I love Pilates but struggled to build strength - adding in this £2.50 accessory changed everything in my workouts

Ever since I discovered reformer Pilates, I've looked for inexpensive ways to do the workout. It delivers a great full-body burn without sweating it out cardio style. But even though I regularly strength train, I still struggle to see the results of my Pilates workouts.

A Pilates workout targets the smallest muscles in every area of the body. Those repetitive movements, pulses, and long holds often leave me shaking way before the final rep. I thought that regular practice, alongside my gym time, would make me strong enough, but I was struggling to find it any easier week to week.

Then, after one particularly frustrating session, I spotted my long-forgotten set of resistance bands in the corner of the room. It was time to dust them off and do Pilates with resistance bands. Since I started incorporating these bands into my Pilates practice, it's become simultaneously more achievable and more challenging. Depending on the move, I can reach further, hold better form, or add more resistance, which is noticeably building my strength.

Benefits of doing Pilates with resistance bands

1. Build muscle and 'tone' up

A stretchy band of rubber that’s as light as a feather is very different to a 5kg dumbbell. However, when used correctly, it can be just as effective at strengthening muscle, a meta-analysis study in SAGE Open Medicine found.

As any fitness instructor will tell you, to build muscular strength, you need to follow the principle of progressive overload: challenging the body by regularly increasing weight, repetitions, frequency or time under tension - regardless of whether you're doing traditional weights workouts or weighted Pilates.

The body works against the pressure these simple bands create as you stretch them, making them work in the same way as any traditional weight would.

Lottie Anderson, Pilates expert and founder of online platform and studio Bondi Rise, loves them for this reason: “Bands are perfect for working towards new goals. They often come in various resistance levels, which allows for progressive overload. This means as you get stronger, you can move to a tougher band to challenge your muscles and keep making progress.”

2. Makes a workout safer

Founder of Beyond Move Studio and Pilates instructor Noemi Nagy-Bhavsar recommends using resistance bands for a safe and effective practice. “If you have hypermobile joints and need boundaries to stay safe, or during ligament changes [such as during perimenopause], the band acts as a guide.”

She also finds them useful for providing ‘feedback’ during a workout. “They highlight where your body is working well and, more importantly, where it might be weak or overcompensating,” she explains.

“By feeling the tension, you can instantly tell if you’re doing an exercise correctly," Lottie adds.

3. Encourages slow, controlled movement

Even just 10 minutes of Pilates isn’t a workout to rush through. Not only do slower movements encourage mind-body connection, a key aspect of this discipline, but muscles work harder when under tension for longer.

“Working against resistance creates friction, which requires deeper control and connection,” says Noemi. “The band provides resistance through the whole movement, and requires control, especially on the eccentric phase (the way back) of a move. This helps build long, lean strength and prevents the movement from becoming ‘snappy’ or rushed and uncontrolled.”

4. Improves posture and alignment

Musculoskeletal issues, such as a bad back, pelvic misalignment or overall poor posture, can be improved with bands, suggests Claire Mills, a physiotherapist, Pilates expert and founder of Core LDN, who uses them in the rehabilitation process.

“Resistance bands increase eccentric muscle work, so for treating lateral hip or knee pain, I use them in early rehab to work on the recruitment and endurance of the glutes and core, which contribute to the rotational control of the lower limb. With shoulder rehab, they’re a great place to start working on postural control of the shoulder girdle and retraining movement patterns to help relieve pain.”

She adds that problems in the lower back or pelvic area can also be eased with band use as they help achieve a greater range of movement while targeting and strengthening the muscles around the pelvic ring, particularly the glutes and core.

5. Portable

Resistance bands are light and fold down easily to tuck into an overnight bag, making them great for workouts on the go. “They’re a brilliantly affordable way to get a challenging and effective workout without needing a gym membership or expensive machinery,” says Lottie.

Unlike heavy dumbbells or bulky Pilates balls, blocks and rings, you can pack a set of resistance bands into a suitcase and turn any hotel room or holiday apartment into a makeshift fitness studio. Back at home, they take up barely any storage space.

Pilates exercises to do with a resistance band

1. Hundreds

This classic foundational Pilates move is taken up a notch with a resistance band, suggests Noemi. “The resistance created by pressing the shins slightly into the band, helps to ‘switch off’ overactive hip flexors, allowing your deep abdominals do the work,” she explains.

Here's how to do it:

• Lie on your back in a reverse tabletop position.
• Place a band over your shins and hold one end in each hand.
• As you exhale, curl your head, neck and shoulders off the mat, and press the shins into the band.
• Maintain this shape as you quickly pump your arms up and down, coordinating with the breath.
• Inhale for a count of five, exhale for a count of five.
• Repeat 10 times.

2. Supine leg stretch

Noemi recommends using a band in this simple move. “It serves as a tether that helps you engage your core and creates a sense of stillness in the pelvis, allowing you to focus on leg control without losing your neutral spine.”

She advises keeping everything still bar the legs in this position and, as always, to move with control. “Don’t allow the knee to ‘snap back’ towards the chest,” she adds.

Here's how to do it:

• Lie on your back in a reverse tabletop position and place one foot into the loop of a band.
• Hold an end in each hand, and anchor your elbows to the floor in a straight line with your wrists, keeping them still throughout.
• Extend the banded leg away from you before returning to the tabletop.
• For a single leg stretch, keep the unbanded foot on the floor as you extend the banded leg.

3. Scooter

Claire recommends this reformer and glute workout favourite. It works the glutes, hips and ankles, and tests your balance. “Adding a resistance band further challenges the rotational control at the hip, which increases the work on the glutes. You have to work more to prevent the knee rolling in or the hip dropping out,” she says.

You can do either a simple scooter move on its own or, as Claire likes to do, follow a scooter variation sequence to challenge your endurance.

Here's how to do it:

• In standing, place a resistance band around your thighs just above the knees, and maintain tension in it.
• Place hands on hips and hinge forward slightly, maintaining a straight back throughout.
• Stretch the right leg behind you with toes on the floor, before returning to the centre.
• Move the right leg behind you into a lunge, before returning to the centre.
• Move the right leg behind you into a lunge, before standing up and moving the leg to the front with a bent knee.
• Return to the centre and repeat on the other side.

4. 4-point kneeling glute combination

This combination in a Pilates with resistance bands workout challenges the core and glutes and is great for anyone with back or hip pain, says Claire. “I tend to do a few variations consecutively with this; you can guarantee a burn on both sides. The resistance band adds a further challenge for the moving leg, but also in stabilising the hip and glutes,” she says.

Here's how to do it:

• Place a resistance band around your thighs, just above your knees.
• Assume a tabletop position with shoulders stacked over hands and hips stacked over knees.
• Keeping it bent, raise your right leg into a donkey kick, lower and return to centre.
• Keeping it bent, raise your right leg out to the side (into a fire hydrant, aka hip abduction), lower and return to centre.
• Straighten your right leg behind you and raise, lower and return to centre.
• Finish the sequence with a few straight leg lifts before repeating on the other side.

5. Clam

A favourite of Lottie’s, she likes to do all the clam variations with a resistance band, which, she says, helps perfect your form. “It provides immediate feedback if [for instance] your hips start to roll backwards, which ensures you’re isolating the correct muscles. As a result, the exercise feels harder not just because of the added resistance, but because your form is more precise,” she explains.

Here's how to do it:

• Place a band around your thighs just above the knees, lie on your side with knees bent and hips stacked.
• Use your elbow to prop yourself up and place the other hand on your hip.
• Keeping the feet together, rotate the top hip to point the knee up, before lowering and repeating.
• Vary the clam by lifting the top leg before rotating the hip and pointing the knee, then lowering and repeating.
• Keeping the knee bent, lift the top leg before straightening, then bend back in, lower and repeat.
• Keeping the knee bent, lift the top leg, rotate the hip to point the knee down, before reversing and repeating.
• Finish with a few standard clam pulses, pushing against the tension of the band.

6. Squat

Lottie says, “I love squats, and doing them with resistance bands transforms the movement in Pilates. By placing the band around your thighs, you have to actively push out against it. This helps fire up your glutes and outer thigh muscles and prevents your knees from rolling inward, which is a common mistake. You get the double benefit of the band’s resistance plus the bonus of ensuring your form is spot-on.”

To increase glute activation, lift one heel off the ground for the duration of the squat. “Because you’re no longer centring the body when you lift one heel, you have to put more pressure on the other leg, which then switches on that glute,” she explains.

Here's how to do it:

• Stand tall with feet hip-width apart and a band around your thighs just above the knees.
• Keeping a straight back, drop down into a squat, pushing out against the band to maintain tension.
• Push back up through the heels to standing, before repeating.

Tips for doing Pilates with resistance bands

• Start light before moving up: Noemi warns that a stronger band doesn’t always mean a better workout. “If the band is too heavy and you haven’t yet mastered the core and mind-body connection, your movement will become rapid and tight. Start light to find the feel, and only move up when you can keep your flow.”
• Ensure the band is secure: Before starting any move, make sure your band is securely in place with no chance of slipping or ‘pinging off’. Depending on the move, this could mean attaching one end to a stable point such as a table leg, or securing it into a sturdy position on your body.
• Keep the tension: A resistance band won’t do anything for you if it stays floppy and loose. Use your body to work against the band or adjust where you hold it to maintain tension throughout a move.