232 Pilates Digest | Movement, Refined
The Power of Moving Slowly
How slowing down improves strength, alignment and neuromuscular control
Mar 13, 2026
A Subtle Side Body Change I Noticed Through Pilates
How strengthening the lateral chain can reorganize posture and movement
Mar 9, 2026
Why More Men Should Do Pilates
Revisiting the origins of the Pilates method and why it remains one of the smarted training systems for men today
Feb. 28, 2026
232 Digest is a weekly journal on movement, Pilates, and intelligent exercise written from the studio floor at 232 Pilates in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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The Power of Moving Slowly
How slowing down improves strength, alignment and neuromuscular control
One of the first things people notice in a 232 Pilates session is the pace. In my studio, the exercises are not rushed. The movements are carefully curated and unfold slowly, often with deliberate pauses and thoughtful transitions. For someone accustomed to faster workouts or high intensity classes, this can feel surprising at first.
I recently had a private session client come to me after deciding he was no longer interested in the high intensity style workouts he had been attending. He explained that he wanted to start working out more intelligently and with greater attention to how his body was actually moving. Pilates immediately offered something different. Instead of rushing through exercises, we slowed the movement down and focused on control, alignment, and precision. I added additional spring tension where needed because this client was strong.
Slowing the body down reveals something important. Without momentum, the body must rely on coordination and deep structural support to complete even the simplest movement. When exercise speeds up, the body often compensates by relying on momentum or by allowing the largest muscle groups to take over the work. While this can make movement feel easier in the moment, it can also mask imbalances and allow inefficient patterns to persist. The reformer in my studio was the right machine to aid in identifying this particular clients’ asymmetries.
When movement slows down, compensations and asymmetries become harder to hide. Each joint must organize itself more carefully, and the muscles surrounding it must engage thoughtfully to guide the movement. With out a doubt, what appears simple on the surface with my clients can quickly become quite challenging when every inch of motion is controlled.
At 232 Pilates, we use this principle deliberately. The resistance of the springs encourages steady, measured movement rather than abrupt effort. As the reformer carriage moves out and returns, the body must control both bi-lateral phases of the motion. This creates sustained muscular engagement rather than short bursts of effort. The result is not just strength, but a more refined relationship between the muscles and the nervous system.
One of the most valuable outcomes of this slower pace is the development of neuromuscular coordination. When movement slows down, the brain has more opportunity to process what the body is doing. Small adjustments in alignment become noticeable. The body begins to sense where weight is shifting, where joints are drifting off center, and where deeper support is needed.
This may seem far-stretched, however, I like to think that this neuromuscular coordination we do using Pilates equipment is akin to the slow, fluid and controlled motion of Tai-Chi, but with added resistance and props. Could we actually just be implementing this ancient wisdom on Joe’s 100 (ish) old apparatuses?
I witnessed over time that this process has already begun to improve my client’s awareness and alignment. As we move through the exercises more slowly, he has started to notice where his weight shifts, when his ribs begin to lift, or when his hips try to rotate out of position.
These are subtle things that often go unnoticed in faster workouts. By slowing the movement down, he is learning how to stack the joints more efficiently and distribute effort through the correct muscular chains. In Pilates, this often means the deeper stabilizing muscles of the torso, hips, and spine begin working together to support the movement rather than allowing the larger muscles to dominate the work. The result is a kind of strength that feels integrated and controlled rather than forced.
The slower pace creates space to notice breath, alignment, and the subtle transitions between positions. These details are where much of the work actually happens.
For many people, this can shift their perspective on what a workout should feel like. A session does not need to be fast to be demanding. In fact, moving slowly often reveals just how much control the body must develop to move well.
At 232 Pilates, this intelligent pace is not about making exercise easier. It is about refining how the body moves. By removing momentum and emphasizing control, I focus on building strength with precision, awareness and alignment.
-Diana Muchmore, March 13, 2026
232 Digest is a weekly journal on movement, Pilates, and intelligent exercise written from the studio floor at 232 Pilates in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
A Subtle Side Body Change I Noticed Through Pilates
How strengthening the lateral chain can reorganize posture and movement
When I began practicing Pilates four times a week, I was not looking for a visual change. My focus was on enjoying the method on the Reformer and Tower, reading more about the early history of the apparatuses, and building a consistent practice through precise movement.
But after about six to eight months of practicing more than usual, I noticed something subtle one day when I looked in the mirror.
The lateral side of my body looked leaner and longer, particularly around my obliques, glutes, and thighs. It was not a dramatic transformation, nor was it that my whole body had suddenly changed. It was a small detail. The line from my ribs through my waist and down toward my hips looked more lifted and organized. My waist even seemed a little longer, albeit I still have diastasis recti from pregnancy. This small change caught me by surprise because it was not something I had been particularly trying to achieve. Nonetheless, it made me quietly happy to notice it. That moment stuck with me.
In Pilates we talk a lot about creating length in the body, but I think what this idea really means in my studio is that we are building strength in a way that allows the body to organize itself more efficiently. Many exercises at 232 Pilates do focus on the side body, especially the side lying series on our apparatuses as well as deep oblique focused work on the Ladder Barrel.
This area of focus aids in strengthening muscles that stabilize the pelvis and spine, including the obliques, the deep abdominal muscles, and the outer hip stabilizers such as the gluteus medius. The unsung hero, our fascia, also greatly benefits.
What I notice with some of my newer clients is that the lateral hip and deep core are simply underused, which influences the pelvis to subtly shift or drop. Over time that can create a slightly shortened trunk along the waist and hip. But evidence shows that these same clients often feel lifted again following several months of committing to the Pilates practice. Pilates works to rebalance overlooked areas, and when that happens the body can indeed look and feel more lifted.
What I started to see in the mirror was really just a reflection of better organization. My rib cage felt more naturally stacked over my pelvis. My waistline looked more supported. My movement felt lighter and more coordinated.
In Pilates, these small visual shifts are often the external result of deeper structural support developing through the lateral chain of the body.
This observation also made me reflect about my history as a dancer - as I often do - and an injury I carried for years, an IT band tear. The Iliotibial band runs along the outside of the thigh and helps stabilize the hip and knee. In dancers and athletes, IT band injuries often develop from overuse in one direction and when the hip stabilizers, especially the gluteus medius, are not contributing enough to the work.
My own IT band injury developed during my years of intensive dance training, a reminder of how easily the outer hip can become overworked when the stabilizing muscles are not contributing enough.
One thing I appreciate about Pilates today is how directly it works the stabilizing muscles. Exercises like the side lying series strengthen the outer hip in a very controlled, aligned way. As those muscles become stronger and more coordinated, they help support the pelvis and reduce the amount of strain placed on the IT band.
For many people with past IT band injuries, strengthening the outer hips can actually be very supportive mentally and physically. When the hip and glute muscles are doing their job well, and they are regularly massaged, rolled out and counter stretched, the IT band does not have to compensate as much during everyday movement and the lateral chain work continues to aid in organizing our stature.
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that when those muscles work efficiently, they can sometimes feel sensitive at first. (My glute med muscles never fail to let me know what they are feeling in a side lying series!). That does not necessarily mean the injury or inflammation is getting worse. Often it simply means that the smaller muscles that were quiet for a long time are waking up and learning to participate again.
At the end of the day for me, that small moment of noticing the length along my side body became a meaningful milestone. It was a reminder that Pilates was doing something deeper than I initially realized. My body was reorganizing itself in a healthier and more balanced way.
Sometimes the most meaningful progress in movement is not dramatic. Sometimes it is simply a small detail you notice one day in the mirror after months of practice that tells you something important has shifted.
-Diana Muchmore, March 6, 2026
232 Digest is a weekly journal on movement, Pilates, and intelligent exercise written from the studio floor at 232 Pilates in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Why More Men Should Do Pilates
Revisiting the origins of the Pilates method and why it remains one of the smarted training systems for men today
First and foremost, Pilates was invented by a man, Joseph Pilates. While he initially developed Contrology as a prisoner of war on the Isle of Man around 1914-18, the Pilates method as we know it today began formally in the US as Joe’s Gym in 1927 located in NYC at 939 8th Ave. Many men visited Joe at his Gym regularly and Joe worked with all male body types.
Joe only began to teach dancers later through connections from his students. There’s a persistent myth that Pilates is only for dancers, hyper-flexible women, or people who already move well. While it is true that Pilates highly supports dancers, it’s important to remember that Pilates was developed to rehabilitate injured male soldiers and retrain male athletes. It was first about building a body that functions efficiently.
I recently met a man who told me, I can’t do Pilates, I played too much football in high school. Okay I said, so you have tight hamstrings, compressed shoulders, and tight joints, but this does not disqualify you from stepping into my studio. He laughed and said every time I get up from a chair, I hear a symphony of noises from my joints. Since Pilates was developed to restore all bodies, especially the male body, my response was you are exactly who Pilates was designed for.
While it certainly can help in a practice, Pilates is not about flexibility. Another big misconception, particularly among men is that flexibility is a prerequisite. Pilates is one of the safest and most effective ways to improve mobility without forcing range (i.e. uncomfortable extension and flexion).
On our 232 Pilates equipment like the Tower, Wunda Chair, Ladder Barrel and Reformer, resistance is always adjusted according to my clients needs. Range can be decreased significantly and springs can assist or challenge any one of my clients depending on what their body needs that day.
I know how these life long injuries can feel and how flare ups fluctuate.
At 232, if you can bend your knees 20 degrees instead of 90, I work with you there. If your shoulders don’t comfortably press overhead, I modify. If your spine doesn’t love rotation, I reduce the arc, have you hinge or completely switch out the position. 232 Pilates meets you where you are today, taking note of previous injuries, and bodily trauma.
The football body reality is that high-impact sports like football builds powerful male bodies. But they also often create too much long term compression and these injuries are more often than not traumatic both physically and mentally (the mental part comes later when you begin to live with and manage the injury).
The great thing about using various Pilates apparatuses is that they can assist in safely strengthening the deep stabilizing muscles that traditional gym and sports work often overlooks. For example, I teach controlled articulation of the spine on the tower bed, which slowly builds stability without compressing the joints and restores balanced strength across the entire kinetic chain.
If you are still with me reading my take on why more men should do Pilates, thank you for reading! But really thank yourself for diving deeper in taking this first step (knowledge!) to restore your body. The irony is that the tighter and stronger you are, the more you likely need a session at 232 Pilates.
It’s true! I believe at a certain point intensity stops being the metric and longevity becomes the priority. Pilates trains joint alignment under load and builds strength gradually in end ranges. It improves proprioception and your body’s awareness of where it is in space.
If you lift heavy, run, cycle, or play rec sports, this is critical. The stronger the outer muscles become, the more the stabilizing system must keep up and Pilates fills that gap. It’s not replacing your workouts it is merely supporting them. You can think of it as structural insurance.
So my male friends who think Pilates is not for them, the real question is what happens if you commit to once or twice-weekly Pilates sessions? Will you still hold these trauma induced thoughts: My body feels tight, I don’t move like I used to, and I’m not sure I’ll be good at this.
Pilates isn’t about being good, stop it already! Pilates is about building better mechanics and all you need is to bring willingness to my studio. The men who benefit most from Pilates are often the ones who think they shouldn’t try it. Have I made my point?
At 232 Pilates we don’t force range, we refine it. Take a class and witness for yourself your hidden strengths. Be inspired to move intelligently with with precision, mobility and longevity in mind.
-Diana Muchmore, Feb. 28, 2026
232 Digest is a weekly journal on movement, Pilates, and intelligent exercise written from the studio floor at 232 Pilates in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.