Effect of Eight Weeks of Pilates Training on Some Physical Fitness Variables in Untrained Overweight Females

The Pilates is one of the new training methods that seems to be effective in reducing weight, body composition factors, and performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of Pilates training on some physical fitness variables in 20 untrained overweight females.
Participants of the present study (with the mean age of 46/65 ± 4/85 years and the mean body mass index of 29/28 ±2/65 kg/m2) were randomly divided into two groups: 10 persons in experimental group and 10 in the control group. Before starting workout, nutritional consultation was carried out for all the selected participants and an isocaloric diet was arranged to maintain weight. The experimental group performed Pilates training three sessions a week and for eight weeks, each session lasting for one hour. The control group did not do any special exercise and had only dietary changes.Flexibility of the abdominal muscles, the lateral stabilizer muscle endurance, weight, height, body fat, lean body mass, waist-to-hip ratio, and Body Mass Index (BMI) were measured prior to and after the intervention program. For statistical analysis of the data, one-way analysis of covariance was conducted at the P level of >0.05.
The results showed that, weight, body fat percentage, BMI, and waist-to-hip ratio decreased significantly in the training group (P The results of the present study proved that eight weeks of Pilates exercise with 3 one-hour sessions per week can improvebody composition, flexibility, and muscular endurance.