Is Reformer Pilates Right for Me? (Honestly, I Wasn't Sure Either)

I want to tell you something I don't always say out loud.

I wasn't sure Reformer Pilates was right for me.

I know. I run a Reformer Pilates studio. I've been teaching Pilates for over 13 years. I've watched it change people's bodies, their posture, their confidence, their relationship with pain. And yet, when I first encountered the Reformer properly — not just as a piece of equipment in the corner of a studio, but as the main event — I had my doubts.

Here's why. And here's why I was completely wrong.

My Background Was Yoga

Before I fell in love with the Reformer, I was a yoga teacher. I had trained properly, I taught regularly, and I genuinely loved it. Yoga had given me so much — flexibility, body awareness, a sense of calm I hadn't had before. I believed in it deeply.

So when I started teaching yoga at a Reformer Pilates studio, I walked in with a quiet confidence. I knew movement. I knew the body. I knew how to cue and how to hold a class.

What I didn't know was what was about to happen to me.

The First Time I Really Got on the Reformer

I started using the Reformer between my yoga classes, partly out of curiosity, partly because it was just there. And something shifted almost immediately.

The resistance. The feedback from the springs. The way the carriage moved and asked your body to stabilise in a completely different way to anything I'd done before. Yoga had made me flexible and aware. The Reformer made me strong in a way I hadn't expected — not bulky, not stiff, but deeply, functionally strong. The kind of strong that makes everything else feel easier.

I remember thinking: this is different. This is really different.

What Changed

Within a few months of regular Reformer work, things I hadn't even noticed were problems started to resolve. My lower back, which I'd always managed rather than fixed, felt genuinely better. My posture changed. My core — which I thought was strong from years of yoga — found a whole new level of engagement.

And I got completely hooked. I started studying the Reformer properly. I trained, I practised, I obsessed. And eventually, when I moved to Portugal and couldn't find a single group Reformer class within a reasonable distance, I decided to open one myself. That was over eight years ago. The studio started with one Reformer and grew entirely by word of mouth. Now we have a full studio in Almancil, right in the heart of the Algarve.

But I still think about that first year on the Reformer. About how close I came to writing it off as not for me.

So Is It Right for You?

Here is what I've learned after 13 years of teaching and thousands of hours on the Reformer. It is right for almost everyone. But let me be specific.

You might be wondering if it's right for you if you've tried gym classes and found them too high-impact, too noisy, or too impersonal. The Reformer is quiet, precise, and deeply individual — even in a group class, you are working at your own level.

You might be wondering if it's right for you if you've tried yoga or Pilates mat work and enjoyed it, but want something with more resistance and more variety. The Reformer adds a whole new dimension. Springs create resistance in both directions, which challenges your body in ways that bodyweight work simply cannot replicate.

You might be wondering if it's right for you if you have a niggling injury or chronic pain — a bad back, a dodgy knee, tight hips — and you're not sure what kind of exercise is safe. The Reformer is one of the most rehabilitation-friendly pieces of equipment in existence. It was literally designed by Joseph Pilates to help injured people move better.

You might be wondering if it's right for you if you play golf, tennis, or any rotational sport and you want to move better and stop getting injured. Around half my clients are golfers, and the results speak for themselves.

And you might be wondering if it's right for you if you're a complete beginner who has never done anything like this before. Good. That is genuinely the best place to start. You have no bad habits to undo.

What to Expect in Your First Class

I want to be honest about this too, because I think it helps. Your first class will feel unfamiliar. The equipment looks more complicated than it is, and your brain will be busy learning where your hands go, how the springs work, and what the cues mean. That is completely normal. Everyone feels this. By your third or fourth class, it starts to click — and that is when people usually get completely addicted.

Classes at our studio in Almancil are kept small, a maximum of eight people, so you will never feel lost or overlooked. I always make sure first-timers know what they're doing before the class moves on.

The Honest Answer

Is Reformer Pilates right for you? If you are curious enough to be reading this, probably yes.

I came to it as a yoga teacher with years of movement experience and it still surprised me. It still changed things I didn't know needed changing. That is what good Pilates does.

If you're in the Algarve — whether you live here, you're visiting, or you're based near Almancil, Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo, or Vilamoura — come and try a class. One class. See how your body feels the next day. I think you'll know pretty quickly whether it's for you. It was for me. And I almost missed it.