By Chi Bang, Owner of CLIENTEL3
I was scrolling through Instagram the other night and saw one of those videos again.
A heavily muscled bodybuilder walks into a Pilates class. Thick chest. Big arms. Clearly strong. He sets up next to a group of tiny women who look like they weigh half of what he does.
Ten minutes later, he is shaking uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, the women are cruising along and can hold a conversation as he is panting from exhaustion.
This sounds entertaining until it is you
I have not taken group classes, so I am not lining up next to a room full of people. Instead, I take privates, mainly to avoid embarrassment, which makes the comparison even clearer. In those sessions, I clearly outweigh my instructor by about 50 percent. I know I am stronger than she is in absolute terms, yet there are positions she holds with calm precision that make my core and legs tremble.
That discrepancy forced me to think deeper about what I may have missed in my programming.
The Moment It Clicked
If I am stronger, why does Pilates feel harder? This question reveals the bigger difference between Pilates and strength training.
Then it dawned on me, and the clouds parted in my brain.
Pilates is not primarily focused on force production. It is testing force regulation.
Pilates vs Strength Training: Control Is Different From Force
In the weight room, the objective is clear: increase load, increase force production, build muscle, and raise maximal strength.
Maximal voluntary force production is the defining characteristic of strength training, and progressive overload is the primary driver of those adaptations, as outlined in the American College of Sports Medicine position stand on resistance training (ACSM, 2009).
Pilates, however, is asking for something different.
Can you sustain submaximal tension with precision?
Can you maintain joint alignment at slow tempos?
Can you distribute effort across multiple muscle groups instead of over-recruiting the largest ones?
Can you relax your toes while flexing your ankles?
The shaking that bodybuilders experience in those videos does not depict weakness. It showcases neuromuscular recalibration.
Motor control literature shows that visible tremor commonly appears during sustained isometric contractions and unfamiliar coordination tasks because motor units are being rapidly recruited and derecruited while the nervous system refines output (Enoka, 2008).
Pilates lives in that zone.
You cannot overpower it. You have to organize it.
What Pilates Was Designed to Do
Joseph Pilates did not call his method Pilates. He called it Contrology.
In Return to Life Through Contrology, he wrote:
“Contrology develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit.”
(Pilates & Miller, 1945)
Uniform development. Correct posture. Control.
Those are coordination goals.
His system was built to improve how the body functions as an integrated whole. His original studio included meaningful resistance through springs and apparatus. He trained dancers, boxers, and athletes. There is no evidence that he intended practitioners to abandon strength work. His emphasis was on refining movement quality and structural balance.
Pilates challenges:
- Segmental spinal control
- Breath-driven core activation (the Hundred)
- Rotational integration
- End-range stability
- Movement precision under sustained tension
That is a different layer of adaptation.
What Is Joint Centration
One of the less discussed, but critical concepts here is joint centration.
Joint centration refers to the optimal alignment of joint surfaces so that load is distributed evenly across the articular surfaces rather than shifted excessively to one region. In rehabilitation and spine literature, proper joint alignment and coordinated muscular support are associated with improved force transfer and reduced stress on passive structures (McGill, 2016).
When a joint is well centered, the surrounding musculature works efficiently to stabilize it. When it is not, larger global muscles often compensate, which may increase compression and shear forces over time.
As a result, Pilates frequently exposes whether you can maintain that alignment under controlled load.
It does not care how strong you are at your peak. It cares how well you can organize tension at lower thresholds.
What Is Proprioception
Proprioception is the body’s subconscious awareness of position and movement in space.
That awareness comes from mechanoreceptors in muscles, joints, and ligaments.
In my own programming, I make sure this demand is incorporated for both myself and my clients.
For myself and my clients, I make sure to incorporate this demand into my programming. I would like to think that I do a pretty good job at it. After going through a proper Pilates session, I realize now that if my programming was a bachelor’s degree, Pilates takes proprioception training to the PhD level.
Because of this, the demands on the central nervous system are unlike anything I have experienced before, which explains the shaking most people feel.
What Strength Training Builds
None of this diminishes strength training.
Heavy resistance training increases muscle cross-sectional area, improves tendon stiffness, and enhances bone mineral density. These adaptations are strongly supported in the literature and remain essential for long-term health and performance (ACSM, 2009).
Strength work raises your ceiling.
But raising the ceiling does not automatically refine the wiring.
Why They Complement Each Other
If you only lift, your muscles may outpace your coordination. You can generate force, but might not distribute it efficiently across joints and segments.
If you only do Pilates, you may develop excellent control but lack the structural capacity that meaningful resistance provides.
Strength builds horsepower.
Pilates improves how that horsepower is transmitted.
Together, they create a body that can generate force and direct it efficiently. A system that can lift heavy, move slowly with precision, rotate without collapsing, and stabilize without unnecessary tension.
When I start shaking in a Pilates hold, it is not a contradiction of my strength. It is information. It tells me there is another layer to refine.
And when I step under a heavy barbell, I am reinforcing the structural foundation that allows that refined control to matter.
If you are serious about building a well-balanced body that performs and holds up long term, you cannot afford to ignore either side.
For your entertainment, here is an extended YouTube video of a professional bodybuilder taking a Pilates lesson.
References
- American College of Sports Medicine. 2009. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
- Enoka, R. M. 2008. Neuromechanics of Human Movement. Human Kinetics.
- McGill, S. 2016. Low Back Disorders. Human Kinetics.
- Pilates, J. H., & Miller, W. J. 1945. Return to Life Through Contrology. J.J. Augustin.