Yoga and Pilates are often taught together, and indeed, they share many things in common. Both are exercises which strengthen the body, and they use similar movements to stretch muscle groups, build muscle and train.

Pilates is a relatively new type of exercise, developed only within the past couple of years. It uses the same movements of yoga because it was developed by looking at yoga from a purely scientific viewpoint, looking at which movements built the most muscle, and how to add modern exercise equipment in order to make the workout more intense. It’s primary focus is as a muscle building and core strengthening exercise, and for those individuals who are most interested in yoga for weight loss or muscle building, pilates may prove to be a good way to go.

Of course, being an exercise rather than a true art form, pilates does not utilize meditation and it tries to be very up-tempo. It resembles step aerobics in that there’s usually a great deal of music, fast movements, high energy trainers, and a variety of pieces of equipment that are utilized. This means that it’s not always accessible to people who are out of shape, or who can’t keep up with the complexity of movement. It also doesn’t have all of the side benefits of yoga, including the ability to help you focus your mind, control your breathing, or relaxation.

With pilates, you’ll utilize ankle weights, inflatable balls, core training equipment, medicine balls and more to keep resistance on. This is what makes pilates a much more difficult workout than most yoga courses, where gravity and flexibility are the only resistance. It can be difficult to perform these movements initially, but most classes will let you start out with out any resistance and work your way up to higher levels of performance.

However, pilates is a very fun exercise to try out, and after doing it, you’ll have a much easier time with many of your yoga movements since you’ll have built up so much muscle in doing it.