the entire movement.
Can you move smoothly and maintain your position?
Can you control the resistance rather than letting it control you?
This is why a familiar Pilates exercise can become surprisingly challenging when your instructor simply asks you to slow it down.
Control Is One of the Principles of Pilates
Control sits at the heart of the Pilates method.
Joseph Pilates originally called his method Contrology, reflecting the importance he placed on consciously controlling the body through movement.
But control does not mean making yourself stiff or trying to perform every exercise perfectly.
It is about being intentional.
Instead of allowing momentum to decide where your body goes, you are actively involved in how you get there. The entire movement matters, not just the final position.
It Is Not Just About the Way Out
One of the easiest places to notice control in Reformer Pilates is when working against the springs.
Pressing the carriage away might feel like the main part of an exercise. But what happens on the way back? If the carriage quickly returns and closes with a bang, you have lost part of the movement.
Controlling the return asks you to keep working even when the direction changes. The same idea applies in Mat Pilates.
Lowering a leg with control can feel very different from simply letting it drop. Rolling down slowly can ask more of you than getting to the floor as quickly as possible.
Often, the part we rush through is the part worth paying attention to.
Does Pilates Always Have to Be Slow?
No.
Control and slow movement are not the same thing.
Pilates can include changes in pace and flowing sequences. As you become more familiar with an exercise, you may be able to move more quickly while still maintaining control.
The difference is whether you are controlling the movement or the movement is controlling you.
Sometimes slowing down simply gives you the opportunity to find that control first.
Once you have it, the pace can change without the movement becoming rushed.
Control Works With the Other Pilates Principles
The principles of Pilates do not work in isolation.
To control a movement, you need to concentrate on what you are doing. Your breath can help create rhythm, while precision encourages you to pay attention to the quality of each repetition.
This is why something as simple as slowing down or changing your focus can completely change how an exercise feels.
The movement may look almost identical from the outside, but your experience of it can be very different.
Control Develops With Practice
If you are new to Pilates, some movements will initially feel unfamiliar.
The carriage might move faster than you expected or your balance might feel less steady than you would like.
That is part of learning.
Control is not something you either have or do not have. It is something you develop.
As exercises become more familiar, you begin to notice smaller details. You recognise when you are relying on momentum and learn how to make the movement feel smoother.
Like any skill, control improves with practice.
Why We Focus on Control at One Percent Pilates
At One Percent Pilates, we want you to experience the movement rather than simply get through it.
That is why you might hear your instructor ask you to slow something down, soften the carriage return or try another repetition with more control.
Making an exercise more challenging does not always mean adding more resistance. Sometimes a small adjustment changes the entire exercise. And sometimes doing less, more deliberately, teaches you much more.
Slow Down and See What Changes
The next time your instructor asks you to slow down, notice what happens.
Does the exercise feel different?
Do you notice something you were previously rushing past?
Slowing down is not the goal of Pilates. Control is.
Sometimes slowing down is simply how we learn to find it.
Start Pilates in Fairfield
If you are looking for Reformer or Mat Pilates in Fairfield, our classes at One Percent Pilates focus on helping you build strength and control through quality movement and clear instruction.
Continue exploring the principles of Pilates with Why One Good Repetition Is Better Than Ten Rushed Ones, Why Breathing Is More Than Just Breathing in Pilates and Why Concentration Matters in Pilates.
Each principle adds another layer to the way we understand and practise Pilates.
View our schedule or explore membership options to get started.
