Is the Pilates Cadillac just a souped-up version of the Pilates Tower?

I had a client who was fairly new to Pilates ask me,” Is the Pilates Cadillac just a souped-up version of the Pilates Tower?” and I absolutely loved her description!!

The short answer to that question is yes!!  The Pilates Cadillac is the souped-up version of the Tower!  The Cadillac was Joseph Pilates’ original piece of equipment that was designed to stretch, strengthen, lengthen and give your body feedback in a variety ways. Just like the name implies…the Pilates Cadillac has a quite the “presence” in the studio..  But that presence also takes up a big footprint in the studio.    As much as most studio owners would love to be able to have Cadillac class….it’s not really practical to have 4, 5 or more Cadillacs in one room.  This is where the Tower systems that you see in many studios came about.  The tower system is a version of the Cadillac that allows you to do approximately 75% of the traditional Cadillac exercises on a much smaller, space saving piece of equipment.

The main things missing from the Tower are the overhead bars that run parallel to the mat, the attached trapeze bar that attaches to those bars, and the hanging straps that attach to the bars. So what are you missing out on by using a Tower instead of the Cadillac? Most of the exercises are ones that involves variations of hanging from the bars, the attached trapeze bar/swing and the hanging straps.  These variations are definitely great exercises that are worth exploring in your Pilates practice, but the versatility of the Tower system gives you plenty of exercises that can be used to accomplish the same movement goals as some of these Cadillac only exercises.

Curious about the Cadillac?  Check out this video highlighting some exercises  on the Cadillac!  Want to play and try some of these exercises out?  Schedule a private session and be sure to ask your teacher if you can play on the Cadillac!!  Call 319-665-2499 and schedule a Cadillac session today!