A men’s football team has gone viral on Instagram after being “humbled” at a reformer pilates class in Sydney’s south, showing viewers it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Pilates instructor and founder of Reform Me, Sami McDonald, 25, said the Hurstville Zagreb FC boys were loving their weekly Pilates classes and were seeing results after just a month.
“Soccer players prioritise ankle stability and support because the kicking motion puts a lot of strain on the ankles and feet – for example, they do a lot of toe-off action, raising and lowering the heel,” she said.
“I think it’s improved my flexibility and mobility. The biggest benefit for men in general is increased mobility in the hip joint area, which isn’t as naturally loose as women’s.”
The first-year footballers have been spreading the word to their other teammates at Zagreb FC, and McDonald says they’ve had to expand their offerings to include mat pilates to meet the growing interest from other players.
“My reformer studio is currently only capable of six beds and everyone is working out with their teammates, so I’m planning on opening up mat classes so we can accommodate everyone,” she said.
Commenters on the now-viral Instagram video have praised the boys’ efforts in the classes and called for more sports departments to include Pilates in their players’ regular training.
“Personally I think all footballers should do reformer pilates,” one commenter said.
“Specifically focusing on improving core stability and contralateral sling patterns can definitely prevent a lot of injuries.”
“There needs to be more marketing and messaging aimed at men who do Pilates,” another man commented.
“I would love to try it, but the classes are all female and there’s a lot of prejudice.”
When the Zagreb athletes arrived for their first class, most of them expected a class that was just stretching, McDonald said.
“They had no idea that Pilates was a real exercise, they had no idea that Pilates would make them burn, they didn’t even know that such a thing existed,” she said.
McDonald has been teaching Pilates for three years and during that time has noticed a significant increase in men adopting Pilates as a part of their exercise routine.
“There are at least two guys in my general classes who come regularly every week,” she says.
“These days more and more young men are doing Pilates, but when I started it was mostly middle-aged men. Of course, there are benefits for both.”
McDonald said that from his professional experience, men tend to look after their bodies in different ways than women.
“Men have a tendency to ignore injuries, but that shouldn’t be the case,” she said.
“That’s why it’s so important to raise awareness among men about the benefits of Pilates – to help them understand that it was originally designed for physiotherapy and isn’t just a ‘women’s’ exercise.”
According to the latest data from the IBISWorld 2019-2024 report, Pilates has surged in popularity over the past decade, growing from a niche offering to a more mainstream form of exercise.
Pilates remains dominated by women in Australia, with class attendance ratios of women to men at about nine to one, according to market research firm Roy Morgan.
According to 2018 data, there are 1.1 million women and just over 120,000 men taking Pilates classes.
Helen Stamatakos, a Pilates instructor and founder of Pilates Insync, has worked with elite athletes for 18 years and says she’s seeing more and more athletes cross-train with Pilates.
She has coached big name athletes from diver Melissa Wu to track and field star Rohan Browning, including many beloved Matildas athletes from Alanna Kennedy to Charlotte Grant, and is now coaching the younger Matildas team ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Training elite athletes makes up a large part of Stamatakos’ business, including NRL players such as those for the St George Illawarra Dragons.
The Dragons train regularly with Stamatakos, who travels from his studio in Menai to Wollongong to coach the team.
“Pilates is popular with elite athletes because the eccentric movements are effective in reducing the risk of injury,” Stamatakos said.
“It increases your range of motion while under load, so it improves your mobility, which is the biggest benefit.”
Traditionally, athletic training is based on progressive resistance, increasing weight with each repetition, but in Pilates, muscles are stretched under load through a spring, she said.
“So, not only does Pilates help you build strength, it also improves your mobility.”
She said Pilates is the secret to athletes’ longevity, improved performance and injury prevention.
