Pilates For Strength, Balance, and Mobility | Shebah Carfagna & Nate Wilkins

Pilates is more than graceful movement — it’s a strength-focused, precision-based system that builds core stability, balance, and posture for people of all ages. In the final episode of our Move for Life series Peter Bowes explores how Pilates is can help us with lifelong mobility. Originally developed as rehabilitation for dancers, Pilates uses controlled, low-repetition movements on mats and spring-based apparatus to target stabilising muscles often neglected in traditional exercise.

Ageless Workout’s Nate Wilkins and Shebah Carfagna explain how it differs from yoga and weight training and how Pilates can be used as a valuable took to nurture our longevity. 

Watch our 20-part series, Move for Life, HERE

You should consult a doctor or qualified fitness professional before beginning a new exercise program, especially if you have an existing health concerns or limited mobility.

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Transcript

Peter Bowes: 0:28

It's graceful, precise, and powerful. Pilates blends strength, flexibility, and control to help you move with balance and confidence. This is the Live Long podcast and the final episode in our Move for Life series with Nate Wilkins and Sheba Carfagna, bringing you simple, effective tools to stay strong for life.

Shebah Carfagna: 1:06

As a Pilates instructor - both the reformer and mat Pilates I highly recommend Pilates. Pilates is a way that everyone should participate. Whether you're an NFL pro athlete or someone who is older because it gives the body a chance to work out and become strong, strengthens the core, lengthens the muscles, and is that total mind body connection a little bit different than yoga, but it's resistance training at a lighter pace with less repetition. So typically Pilates repetitions are 8s-12s and then you move to another exercise. Pilates can be performed on a number of apparatuses a ladder barrel, a reformer, or a chair. They have something called a chair in Pilates, but it creates this overall movement. And in the ideal world, you almost become a Cirque du Soleil performer. That precision and resilience that they have, and that gift of movement different than lifting weights and, you know, and kettlebell training and band training because it's more of a stretch. You're using springs typically in Pilates and Pilates, you can Pilates mat, you can use a ball. Now that Pilates is not as elite as it was one time, Pilates was only for the elite. And actually, Joseph Pilates developed Pilates as a kind of a rehab for dancers. And so that's where the whole notion of Pilates came from is rehab for them. But nowadays it's more fusion Pilates. So they add weights. So it's more popular with the general public. And I think it's great.

Nate Wilkins: 2:43

I like to think about it as a very humbling experience. You go you go sometimes in there and you think you're going to you're going to do this easy workout and you leave exhausted. You leave sore because it works on the finer muscles.

Shebah Carfagna: 3:02

The final muscles.

Nate Wilkins: 3:03

It's more controlled. It forces you to have to really find a happy medium between where you are and where you think you can be. That's my perspective.

Shebah Carfagna: 3:16

It's a mind body connection. So, you know, you can lift 200 pounds, but can you manage your weight on a reformer and balance? It's an eye opening experience for every man I've ever taken to Pilates. We take our clients that are athletes and they are struggling and they're sore. But I think it is a necessary modality for everyone to participate in in some form.

Peter Bowes: 3:39

Well, I've heard the same Nate from some men who go to a yoga class for the first time expecting it to be easy, and they can barely crawl out of the room at the end of the hour.

Nate Wilkins: 3:49

I would agree. Yoga is definitely different. Yoga is more of a stretching kind of thing, and I think that Pilates is when I've taken Pilates, it's it's more posture, positioning, core engagement, precision. And I would think that that yoga would be the same thing, but it's definitely a whole different experience for me.

Shebah Carfagna: 4:13

Well, yoga, but yoga is not strength. Yoga is stretch, Pilates is strength. And I contend that you would need both of them. So typically what I do if men are in my class and they're really muscle bound, I haven't picked up a pair of 3 pound weights and we do higher repetitions. They cannot survive because their body is not used to the difference in the weight, and a higher repetitions that higher repetitions at a lighter weight is very different than lifting a heavier weight eight times 15 times three sets of 15. And so I am a wonderful proponent of Pilates and yoga as kind of a cool down. You don't have to go every day. And in fact, I have to be honest, I don't teach it per se. I integrate it into the program of the workout and included as part of it. One of my concerns always with Pilates has been, there's this method, there's this method, and there's this method. And so you only teach this way for everyone who comes in the door, who is not a professional ballet dancer.

Peter Bowes: 5:14

With all of that in mind and bearing in mind that Pilates is essentially about strength training, is it necessarily the best way for someone who is a beginner, someone who is beginning to think about their physical strength or resistance training? Is Pilates the best thing to start with, or is it something you work up to.

Shebah Carfagna: 5:33

I think it's a good starting place because the focus of Pilates again with the ballet dancers in mind is strength, balance, core posture, mind body connection, and breathing. I think that is an excellent way to start. I think everyone should take a Pilates class with a with a certified Pilates professional at some level. You know, there's a lot of them out there on the different discounts that you can go in and participate and learn something new. Just the experience of learning something new, a new technique will perhaps open your eyes up to better posture and positioning.

Peter Bowes: 6:11

And this will complement the other exercises that you're doing. It'll work alongside them. It isn't a substitute for everything else.

Shebah Carfagna: 6:19

Well, that's a difficult question to answer because what we see is the Pilates instructors overall are very flexible, very fluid, have beautiful posture. The concern that I have with only Pilates is that it doesn't build muscle mass. And as we get older, we lose muscle mass. So I see the Pilates professionals coming to me saying, oh my God, you've got these muscles, but you move so well. And I think that is one of the reasons why they've integrated weight into Pilates training. But it's not at the level of weightlifting and the types that we've talked about. So I think it is a good compliment. But for some, it may be that all that they can do, given their conditions and Pilates is very hot when it comes to older women that believe that you will bulk up, which is a great misconception about about exercise, that by lifting heavy weights you're going to bulk up and look like me. I wish that were the case, but it's not. And so, you know, any movement is good movement. Is it for a challenging athlete to only do Pilates? I'm not so sure about that as a compliment. Yes, but I think it's a good way to begin. And even with mat Pilates, there's a number of mat Pilates classes offered at community centers. You don't need a personal trainer, you know, and so you can find them out there in the park.

Peter Bowes: 7:40

So Pilates strengthens your core, aligns your posture, and enhances body awareness. It's not just exercise. It's lifelong movement for strength and stability. So Nate, Shebah, this is the final episode of 20 that we've been doing over the last few weeks looking at different forms of movement. And I think the word movement is the best way to describe everything that we've been discussing here. Movement for life, to help us to survive in the decades to come with those everyday movements that we need to be able to do to prevent frailty, to prevent falling over, and potentially more serious health conditions. I'm just interested in a couple of takeaway thoughts from both of you in terms of really what we're trying to achieve here, what is this all about?

Shebah Carfagna: 8:32

One of the things I tell people, and this is, is just kind of one of my things. When people ask you how you are, they really don't want to hear everything that's bad. They want to hear that you're in a good place, and I think you have. I think that movement puts you in a good place. We all have aches and pains and things that we're dealing with, but I think you have to want to what we call move in the right direction to be happy because no one wants to get aged and be unhappy. You want your 60s to be happy. And in order to do that, you simply just have to move. You got to find what what works for you, whether it be Pilates, whether it's stretching and do the things that actually work for you and then begin to add to it. But keeping in mind that we're looking at how do we still become independent or stay Stay independent? Yes.

Nate Wilkins: 9:31

And really allow ourselves to live life the way we want to live it. And that's really what I think that we're getting at with all of this conversation. For those who want to do it that way, some don't want to.

Shebah Carfagna: 9:43

Well, but I think it's a matter of education. And I think that's why you've invited us and you do these sessions so we can continue to educate anyone who will listen. That movement is key. I can't say that enough. And you know your commitment to yourself. You have to approach this. Every class I teach, every person I touch. You are a professional. You're your own professional. You have to learn how to be your own best advocate, what your issues are, what you can do. What do you need to pick up? Is it breathwork? Is it weights? Is it a Pilates class? Is it a partner to work out with you? Is it your dogs to walk? What makes you happy? There is no one size fits all for movement, exercise and working out. And I used all three of those terms.

Peter Bowes: 10:28

I echo everything that you say, and I want to thank you both for your enthusiasm, for your expertise, and for all. We've done 20 episodes over the last few weeks. I'm sure we're going to have some more conversations, because in having these discussions, you've raised so many other issues in my mind that I think we can discuss because like exercise and like movement, it never ends. It never stops. I think the conversation and the discussion about what we're doing will always continue.

Shebah Carfagna: 10:57

The pleasure's been all ours. This is our first time doing something like this, and we are honored to have been your guest for 20 sessions and to share our knowledge with your audience.

Peter Bowes: 11:06

The Live Long Podcast is a Healthspan media production. I'm Peter Bowes, you can contact me through our website, livelongpodcast.com where you'll also find show notes for this episode.

DISCLAIMER: 11:17

This podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. We do not offer medical advice. If you have health concerns of any kind or you are considering adopting a new diet or exercise regime, you should first consult your doctor.