Yoga, Pilates, or Personal Training: Which Is Best After 60?
Yoga, Pilates, and personal training are three common options women consider after 60, but they are very different. This article compares the strengths and limitations of each to help you understand which may be the best fit for your goals, starting point, and preferences.
If you drive down Washington Road through Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, and Peters Township, you'll see plenty of yoga, Pilates, and personal training studios along the way. And while having more options can be a good thing, it can also create a lot of confusion when you're trying to decide what is actually the best fit for you after 60.
In your 20s and 30s, you may not give much thought to the type of exercise you choose. But many of the women I meet here in the South Hills are in a very different place now. They may have a bad knee, a shoulder that bothers them, a history of back problems, or simply be concerned about getting injured. They know they want to get stronger and stay active, but they're not always sure where to start.
Should you try yoga? Would Pilates be a better option? Or would you be better off working with a personal trainer?
It's a great question. In this article, I want to break down these three common fitness options for women over 60 and look at the pros and cons of each. My goal is to help you understand the differences so you can decide which one makes the most sense for you.
OPTION #1: YOGA
As you probably know, yoga has been around for a very long time. Its roots go back thousands of years, although the type of yoga you see in studios today can vary quite a bit. Most studio yoga classes are somewhere around 45 to 60 minutes, although some are shorter or longer. Class sizes can vary quite a bit as well. You may have a smaller class with around 10 people or a much larger class with 20 or more. There are also countless styles and types of yoga, so I won't attempt to cover every one in this short article.
What we do know is that yoga can help improve flexibility, balance, and strength in adults over 60. So there is no question that someone can make progress in different areas of their fitness by practicing yoga consistently.
The challenges:
1) The class environment may not be the best starting point for everyone.
Many yoga classes can have a fairly large number of people in them, and for plenty of people that works perfectly fine. But for a woman over 60 who has not exercised in years, walking into a class where everyone seems to know the poses and terminology can feel intimidating. This can be especially true if she is already concerned about her balance, flexibility, or doing something incorrectly.
2) Some styles put a lot of pressure through the hands and wrists.
Many common yoga poses involve supporting part of your body weight through your hands. Again, this can work perfectly fine for some people, but I have met plenty of women over 60 who do not feel comfortable putting a lot of weight through their wrists or hands.
The wrists are often an area where women have limited strength, flexibility, or simply discomfort when too much pressure is placed on them. A good yoga instructor may be able to offer another option, but it is still something to consider if you already know your hands or wrists tend to bother you.
3) The lack of traditional resistance training is my biggest issue with yoga.
Yes, your body weight is certainly enough resistance for some exercises like planks and many others. But there are plenty of muscles in the body that are difficult to progressively strengthen using body weight alone.
After 60, using progressively heavier resistance as you get stronger is an important part of a complete strength routine. That resistance could come from bands, kettlebells, machines, or similar equipment. These tools allow you to gradually increase the resistance as you get stronger and train muscles that are much harder to challenge through yoga alone.
If getting stronger is one of your primary goals, you will likely need additional resistance training beyond yoga.
OPTION #2: PILATES
Pilates is another very popular training option for women over 60. There are two broad types you will commonly see. There is mat Pilates, which can be done with very little equipment, and equipment-based Pilates, most commonly using a Reformer.
Reformer classes are often smaller because the studio only has a certain number of machines. Many studios have somewhere around 8 to 12 people in a Reformer class, although some are larger. Classes are commonly around 45 to 60 minutes, with 50-minute classes being very common. Like yoga, there are also many different approaches to Pilates, so it is difficult to summarize every Pilates studio as if they all train the exact same way.
What we do know is that Pilates can help improve balance, flexibility, everyday physical function, and certain areas of strength in adults over 60. This can make it a good fit for some women depending on what they are looking for.
I recently had a client who wanted to become a Pilates instructor and specialize in the practice. I couldn't have recommended Pilates more for her. If you want to specialize in a particular practice, the only way to really do that is to spend time doing it.
The challenges:
1) You are still following a specific style of training.
Most Pilates studios are going to have their own approach based on the type of Pilates they teach, the equipment they use, and the background of their instructors. Again, this isn't necessarily a negative thing. The challenge after 60 is that it can sometimes be difficult to fit into one specific style of training.
I have met women who loved Pilates. I have also met women who felt certain exercises placed too much stress on their neck, back, or another area of their body. That does not necessarily mean there was anything wrong with the class. It may have been a very good class, but it still may not have been the right fit for that particular person.
When you hear the word "class," it almost always means there is going to be a specific style of training that everyone is following. That style may be a perfect fit for one person and a very poor fit for another.
2) One glaring issue with Pilates is the lack of high-intensity interval training.
Most traditional Pilates classes do not include dedicated high-intensity interval training. And no, I'm not referring to the high-impact exercises you may have seen in boot camps where people are jumping, running, and doing exercises that may not be appropriate for someone just getting started after 60.
There are very joint-friendly ways to perform short bursts of higher-intensity exercise. At A50, we may use just 5 to 10 minutes of this type of cardiovascular training and adjust the exercise and intensity to the person. You do not need to jump or run to safely increase your heart rate.
High-intensity interval training can provide important cardiovascular benefits, but this is an area that is generally missing from a traditional Pilates class. If Pilates is the only exercise you are doing, you may need to add some form of cardiovascular training to create a more complete exercise routine.
OPTION #3: PERSONAL TRAINING
You may assume that because I own A50 Personal Training, I would recommend personal training for everyone. That couldn't be further from the truth. I will often make another recommendation if I believe someone would benefit more from a different type of training or professional.
Just last week I assessed a wonderful lady who I believed needed a physical therapist, not a personal trainer. I gave her the contact information for a local physical therapist because I thought that was the right next step for her.
Personal training, when it is done right, can be a great fit for someone who wants a truly personalized training program. It is not a class. Classes generally have one style or approach that you need to fit into. Personal training should be built around you.
For example, at any given time in our personal training studio you may see one woman using resistance bands, another using kettlebells, and someone else lying on a mat doing floor exercises. We do not follow one specific style or practice. We have an extensive exercise library that we choose from, but we will happily give two women very different exercises based on their starting points, abilities, and goals.
That is the biggest difference. When personal training is done right, there should not be one specific practice or approach that every person is expected to follow. There still needs to be structure and a plan, but the plan should be built around the client instead of asking the client to fit into one specific style of training.
The challenges:
1) It can be difficult to know who to trust.
The personal training industry is saturated, and there are countless personal trainers and studios to choose from. Their experience, approach, and the type of clients they normally work with can vary tremendously.
This is why I always recommend that you interview a personal trainer before hiring them. Ask the tough questions. How many women my age are you currently working with? How many years have you been doing this? What happens if an exercise bothers my knee, shoulder, or back? How do you decide which exercises are right for me?
I would go as far as asking whether you can try two or three complimentary sessions before making a longer commitment. You will learn far more from experiencing the training than you will from simply looking at a website. It gives you a chance to see how the trainer coaches, whether the exercises feel appropriate for you, and whether you feel comfortable with their approach.
Choosing What's Best for You
You may still be asking, "What's the best option for me?" And that really comes down to your goals, preferences, and what kind of environment you feel most comfortable in.
For example, if you enjoy being around a larger group of people, personal training may not be the best fit for you. You may want to try Pilates and see if it's a good fit. On the other hand, if you prefer fewer people around you and want a much more personalized training experience, personal training is often a good fit.
Regardless of what you choose, it's important to ask the right questions before getting started. Share your goals, preferences, exercise history, and health history so you can get a better idea of whether the program is going to be the right fit for you. There is no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to exercise after 60.
That's why the first thing we do with someone new to A50 Personal Training is a one-on-one assessment. We review her goals, exercise history, health history, and what she is hoping to accomplish so we can first determine whether we are the right next step for her.
If you're still considering your options and want a few exercises you can get started with at home, I wrote an article called 3 Strength Exercises for Women Over 60 Starting From Scratch. It walks you through three strength exercises you can try while you decide what type of exercise program is the best fit for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Zawodniak is the Co-founder of A50 Personal Training, the first personal training studio in the South Hills built exclusively to serve women over 50. With nearly two decades of experience in the fitness industry, Jason noticed early in his career that women over 50 were consistently underserved — showing up to gyms where they felt out of place, unsure of what to do, and afraid of getting hurt. After hearing those same stories from his own clients year after year, he made a decision: in 2017, he opened A50 to create the program he knew this demographic deserved. Today, Jason specializes in helping women over 50 build the strength and flexibility they need to stay active, prevent injury, and keep up with the people and activities they love most.