As a former dancer, I’m used to being able to move my body freely. When I first started doing Pilates, I naturally felt more comfortable on the mat at first. But the movements and challenges involved in training on the Pilates equipment gradually sparked more and more enthusiasm in me. That’s how Pilates training on the Reformer became, for me, the heart of the Pilates method.

There was one catch with the device for me, though: As soon as I incorporated the rope system with the loops into my exercises, I quickly ran into limitations compared to my usual range of motion and freedom of movement. Whether with my arms or legs in the loops—you can move up and down, side to side, back and forth, and even make circles. But that’s pretty much where the possibilities end. For me, as a dancer and someone who loves variety in movement, it eventually became a bit frustrating.

I still remember exactly how I first heard about the Konnector® system in 2023. A system consisting of just one rope and four loops—it immediately piqued my curiosity! So I signed up for the next available opportunity to learn about it and try it out for myself. That opportunity came in April 2023 at the “Pilates On Tour” event hosted by Balanced Body in London.

It was fascinating: I did three or four exercises with the loops and knew right away: I have to have this! Just the thought of the possibilities this system would open up was absolutely mind-blowing to me even back then.

No sooner said than done: Following the POT in April, we invited Viktor Uygan, the inventor of the Konnector® system, to Zurich in September 2023 to train the Pilates Zurich team in his method. And the rest is history.

But what exactly makes the Konnector® system so special?

From a technical standpoint

The cable system consists of a single cable that is installed on the Reformer using several pulleys. This creates a connection between the right and left sides. The cable is routed multiple times through the numerous pulleys, allowing the loops to move bilaterally, unilaterally, and even alternately.

And now comes the interesting part: There are two more loops! This means you’re no longer limited to working out with just your arms or just your legs. You can even move all four limbs at the same time. At first, you might feel a little like a marionette hanging from strings—but the workout results are impressive!

Another technical detail: The Konnector® opens up entirely new possibilities for experimenting with the spring resistance. Depending on which pair of loops you use, you can train either with the familiar original spring tension or with a tension reduced by half. In addition, the very long rope—which runs through the numerous pulleys like a block-and-tackle system—allows you to position the loops in entirely new ways that would have been unthinkable with the conventional rope system.

The sheer variety of possible exercises and the range of movements they allow takes Reformer training to a whole new level. Hats off to Viktor’s vision and to the engineers at Balanced Body, who turned that vision into reality!

Since I've always been interested in technology, the system itself immediately fascinated me. But as a dancer, Pilates instructor, or simply as someone who loves movement, an even more important question arises:

How does it feel? And what does it do to your body?

Imagine that your right leg is stronger than your left and you’re working out using a Reformer’s conventional cable system. The carriage moves regardless of whether both legs are exerting the same amount of force or one leg is doing most of the work. And we rarely feel or notice this.

Now imagine that exactly that is no longer possible. Crazy, isn't it?

With the Konnector® system, your body is challenged to apply force evenly on both sides during bilateral movements. Otherwise, the stronger leg would move forward while the weaker one lags behind. No cheating allowed!

In the long term, this allows for more balanced strength development on both sides. And here’s another major advantage: people with leg-length discrepancies benefit particularly from this system. It adapts naturally to the body’s individual anatomy and challenges both sides more evenly, without requiring—as was previously the case—manual adjustment of the cable length on one side.

This new type of instability also places significantly greater demands on our core. Since the arms are connected to the torso—and now to each other as well—the core muscles are automatically engaged. And as a trainer, I don’t even have to give additional instructions for that anymore. Win-win!

Another bonus: Unilateral movements are also possible, while both sides of the body remain engaged. In this case, one side provides static resistance, and the other side can perform the movement dynamically. This creates a completely new challenge for our core.

And there's yet another type of movement that can only be achieved with the Konnector® system: reciprocal movements!

For example, when both arms start at opposite ends of a movement and then move toward each other at the same time, the two movement patterns cancel each other out. This creates a sort of suspended state for the sled, which, when under tension, has an almost magical effect on me.

Now imagine everything I've described so far happening with all four limbs at the same time… No words!

It feels as though the Konnector® is breaking down the previous boundaries of Reformer training, while the number of possibilities grows almost immeasurably. Especially for me, as a creative person, this is a huge advantage and an incredible asset when designing and preparing my workouts.

My conclusion

To me, this ingenious tool for the Reformer is an absolutely revolutionary concept that takes Pilates Reformer training to a whole new level.

Personally, the exercises this allows me to do feel much more natural. The movements take on a deeper, three-dimensional quality. And on top of that, it's a lot of fun to challenge my body in this functional way.

I will never go back to the original rope systems on the reformers in my studio. Our clients also really appreciate this upgrade.

A major win for the Pilates method and for all Pilates fans.