Is weight training necessary if I am doing reformer work at least three times a week or should I concentrate more on cardio when not working on the reformer? If weight training is recommended, how many times a week should it be added and what is the recommended weight range for upper body work specifically? Thanks.

Hi Lori. It depends on your goals. Pilates is great for functional strength and can absolutely count as resistance training. Per ACSM "Adults should train each major muscle group 2 or 3 days each week" so your reformer work would cover that. ACSM also suggests getting "at least 150 min of moderate-intensity cardio exercise per week" so you could supplement Pilates with cardio. However, if you're interested in heavy lifting, you're going to want to look at weights, so you could do a mix of Pilates + weights if that felt like a better match. As far as recommended weight for upper body, that's dependent on your personal strength. You want enough weight that it feels like a bit of a challenge, but not so much that you can't maintain good form and appropriate range during the exercise. If you want the full ACSM recs, here's a link: http://www.acsm.org/about-acsm/medi a-room/news-releases/2011/08/01/acs m-issues-new-recommendations-on-qua ntity-and-quality-of-exercise

Thanks so much for your response! I appreciate it. I think I will go mostly cardio then. I thought reformer work should definitely count as weight work and couldn't understand when I read that you needed to supplement Pilates with weight work.
Thank you for clarifying it for me,

Sure thing! :)