Pilates for Athletes: How Sport-Specific Training Changes the Way We Teach
Pilates gives us a system. Great teaching comes from knowing how to adapt that system to the body in front of us.
An athlete’s sport determines what their body is repeatedly asked to do - how they create force, absorb load, rotate, stabilize, change direction, recover and perform under pressure. A football player, baseball player, basketball player and circus performer may all benefit from Pilates, but their bodies do not need exactly the same thing.
That is where sport-specific Pilates becomes less about simply choosing exercises and more about understanding why we are choosing them.
This approach is at the center of The Athletic Lens: From MLB to Circus Arts, a live workshop with Maria Leone and Kenlie Reed that explores how Pilates programming changes across very different athletic populations.
Kenlie brings more than a decade of experience working with hundreds of professional athletes across the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA and Olympic sports. In the Miami workshop, she will work live with an NFL athlete while Maria works with a circus performer, allowing participants to see two completely different athletic bodies and movement demands side by side.
The Pilates system stays. The application changes.
The Pilates method provides a strong foundation for strength, mobility, stability, coordination, control and body awareness.
But applying Pilates to athletic performance requires another layer of thinking.
Instead of asking only:
What exercise should I teach?
An instructor also needs to consider:
What does this athlete’s sport demand?
Where does the athlete need mobility?
Where do they need stability?
How do they create and transfer force?
Which positions or movement patterns are repeated during competition?
Where may they be vulnerable?
What is the goal of this exercise for this particular athlete?
That ability to observe, assess and make informed decisions is a major part of the Bodyline Method®, Bodyline’s continuing-education framework for instructors focused on movement analysis, programming, cueing and class design.
The same exercise can serve a completely different purpose
Two athletes may perform the same exercise on the Reformer, but the intention behind it can be completely different.
For a rotational athlete, the goal might involve stabilizing the pelvis while producing controlled rotation through the thoracic spine, improving force transfer or developing strength in a position that repeatedly appears during competition.
For a circus performer, that same movement may be used within an entirely different context involving extreme ranges of motion, control, stability, balance and artistic demands.
The exercise may look similar.
The reason for choosing it is not.
This is where an instructor’s eye becomes as important as their repertoire.
Pilates for athletes is not one type of training
There is no single formula for “Pilates for athletes.”
A football player may need something very different from a baseball player.
A basketball player may present different demands than an Olympic athlete.
And a circus performer, whose work can combine strength, flexibility, control and extreme ranges of motion, may require an entirely different approach.
The Athletic Lens is designed around that idea.
Rather than teaching one fixed athletic program, the workshop looks at the process behind programming:
Who is in front of you? What does their activity demand? What do you see? And what should you do with that information?
That framework can be used across sports and athletic populations rather than being limited to one discipline.
Training the teacher’s eye
One of the biggest differences between learning exercises and becoming a stronger teacher is developing the ability to see movement.
That means noticing what is actually happening rather than simply taking an athlete through a predetermined sequence.
The goal is to recognize:
how the athlete organizes movement
where control is being lost
where mobility may be limited
where excessive mobility may need more stability
how force moves through the body
whether an exercise is actually producing the intended result
From there, the instructor can decide whether to progress, modify or change the exercise.
This is also a core theme throughout Bodyline’s advanced Pilates continuing education and Immersions, where instructors develop observation, programming and teaching skills through live practice and movement analysis.
Bridging traditional Pilates and modern athletic performance
Pilates does not need to be abandoned to train athletes.
The foundation still matters.
The question is how that foundation is applied.
A thoughtful athletic program can preserve the principles of Pilates while incorporating movement strategies that address the athlete’s specific performance demands.
That may mean changing the intention of an exercise, adjusting the range of motion, altering resistance, introducing a progression or choosing a different movement entirely.
The goal is not to make Pilates look more athletic.
The goal is to make the programming more relevant to the athlete.
That distinction matters.
From NFL to MLB, WNBA, Olympic sport and circus arts
Kenlie’s work across professional sport provides a broad perspective on how movement needs shift between athletic populations.
In Miami, participants will watch her work in real time with an NFL athlete while Maria works with a circus performer.
The contrast is intentional.
One body may be trained for explosive force, acceleration, contact and rapid changes of direction.
Another may need extraordinary control, mobility, strength and precision through ranges of motion most people will never encounter.
Both can use Pilates.
But they should not necessarily use Pilates in the same way.
That is the lens instructors are being asked to develop.
What instructors will learn
The Athletic Lens is designed to help Pilates teachers and movement professionals:
Program Pilates sessions around sport-specific outcomes
Understand the different demands across athletic populations
Apply Pilates principles to traditional and non-traditional athletes
Develop stronger observation and movement-analysis skills
Assess and respond to movement in real time
Understand how classical Pilates foundations can work alongside modern performance training
For instructors still building their teaching foundation, Bodyline also offers Balanced Body® Pilates teacher training in Mat, Reformer and apparatus pathways.
The Athletic Lens: From MLB to Circus Arts
Saturday, November 7, 2026
1-4 PM ET
Miami
In-Studio + Livestream
Recording available
Maria Leone and Kenlie Reed will work with two very different athletes in real time, demonstrating how the demands of the person and the sport change the way Pilates is programmed and taught.
The workshop is designed for Pilates instructors, teacher trainees, movement professionals and experienced practitioners who want to deepen their understanding of athletic performance and sport-specific programming.
