There are so many Pilates myths you may have heard, such as Pilates is easy! / Pilates is just stretching! / Pilates is only for women!.
Look out for a future blog in which we debunk all those myths and more! Today we are going to focus on the most recent Pilates myth: Feeling the Burn.
We’ve all heard the phrase “feel the burn” within the fitness industry. However, it’s made its way into the Pilates practice in the last five or so years.
There are so many questions around this topic; Does it have a place here? Will the “burn” assist you in your Pilates practice? What even is the “burn”? Could ‘feeling the burn’ be hindering your Pilates practice? All of these burning questions (pun intended) will be answered in this blog.
What is “The Burn”?
In simple terms, the phrase“feel the burn” refers to the sensation within the muscles where they have been worked until absolute fatigue. Lactic acid builds up within the muscles which cause the burning sensation.
While lactic acid isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it does mean that your muscles have reached their end potential and are now beginning to fatigue which can result in poor form, other muscles groups taking over and can result in an increased risk of injury.
The goal of Pilates is to work the muscles to a point just before fatigue. In Pilates, you are aiming to perform the exercise to the absolute best of your ability for as long as you can. As soon as the body has reached its limit, that’s your cue to stop and move on. This is because you don’t want to allow the body to finish the movement using poor form as that’s the last thing the muscle will remember.
Another thing to note is that lactic acid build up is a result of a lack of oxygen to the muscle. In Pilates, breathing is one of the main components to successfully executing an exercise. Therefore, lactic acid build up can be due to breathing incorrectly, which you may need to bring more awareness to.
What to look for/feel instead?
Granted, there are some Pilates exercises that are designed to challenge muscular endurance which can cause the burning sensation. The important part to note is that there are only a select few. If you’re feeling the burn with every single exercise, you may need to take a step back and figure out why. This cause be due to excessive spring tension (if working on a reformer), the pace of movement is too fast, incorrect breathing techniques or you may need a less challenging variation until you’re able to perform the exercise without complete muscle fatigue.
Try to focus on other important factors such as mobility, engaging deep stabilising muscles and the breath. Remembering that Pilates was originally designed for rehabilitation purposes can help you to check back in with the body and figure out what will actually benefit you in that moment.
A simple way to figure out if you’re performing the exercise correctly is to check in with the deep core muscles. These are called the transverse abdominus and pelvic floor. If you cannot feel the deep abdominals engaging, the bigger global muscles such as the superficial abdominals may have taken over. These global muscles are not designed to support the skeletal system for long periods of time. Their main job is to produce short spurts of power and stability. Therefore, the lactic acid can build up quite quickly and result in poor form or other muscle groups taking over – which also is not ideal.
Ideally, you want to be leaving the session feeling taller, nimbler and calmer. If you find yourself leaving feeling extremely fatigued and sore, you may want to ask the instructor for some tips on how to reduce these affects.
The important take away isn’t that “the burn” should be avoided all together, rather noticing how often and how quickly the muscles are fatiguing during the class. Remember to slow the movements down, take full breaths and reduce the resistance to focus on core strength and stability within the joints if needed.
Interested in learning about the importance of resistance in your Pilates sessions? Click here to find out more.
Click here to read our top tips to getting more out of your Pilates workouts.
