Sydney soccer players ‘humbled’ by reformer pilates class

A first grade soccer team from Sydney’s southern suburbs has gone viral on Instagram after being “humbled” by a pilates class.

A men’s soccer team has gone viral on Instagram after being “humbled” by a reformer pilates class in southern Sydney, showing viewers it is a lot harder than it looks.

Pilates instructor and founder of Reform Me Sami McDonald, 25, said the boys from Hurstville Zagreb FC are loving their weekly pilates classes and are noticing the benefits after just one month.

“Soccer players are very heavy on their ankles and their feet with kicking, so I’ve prioritised ankle stability and support, for example, we do a lot of stuff on their toes where they lift and lower their heels,” she said.

“I think their flexibility and mobility has improved; the biggest benefit for men generally is improved mobility in their hip region, which is not as naturally loose as women’s.”

Sydney soccer team "humbled" by pilates class. Picture: Supplied.

The first-grade soccer players are spreading the word to the rest of their teammates at Zagreb FC, with Ms McDonald saying she has had to expand her services to include mat pilates to accommodate the growing interest from the other players.

“My reformer studio is limited to six beds at the moment, so I’ve got plans in the works to set up a mat class so I can fit everyone in because they are really keen to join their teammates,” she said.

Commenters on the now viral Instagram reel have commended the boys on their effort in the class and called for more sports departments to incorporate pilates into their athletes’ regular training.

“Personally I think all footballers should take reformer pilates,” one commenter said.

“It would most certainly prevent a lot of injuries, especially if the focus is on improving their core stability and their contralateral sling patterns.”

With a different male commenter saying, “There really needs to be more marketing and messaging for men doing pilates.

“I’d love to try it but the classes are all full of women and there is a real stigma around it.”

When the Zagreb players came to their first class Ms McDonald said most of them were expecting a class full of just stretching.

“They really had no idea that pilates is a real workout, they weren’t expecting the pilates burn, they didn’t even know that was a thing,” she said.

Reform Me pilates instructor Sami McDonald who made the viral Instagram reel of Soccer Boys and pilates. Picture: Supplied.

Ms McDonald has been teaching pilates for three years and said over this time she has noticed a significant increase in men taking pilates as a form of regular exercise.

“In my general classes I have at least two men who come regularly every week,” she said.

“Recently I’ve seen an increase in younger men doing pilates, whereas when I started it was more middle-age men, but both can benefit of course.”

In her professional experience, Ms McDonald said men tend to care for their bodies differently to women.

“If men get an injury they tend to just ignore it and that is not what you’re meant to do,” she said.

“That’s why increasing men’s awareness of the benefits of pilates is so important, for them to understand you know it was initially made for physiotherapy, that it is not just this ‘girly’ exercise.”

Pilates has surged in popularity over the last ten years, growing from a niche service to a more mainstream form of exercise, according to the latest data from IBISWorld 2019-2024 report.

Pilates is still heavily dominated by women in Australia, with the difference between women and men taking classes being about 9 to 1, says market research company Roy Morgan.

According to its 2018 data, 1.1 million women take pilates compared to just over 120,000 men.

Pilates instructor and founder of Pilates Insync Helen Stamatakos has been training elite athletes for 18 years and says an increasing number of athletes are cross-training with pilates.

She’s trained big names, from the likes of diver Melissa Wu to athletics star Rohan Browning, including several beloved Matildas prior to the Women’s World Cup 2023, from Alanna Kennedy to Charlotte Grant, and currently trains the young Matildas team.

Matildas Alanna Kennedy doing pilates at Pilates Insync. Picture: Supplied.

Training elite athletes makes up a large portion of Ms Stamatakos’ business, which includes NRL players, like the St George Illawarra Dragons.

The Dragons train regularly with Ms Stamatakos who travels to Wollongong from her studio in Menai to teach the team.

St George Dragons with Pilates Insync instructor Helen Stamatakos. Picture: Supplied.

“Pilates is popular with elite athletes as it is beneficial in reducing the risk of injury because it is eccentric movement,” Ms Stamatakos said.

“It increases their range of motion while under load, so therefore it improves mobility and that’s the biggest thing.”

Traditionally, athletic training is based on progressive load, where you up your weights with your reps, but with pilates you are lengthening your muscles through springs under load, she said.

“So therefore with pilates, they are strengthening but they are also improving their mobility.”

Pilates is the secret to athlete longevity, performance enhancement and injury prevention, she said.