Hello everyone. I have been looking a lot of exercise regiments lately and I think the best one for me seems like pilates. I am attracted to it because of the focus on building the core and also because they can tailor the regiment to your specific limitations. There seems to be a lot of somewhat conflicting information out there about it so I was wondering if any anyone on the board could help guide me. Some of the questions I have include:
How much time per week(or how many classes) do I need to gain the best results?
What do I look for in a good teacher; is a more traditional, classically trained instructor better?
How much cardiovascular work involved?
To what extent is weight loss a focus of Pilates?
Is there anyone people would recommend in DC?
Also any stories of personal experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for whatever information you can provide:)
I can’t help, but am bumping this thread because I’m interested in any replies you get. 
My Pilates experience is limited to a few months when I was working at Best Buy; they had a gym there with classes. According to more experienced students, the classes were specifically geared towards athletes rather than people trying to get into shape (one of the reasons the classes kicked my ass…), so these answers are probably not typical.
How much time per week? More than two or three sessions a week would have left me unable to roll over in bed. Did I mention that Pilates kicked my ass?
Teacher? Not sure, but if you’re not already in shape, I’d guess it’s got more to do with the goal of the class than the experience of the teacher.
How much cardiovascular work involved? Zero. Zip. Nada. As anti-cardio as a weight training program.
To what extent is weight loss a focus of Pilates? I’d guess not so much; my experience has been that weight loss is due to exercise which convinces the body that it doesn’t need that much penalty weight, and the weight doesn’t factor in as much in Pilates since you’re sitting on your butt or lying on the floor most of the time.
Is there anyone people would recommend in DC? Sorry, Minnesotan here.
I’m going to Lifetime Fitness for my weightlifting & yoga needs these days and I’ve been asking around about a beginning Pilates class, and it’s kind of disconcerting… they’ve gotten all PC and are avoiding terms like “beginner” and “advanced,” so nobody actually knows what the beginner classes ARE…
Thank you for the response, it is really helpful. I am pretty out of shape at the moment, so I was thinking of trying to get in a little better shape before even starting classes - based upon what you said, it seems like a good idea.
If you’re out of shape, you might want to try some yoga before jumping into Pilates. Look around to see if any of the local gyms or studios offer a free week of classes; pick them in the right order and you should be able to get a month or so of yoga for free.