A word worth pinning down
Control is the most-used word in any Pilates studio, and it’s usually left to mean "do it nicely". It deserves better than that, because on a reformer it’s one of the few things you can genuinely check while you’re doing it.
Three tests you can run yourself
- Listen
- A controlled carriage is silent at both ends. If it clunks home, the springs finished the movement rather than you.
- Count
- Out and back should take the same length of time. Nearly everyone is quicker on the way back, because that’s the direction the spring is helping.
- Stop
- Can you halt the carriage anywhere in its travel and hold it for two seconds? If not, that’s momentum doing the work rather than you.
Slow itdown, andfeel it
Why it matters more than effort
A repetition that runs away with you trains you to rely on momentum, which is the opposite of what you came for. It also throws the load right to the end of the range, which is exactly where you’re least steady.
Fewer, better repetitions isn’t the gentle option. It’s the hard one, and it’s the one that changes how you move.