Actor Palak Tiwari recently gave a glimpse of her Pilates session, where she was seen working out on a “Reformer” under the guidance of fitness trainer Almas Merchant.

Photos and videos shared by Merchant showed Tiwari seated on the Pilates equipment, working with resistance straps and maintaining a controlled posture. Her session was not about lifting the heaviest weight or racing through repetitions. Instead, it was about “strength, grace, and effortless control.”

In a conversation with indianexpress.com, Sanaaz Ashba, founder of Gaff Your Buds and a movement and preventive health advocate, explains that Pilates may have recently become more popular on social media; the exercise is more than 100 years old.

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So, what exactly was Palak doing?

 

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A post shared by Almas Merchant (@almasmerchant21) 

The equipment Tiwari was using is called a Reformer, one of the key pieces of equipment associated with Pilates — as Ashba explains.  Joseph Pilates, the founder of the practice, developed it, and it uses springs, straps, and a moving carriage to create resistance while supporting different movements.

The Reformer can also be used with boxes that change positioning and exercise variations. In Tiwari’s session, she was performing a series of “upper-body movements, including side-seated bicep curls, lateral arm raises and an overhead press,” as Ashba tells us.

And here is where Pilates gets interesting: a “tiny change in how you position your hand, open your fingers or rotate your body can alter which muscles are recruited.”

According to Ashba, the movements shown in Tiwari’s session primarily work the “torso and core”, including the obliques, while also challenging shoulder stability. In this context, the core refers to the area between the “lower ribcage and pelvis, rather than simply the abdominal muscles.”

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But Pilates is not only about which muscle is burning

Ashba believes the practice is particularly useful because it demands coordination between the mind and body. While gym workouts can certainly build strength and fitness, Pilates places considerable emphasis on being aware of how the body moves, maintaining control, and working with precision.

That mind-body connection is also one reason Ashba believes Pilates can contribute to confidence. “It can help increase your self-confidence 100%. ”

Better posture and greater awareness of how you hold yourself can change how you feel in the mirror and, consequently, how you carry yourself through the day.

For someone who has never tried Pilates, Ashba’s advice is to think beyond aesthetics. Modern lifestyles involve hours of sitting, walking, working at desks and using devices, all of which can influence how we naturally hold and move our bodies.

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The idea, she explained, is to become more aware of movement and gradually teach the body to work more efficiently.

Her philosophy is perhaps best summed up in four words: “Pilates is you.”

That makes the practice sound less like another fitness fad to tick off your list and more like learning to understand your own body.