Pilates for Runners

By Bridget Kelly

I have never met anyone who couldn’t benefit from Pilates. From my own experience with Pilates as a young dancer to using Pilates with my injured older patients in my work as a physical therapist, there are endless possibilities for Pilates to help everyone.

Runners are one group of athletes in particular that can benefit from incorporating Pilates into their training routine. Running is essentially a series of repetitive small jumps. The athletes are always moving forward in one straight plane. This amount of specificity, without adequate cross training, can be a recipe for injuries to develop.

As a physical therapist at Iron Butterfly Pilates, I use Pilates movements daily when working with injured runners. Pilates is a practice of controlled movements that aim to strengthen, while focusing on posture, alignment, flexibility, body awareness, and breath. The quality and precision of movement is prioritized over the quantity of repetitions. This difference in movement makes Pilates the perfect supplement to running. It can help improve mobility, stability, and efficiency in other aspects of your physical lifestyle.

I firmly believe every person, young or old, elite athlete or someone breaking into a new movement routine, can benefit from incorporating PIlates in to their weekly routine!