Tiffany Vargas
Fitness Trainer
NASM-CPT
What Is Pilates?
Pilates, originally called Contrology, is a low-impact exercise designed to strengthens the body and mind through controlled movement. Developed by Joseph Pilates, it is based on six principles: breathing, concentration, control, precision, centering, and flow (Latey, 2001).
Pilates emphasizes core activation, or the body's "powerhouse," which includes the abdominal muscles, lower back, diaphragm, pelvic floor, and muscles surrounding the hips. Together, these muscles stabilize the spine and improve movement efficiency.
Because it builds core strength, balance, flexibility, muscular endurance, and posture, Pilates is often recommended by healthcare professionals for injury recovery and managing musculoskeletal conditions (ACSM, 2024). It also complements strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and rehabilitation programs.
Why Beginners Struggle with Pilates
In beginner classes, I most often see people lose control when they are trying to remember several cues at once. Breathing, pelvic position, and spring resistance can feel like separate tasks at first. Instead of correcting everything simultaneously, I usually ask beginners to focus on one cue for each set.
Early in the learning process, people often rely on compensations, such as using momentum, holding tension in unnecessary muscles, or shifting their posture to complete a movement (Schmidt et al., 2019). These compensations are not a sign that someone is “bad” at Pilates; they are simply part of learning a new physical skill. The goal for beginners should not be perfection, it should be to build awareness, control, and confidence with each session.
10 Common Pilates Mistakes
1. Holding Your Breath Instead of Breathing with the Movement
One of the first things many beginners notice during Pilates is that breathing feels surprisingly difficult. When you're focused on remembering a movement pattern, counting repetitions, and trying to maintain proper form, it is very common to unintentionally hold your breath. However, breathing is not just a relaxation tool in Pilates, it is an essential part of movement mechanics.
The diaphragm, pelvic floor, and deep abdominal muscles work together to help stabilize the spine during movement. Research by Hodges and Gandevia (2000) demonstrated that the diaphragm plays an important role in trunk stabilization by coordinating with the deep core muscles before and during limb movement. This means proper breathing contributes directly to how efficiently your body creates stability.
In Pilates, the breath is often used to:
- Encourage deeper core activation
- Improve rib cage mobility
- Reduce unnecessary muscle tension
- Create better control during challenging movements
When beginners hold their breath, they often compensate by gripping through their neck, shoulders, or hip flexors. This can make exercises feel harder and may prevent the intended muscles from working properly.
How to Improve Your Pilates Breathing:
Instead of taking shallow breaths into your chest, I recommend beginners to practice three-dimensional breathing:
- Inhale through your nose and allow your ribs to expand outward.
- Keep your shoulders relaxed away from your ears.
- Exhale slowly while gently engaging your abdominal muscles.
- Match your breath to the movement pattern.
For example, during an abdominal exercise, many instructors cue an exhale during the most challenging portion of the movement because this encourages deeper core engagement.
2. Ignoring Proper Alignment
One of the defining principles of Pilates is precision. Joseph Pilates believed that performing an exercise incorrectly, even if you completed many repetitions was less effective than performing fewer repetitions with proper technique (Latey, 2001).
For beginners, maintaining proper alignment can be one of the hardest parts of a Pilates workout because many exercises require you to stabilize one area of the body whilemoving another. .
Common alignment mistakes include:
- Letting the shoulders round forward
- Allowing the ribs to flare upward
- Arching the lower back excessively
- Tucking the pelvis too aggressively
- Allowing the knees to collapse inward
- Straining the neck during core exercises
Poor alignment doesn't just affect how an exercise looks, it changes which muscles are doing the work.
For example, during many abdominal exercises, I have noticed that beginners may pull their head forward with their neck muscles instead of using their core. During lower-body movements, they may rely on their quadriceps while missing proper glute and hip activation.
How to Improve Your Alignment:
Before beginning each exercise, create a “reset”:
- Relax your shoulders.
- Lengthen through your spine.
- Find a comfortable neutral pelvis position.
- Lightly engage your core.
- Move slowly and intentionally.
As I tell my students, a smaller range of motion with excellent alignment is always more beneficial than forcing a larger movement with poor technique.
3. Moving Too Quickly
Beginners often assume that moving faster means they are working harder, but Pilates is designed around slow, deliberate movement. Rushing through exercises often causes momentum to take over. Instead of the muscles controlling the movement, gravity and speed create the motion.
Research shows that controlled resistance training improves neuromuscular coordination by increasing awareness of muscle activation and movement patterns (Suchomel et al., 2018). Pilates follows a similar principle by emphasizing quality contractions and precise movement.
How to Slow Down Your Pilates Practice:
Try these cues:
- “Move like you're moving through water.”
- “Control the return, not just the movement out.”
- “Own every inch of the exercise.”
Instead of asking yourself, “How many repetitions can I do?” ask:
“Can I perform every repetition with control?”
That mindset shift is one of the fastest ways to improve as a beginner.
4: Choosing the Wrong Reformer Spring Resistance
Spring selection can feel confusing for beginners. Many people assume that adding more springs automatically creates a more advanced workout. However, reformer resistance is not as simple as adding weight to a barbell.
The springs on a reformer serve multiple purposes:
- They provide resistance.
- They assist movement.
- They create stability.
- They influence how much control is required.
Using too much resistance can encourage poor technique because the body may compensate by recruiting stronger but less appropriate muscles. Using too little resistance may reduce stability and make it difficult to control the movement.
The ideal spring setting allows you to maintain:
- Proper alignment
- Smooth movement
- Full control
- Correct breathing patterns
How Beginners Should Approach Resistance
If you are new to reformer Pilates:
- Follow your instructor's recommended settings.
- Avoid choosing springs based on what others are using.
- Focus on technique before increasing difficulty.
- Ask questions if you are unsure.
Progression in Pilates is not about constantly making exercises harder. It is about making your movement better.
5: Using Momentum Instead of Muscle Control
Perhaps the most common mistake beginners make is confusing movement completion with movement quality. In Pilates, finishing an exercise does not necessarily mean you performed it correctly.
Many beginners use momentum by:
- Swinging their legs during core exercises
- Dropping quickly through movements
- Using their arms instead of their core
- Relying on gravity during transitions
While this may allow someone to complete more repetitions, it reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. Pilates is built around eccentric control, the ability of muscles to lengthen under tension. This type of controlled movement is important for developing strength, joint stability, and body awareness (Wells et al., 2012).
How to Improve Muscle Control
Try asking yourself:
- Could I pause at any point during this exercise?
- Am I controlling the movement back to the starting position?
- Do I feel the intended muscles working?
If the answer is no, modify the exercise. In my experience, I have seen beginners who performs five controlled repetitions will often gain more benefit than someone rushing through twenty repetitions with poor form.
6: Forgetting to Properly Engage the Core
If you ask most people what Pilates is known for, they will probably say “core strength.” Many of my clients often misunderstand what it actually means to engage the core. It’s often assumed that “engaging your core” means sucking in your stomach or tightening your abs as hard as possible. In reality, effective core activation is much more subtle. The core is not just the visible abdominal muscles, it is a system of muscles that work together to stabilize the spine and pelvis, including the transverse abdominis, multifidus, diaphragm, pelvic floor, and muscles surrounding the hips.
Research has shown that these deep stabilizing muscles play an important role in spinal support and movement control. Hodges and Gandevia (2000) demonstrated that the deep abdominal muscles activate in coordination with the diaphragm and other trunk muscles before limb movement occurs, suggesting that the body naturally creates stability before performing physical tasks.
This is why Pilates instructors like myself frequently cue phrases like:
- “Connect to your center.”
- “Draw your ribs together.”
- “Lift through your pelvic floor.”
- “Brace gently before you move.”
The goal is not to create maximum tension. The goal is to create enough stability that your limbs can move efficiently while your spine remains supported.
How to Improve Core Engagement
Try this beginner-friendly cue: Imagine you are gently tightening a corset around your waist. You should feel your abdominal muscles activate without holding your breath or gripping your entire body.
Signs you may not be properly engaging your core include:
- Your lower back lifting excessively off the mat or reformer
- Your ribs flaring upward
- Your hips taking over during abdominal exercises
- Your neck becoming tense during core movements
Remember, Pilates is not about creating the strongest contraction possible, it is about creating the right amount of activation for the movement.
7: Locking Out the Joints
Another common mistake beginners make is locking their knees, elbows, or other joints during exercises. While straightening your limbs is often part of Pilates technique, there is a difference between creating length and aggressively locking into a joint position.
When joints are pushed into a locked position, the muscles surrounding them may become less active because the body relies more on passive structures like ligaments and joint surfaces for support. Over time, this can reduce movement efficiency and place unnecessary stress on certain areas. Pilates emphasizes creating strength through active control rather than relying on joint stability alone.
For example:
- During leg exercises, maintain a slight softness through the knees rather than forcing them backward.
- During arm exercises, keep the elbows long but avoid hyperextending.
- During weight-bearing movements, distribute pressure evenly through the hands and feet.
How to Fix It
Think:
“Long, not locked.”
You want to create length through your limbs while maintaining muscular engagement. This small adjustment can make beginner Pilates exercises feel much more effective because your muscles, not your joints, are doing the work.
8: Comparing Yourself to Advanced Participants
This mistake is less about physical technique and more about mindset. Often times, beginners walk into a Pilates class and immediately compare themselves to someone who has been practicing for months or even years. They see someone performing advanced movements effortlessly and assume they should be able to do the same.
This comparison often leads beginners to:
- Progress too quickly
- Ignore modifications
- Use poor form
- Become discouraged
As I tell my beginners, Pilates is a skill-based practice. Strength, flexibility, coordination, and body awareness develop gradually through consistent practice.
The goal of your first Pilates classes is not to master advanced exercises.
The goal is to learn:
- How to control your breathing
- How to find proper alignment
- How to connect with your core
- How your body moves
How to Build Confidence as a Beginner
Focus on your own progress:
Instead of asking:
“Why can’t I do what they’re doing?”
Ask:
“Am I moving better than I did last week?”
Pilates is a practice where small improvements create major changes over time.
9: Skipping Proper Reformer Setup
Setup is one of the most overlooked parts of a successful workout when you are first using a reformer. A reformer is designed to provide support, resistance, and feedback, but only when adjusted correctly for your body and experience level.
Before beginning a reformer workout, beginners should understand:
Spring Resistance:
As discussed earlier, springs are not simply “levels of difficulty.” They change how the machine supports and challenges your movement.
Your instructor may adjust resistance based on:
- Your strength level
- The exercise being performed
- Your ability to maintain control
- Your range of motion
Footbar Position:
The footbar should allow you to maintain proper alignment without rounding your spine or forcing your hips into an uncomfortable position.
Headrest Position:
The headrest should support your neck while allowing your spine to remain neutral. A poor headrest position can contribute to neck tension, especially during abdominal exercises.
Straps and Carriage Position:
Before beginning exercises, make sure:
- The straps are adjusted correctly.
- The carriage moves smoothly.
- Your body is positioned evenly.
A properly adjusted reformer allows beginners to focus on technique instead of fighting the equipment. This is one reason instructor-led reformer classes are helpful when starting out. However, beginners who prefer exercising at home can still build strong foundations through guided beginner Pilates workouts, such as those available through the Sunny Health & Fitness app, where instructors like myself can help teach proper movement patterns and pacing.
10: Expecting Results Too Quickly
One of the biggest misconceptions about Pilates is that people expect dramatic physical changes after only a few workouts. My beginner clients feel improvements in posture, mobility, and body awareness relatively quickly, though I remind them that meaningful strength and endurance changes require consistency.
Exercise adaptations occur gradually as the body responds to repeated training. Research on resistance training demonstrates that improvements in muscular strength and endurance develop through progressive overload and consistent practice over time (American College of Sports Medicine, 2009). Pilates follows the same principle.
Beginners may notice:
Early Improvements
- Better awareness of posture
- Improved flexibility
- Increased confidence with movements
- Better mind-muscle connection
Long-Term Improvements
- Increased core endurance
- Improved muscular control
- Better balance
- Greater overall strength
The goal is not perfection after one class. The goal is to become stronger, more aware, and more confident with every session.
Conclusion
Pilates is often described as a workout that looks simple but feels challenging, and that is exactly what makes it so effective. To those starting their Pilates journey, I tell them that success is not measured by performing the hardest exercises or keeping up with the most experienced person in the room. Success comes from learning the fundamentals: breathing correctly, maintaining alignment, controlling movement, and building consistency.
Avoiding these common Pilates mistakes can help you get more out of every session while reducing frustration and improving your results. Whether you choose in-person mat or reformer Pilates classes or opt for workouts through the SunnyFit app, remember that progress comes from practice. Pilates is not about being perfect, it is about becoming more connected to your body and learning how to move with confidence.
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