Pilates guide
Toned means some muscle you can see, with less fat over it. Pilates is good at the first part when you're starting out: it builds strength and stamina, especially in your trunk. On its own it adds little muscle you could see on a scan, and it uses about as much energy as a slow walk, so the toned look usually needs Pilates that keeps getting harder, some strength training, and, if you have fat to lose, moving more overall.
Our guide to whether Pilates is strength training covers muscle in depth, and our guide to toning up covers toning beyond Pilates. This guide explains what toning means, what the Pilates trials show for muscle and fat, why light and heavy work both count when the effort is hard, what Pilates can and can't do for your stomach, thighs, bum and arms, how long change takes, and a week that pairs Pilates with load and walking.
In everyday use, toned means some muscle with less fat over it. In physiology, muscle tone is a resting muscle's tension, which isn't the same thing. So toning is building some muscle and, usually, losing some fat.
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In trials it added about 10 curl-ups a minute, and in people over 60 one review found a moderate strength gain against doing nothing, though a 2024 review disagreed. Against other exercise, it was no better for strength.
Pooled trials found no clear change in lean mass. On scans, 9 months of Pilates grew the six-pack muscle 21% but not the glutes or hip muscles, in a small study with no comparison group.
Muscle grew about equally with light and heavy loads when the sets were hard, and heavier loads built more strength. So Pilates tones more when you keep making it harder (springs, bands, weights, longer levers) and do some strength training alongside it, on at least 2 days a week, as the NHS advises.
A session is light work, about like a slow walk. Against doing nothing, Pilates took off about 2.4 kg in small trials of adults with overweight, with no clear change in waist size. Brisk activity and eating a little less do more.
Working a muscle doesn't take the fat off it: training one limb didn't reduce the fat over it across 13 studies, and 6 weeks of daily ab work didn't shrink belly fat. Your arms, stomach, thighs and bum firm up as muscle grows and overall body fat falls.
In physiology, resting muscle tone is the passive tension a relaxed muscle has; a review of the term says it "has been used to convey varying clinical and physiological features that have led to confusion and controversy". In everyday use, toned means you can see the shape of your muscles because there's some muscle and not much fat over it. This guide uses the everyday meaning.
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Build some muscle, with strength work you keep making harder, and, if there's fat to lose, lower your overall body fat by moving more and eating a little less. The two change separately: fat doesn't turn into muscle. Resistance training trims a little fat, and aerobic training takes off more.
The Pilates Method Alliance describes Pilates as exercise "designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body", taught on the mat, on the reformer or on other equipment. On the mat, the load is your own body, through levers, holds and repetitions; on the reformer, springs add or take away load. Neither gets harder by itself over the weeks: a 2026 review notes Pilates relies "mainly on your own body weight and controlled movements, which may not be sufficient to increase muscle mass or explosive power significantly".
Strength rises within weeks, partly as your nervous system learns the move. Real growth showed on scans by about weeks 3 to 4 in lab trials. Muscle grows when sets are hard, whatever the load: light and heavy weights built similar muscle when sets were taken close to failure.
Women and men gain muscle at a similar rate relative to where they start (29 studies), with men adding slightly more in absolute terms. Adults over 50 still gain, about 1.1 kg of lean mass across 49 studies, a little less with older age. Beginners gain fastest, and people vary hugely: on the same arm programme, 585 adults' muscle growth ranged from -2% to +59%. Where your body stores fat (genes, sex, age, hormones) decides which muscles show first.
Most Pilates trials are small (9 to 109 people), short, in women, and several measured muscle with bathroom-type bioimpedance scales. We say where the evidence is thin.
In healthy adults, 2 or 3 sessions a week for 5 to 12 weeks added about 10 curl-ups in a 1-minute test, compared with no exercise (9 small trials).
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A 2021 review of 39 studies in people 60 and over found a moderate strength gain against doing nothing, at moderate certainty. A 2024 review of 24 trials (1,190 people) found no clear gain against doing nothing (low quality) and concluded it was "not feasible" to recommend Pilates for strength in older adults. The two reviews conflict, so the honest answer is that Pilates may make beginners a little stronger.
Across 11 trials of all ages, Pilates built strength no better or worse than other exercise, strength training included (very low to low certainty). In older adults, Pilates and other exercise didn't differ (moderate quality).
Across 12 studies in about 540 women, lean mass changed by 0.46 kg on average (anywhere from 2.35 kg less to 3.27 kg more; low certainty), with no clear change in body fat percentage, waist or grip strength. In 11 trials of adults with overweight, lean mass didn't change, and across 10 studies, mat Pilates was no better than control or other exercise for body composition.
Nine inactive women did 36 weeks of Pilates twice a week. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans the six-pack muscle grew 21% and the deeper and side tummy muscles about 8%, while the glutes and deep hip muscles didn't change; the authors suggest the exercises "could have not been specific enough or the exercise intensity could have been too low". There was no comparison group.
On a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) body scan, 8 weeks of Pilates with 1 kg dumbbells raised lean mass a little (38.4 to 39.7 kg) and lowered body fat (50.9% to 49.1%) within the Pilates group in adults with overweight, small effects in a trial whose control group wasn't randomised. In 25 women after the menopause, 12 weeks of mat Pilates raised grip and chair-stand scores with no change on DXA. Bioimpedance read more lean mass than DXA after Pilates, and in one trial the control group's "muscle" rose on the scale as much as the Pilates group's (0.65 against 0.69 kg).
Mat and apparatus Pilates gave similar gains in strength and function in 48 women about 65, and mat and barrel Pilates similar body composition changes in 20 women. In 24 women after the menopause, grip strength rose only with apparatus Pilates.
Whether Pilates is strength training, and whether it builds muscle, is covered in depth in our Pilates for strength guide.
We found no trial comparing Pilates with progressive weight training that measured muscle size with a scan (MRI, ultrasound or DXA).
In Korea, 18 women aged 45 and over with higher body fat did a reformer Pilates circuit or a machine weight circuit 3 times a week for 8 weeks. On bioimpedance scales, lean mass fell 0.59 kg with Pilates and rose 0.43 kg with weights, a difference between the groups that wasn't significant; slightly more fat came off with Pilates. It was an exploratory trial, and the authors say the results "should be interpreted cautiously due to the exploratory design and small sample size".
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In 60 women aged 60 to 80, Pilates beat no exercise only for holding hip extension, while light resistance training with bands and dumbbells improved every machine-measured hip test within its group; the programmes didn't differ on the machine tests, and lean mass rose in both on DXA. Balance and core resistance training on a device beat Pilates for trunk strength, leg power and body composition in 34 women about 70, and a light, high-repetition group class beat it for fitness, power and body fat in 42 inactive women.
Across 21 studies, "muscle hypertrophy can be equally achieved across a spectrum of loading ranges", while heavier loads built more strength; across 28 studies with 747 adults, muscle growth didn't differ by load. The 2026 American College of Sports Medicine position stand found growth "was enhanced by higher volumes" (10 or more sets a week for each muscle) and says healthy adults "should perform progressive RT" (resistance training).
Adding cardio to strength work didn't blunt muscle growth or maximal strength across 43 studies. Pilates, weights and walking sit happily in the same week.
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Our Pilates for weight loss and Pilates for belly fat guides cover fat loss in depth.
About 3 METs (3 times your energy use at rest) in the most reliable estimate, with very low to low certainty: "Pilates appears to elicit light-to-moderate metabolic intensity". In 31 young adults, a session matched walking at 3.2 km/h and fell short of 4.8 km/h. The Compendium of Physical Activities lists traditional mat Pilates at 1.8 METs and Pilates in general at 2.8, against 4.8 for brisk walking.
Against doing nothing, Pilates took off about 2.4 kg in 11 trials of adults with overweight (low to moderate certainty), with no significant change in waist size. In adult women, body fat percentage and waist didn't change clearly. An umbrella review rated most Pilates meta-analyses low or critically low quality.
Resistance training cut body fat by about 1.5 percentage points (0.55 kg) across 58 studies, and visceral fat too. In 119 adults over 8 months, aerobic training took off more fat, while programmes with resistance training added more lean mass.
Across 13 studies (1,158 people), training one limb didn't reduce the fat over it, and in 104 adults who trained one arm, scans found fat loss spread over both arms. Six weeks of ab exercises on 5 days a week didn't shrink belly fat or the waist, though curl-ups improved.
Pilates strengthens the tummy muscles, and on MRI the six-pack muscle grew. It doesn't burn the fat over them; a flatter-looking tummy depends on overall fat loss. Our Pilates for your core and Pilates for belly fat guides go further.
The side kick, bridges and leg kicks work them, but 9 months of Pilates didn't grow the glutes on MRI. Single-leg versions, a band and weights make the work hard enough to build. Our Pilates for legs and Pilates for glutes guides have the moves.
Planks, push-ups and light weights make your arms a little stronger, but arm work doesn't burn arm fat: that comes off your whole body. Our Pilates for arms guide covers the moves and adding light weights.
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Strength rises within the first weeks. In lab trials, muscle growth showed on scans by about 3 to 4 weeks in people new to training.
Typical strength programmes add about 1.5 kg of muscle in men (111 studies) and about 1.1 kg of lean mass in adults over 50 (49 studies). Visible change usually takes months, and depends on how much fat there is to lose.
On the same programme, some people gain a lot and some very little, so compare yourself with how you started, not with anyone else.
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Photos every 4 weeks, a tape measure and a training log tell you more than bathroom body-fat scales, whose "muscle" readings shifted in control groups too.
Work each move until the last few reps are hard, then make it harder: the hundred (50 beats to start, building to 100, from the move page's dose), the double-leg stretch (6 to 10 reps, from the move page's dose), the criss-cross (6 each side, slowly, from the move page's dose), the teaser (3 reps, from the move page's dose; leave it out with osteoporosis or a lower back injury, as its page says) and the forearm plank (30 seconds, our full-body mat Pilates workout).
Weight on your hands builds the upper body: the Pilates push-up (2 to 3 rounds of 3 push-ups, from the move page's dose), knee push-ups (2 sets of 6 to 10, our Pilates arm workout), the leg pull front and side bend (3 to 5 each side, from the move pages' doses), and the band row (3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 to 3 reps short of failure, with 60 to 90 seconds' rest, from the move page's dose), the pull that mat Pilates lacks. Make fists or go onto your forearms if your wrists hurt.
The side kick (8 to 10 each side, from the move page's dose), the inner thigh lift (10 to 12 each side, from the move page's dose; leave it out with pain on the outside of the hip, as its page says), the shoulder bridge (3 to 5 kicks each leg, from the move page's dose), the single-leg glute bridge (2 sets of 8 to 10 each side, our Pilates strength workout, with a dumbbell on the hip to progress) and the single-leg kick (6 to 8 each leg, from the move page's dose).
3D demoSide kick (Pilates side kick series)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSide-lying inner thigh lift (Pilates side kick series)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoShoulder bridge (Pilates)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg glute bridgeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg kick (Pilates one leg kick)Beginner · No equipmentThe half of toning that mat Pilates can't supply on its own: goblet squats (3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping each set with 2 or 3 good reps left) and reverse lunges (2 sets of 8 to 10 each side), both our Pilates strength workout's; band squats (2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping with 2 or 3 reps in reserve (our editorial starting point), the move page's dose); and biceps curls and overhead triceps extensions (2 sets of 10 to 15 each, our Pilates arm workout; leave the triceps move out with shoulder pain).
Our editorial starting point, following the NHS and UK activity guidelines and the American College of Sports Medicine's advice on progressive training. Doses are starting points, not prescriptions.
The Pilates strength workout pairs Pilates trunk work with weights or a band, which makes it the toning class. The full-body mat class needs no equipment, the arm, leg and glute classes work each area, and the walk and Pilates workout adds the brisk walking that helps with fat.
A 30-minute Pilates strength class with dumbbells or a band: Pilates trunk work plus squats, lunges, rows and push-ups, each set taken until it is hard.
30 minIntermediate15 movesDumbbell, bandA 30-minute intermediate mat Pilates class that follows the classical order, from the hundred to the push-up, with prep versions of the hardest moves.
30 minIntermediate22 movesNo equipmentA 20-minute Pilates class for your arms: planks and push-ups, side and back support, face-down work and a standing series with light weights or a band.
20 minBeginner16 movesBench or box, dumbbellA 25-minute Pilates class for your legs: reformer footwork without the machine, leg circles, the side kick series, inner-thigh squeezes and stretches.
25 minBeginner15 movesWall, other / check instructionsA 25-minute Pilates class for your glutes: bridges, the side kick series, face-down kicks and standing work at a wall, with a band to make it harder.
25 minBeginner16 movesWall, bandA 45-minute session for weight loss and health: a 20-minute brisk walk, which does more for the scales, then a short-rest Pilates circuit for strength.
45 minBeginner11 movesCardio machineOur toning plan uses full-body strength sessions and cardio, with Pilates as an optional extra for control and enjoyment, which matches the evidence here.
An 8-week toning workout plan: three full-body strength sessions and two cardio sessions a week, light and heavier weights, gym or home, without the myths.
3 training days40 minBeginner3 days a weekA free 4-week, 3-day Pilates plan for complete beginners. Two mat days and one wall day, with clear rules for when to move each exercise to its harder version.
3 training days25 minBeginner3 days a weekAn 8-week resistance band workout plan: three full-body sessions a week at home or away, with how to choose bands, add tension and anchor them safely.
3 training days35 minBeginner3 days a weekA free 30-day wall Pilates challenge for beginners: three 20-minute wall classes a week that get harder step by step, with an honest look at the 28-day trend.
3 training days20 minBeginnerSwap the teaser and roll-up for a dead bug with your head down, as our Pilates strength workout's tip says, and see our Pilates for osteoporosis guide before adding curl-ups or rolling moves.
Use fists, your forearms or wall push-ups, and leave overhead triceps work out with shoulder pain, as the move pages say (our suggestion).
After the first trimester, keep time flat on your back short and prop yourself up, as the move pages say. Our Pilates in pregnancy and postnatal guides cover the rest, including a tummy gap.
If your joints bend further than most people's, favour the strengthening moves and keep stretches in the middle of your range; our Pilates for hypermobility guide explains (our suggestion).
This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999, and use your doctor's urgent line or urgent care for NHS 111.
Call 999 if:
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
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You feel any pain or become unwell, as the NHS advises for its Pilates videos, and especially for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting. If you have a health problem, an injury or any symptoms, get advice from a healthcare professional, such as a GP, before you start.
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See your GP first if you get chest pain, breathlessness or dizziness when you are active, if you have a heart condition and want to exercise harder, or if you have had a fall.
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If you have a heart, lung or joint condition, are pregnant or have recently been unwell, start gently and read our guide for your condition. Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new exercise is common and fades as you repeat it.
The NHS's advice:
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The NHS lists signs such as spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape, exercising too much, and having very strict habits or routines around food. If that sounds like you, see a GP as soon as you can. You can also talk in confidence to the eating disorder charity Beat: 0808 801 0677 (England), 0808 801 0432 (Scotland), 0808 801 0433 (Wales) or 0808 801 0434 (Northern Ireland), 3pm to 8pm, Monday to Friday.
In a survey of 2,287 young adults, women who did yoga or Pilates had disordered eating as often as those who didn't, and men who did them reported more extreme weight-control behaviours (18.6% against 6.8%). Set goals for strength, control and how you feel, not calories burned.
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
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No Pilates study has measured muscle length, and exercise can't change where a muscle attaches. Stretching left muscle fibre length unchanged or only trivially longer across 65 and 19 studies, while 35 days of hard resistance training lengthened fibres 9.9% without anyone looking "longer". A leaner look comes from less body fat.
The toned look is some muscle with less fat over it, built the same way as any muscle: hard sets that you keep progressing.
Muscle grew similarly across loads when sets were hard, and heavier loads built more strength. Women and men grow at a similar rate relative to where they start, so nobody bulks up by accident.
Training one area doesn't take the fat off it. Fat comes off your whole body.
Pooled lean mass didn't change with Pilates, 9 months didn't grow the glutes on MRI, and in one small exploratory trial measured by bioimpedance, weights held lean mass and Pilates didn't. No trial has compared them with a muscle scan.
Teaching sources attribute "in 30 sessions you'll have a whole new body" to Joseph Pilates, but we couldn't find it in his book, and no trial has shown it. Strength rises in weeks, while visible change takes months and varies hugely between people.
Small trials found similar changes with mat and equipment Pilates. Springs make it easier to add load, and load you keep increasing is what builds muscle.
Bioimpedance read more lean mass than a DXA scan after Pilates, and in one trial the control group's reading rose too. A tape, photos and a training log are better guides.
It makes you stronger and builds stamina, especially in your trunk, so you may feel firmer within weeks. On its own it adds little muscle you could see: pooled trials found no clear change in lean mass. For a more toned look, make Pilates harder over time, add some strength training, and lower overall body fat if you have fat to lose.
Some muscle you can see, with less fat over it. In physiology, muscle tone means a resting muscle's tension, which isn't the same thing.
It helps with the toning half a little, by building strength and stamina. For weight, it took off about 2.4 kg against doing nothing in small trials of adults with overweight, so pair it with brisk activity and eating a little less. Our Pilates for weight loss guide has the detail.
It strengthens your tummy muscles, and on scans 9 months of Pilates grew the six-pack muscle, but it doesn't burn the fat over them. A flatter-looking tummy depends on overall fat loss, which our Pilates for belly fat guide explains.
It works them, and the side kick, bridges and leg kicks build strength. In the only scan study, 9 months of Pilates didn't grow the glutes, so add load (bands, weights, single-leg versions) if you want more shape.
It can make your arms a little stronger, especially at first, but arm work doesn't burn fat from your arms: that comes off your whole body. Our Pilates for arms guide covers the moves and how to add light weights.
Strength rises within weeks, and in lab trials muscle growth showed on scans by about 3 to 4 weeks. Visible change usually takes months and depends on how much fat there is to lose, and people vary hugely on the same programme.
Weights, or Pilates made harder with load, build more muscle: muscle grows when sets are hard, and heavier loads build more strength. No trial has compared the two with a muscle scan, and in one small trial weights held lean mass while Pilates didn't. Many people do both.
No exercise can make a muscle longer: stretching barely changes muscle fibre length, and no Pilates study has measured it. A leaner look comes from less body fat.
Not by accident. Women and men gain muscle at a similar rate relative to where they start, and muscle grows slowly, so you control how much you build.
Small trials found similar changes with mat and equipment Pilates. The reformer's springs make it easier to add load, and adding load over time is what builds muscle.
Two or three times a week, making it harder as it gets easy. That counts toward the NHS advice to strengthen all major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week, alongside 150 minutes of moderate activity such as brisk walking.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
