Ok let's dispell a few myths.
Pilates gives you long lean muscles FALSE, you cannot lengthen a muscle through exercise it's insertion points are determined at birth via your genetics and leaness comes via a calorie deficit diet.
I want to "tone up" the word tone is derived from the word tonus which is Greek for non flaccid, you want to improve your muscle tone, then you need to Strength train with weights this applys for men and women.
I want to reduce the fat on my stomach I'll do lots of sit ups to burn off the fat. WRONG! You cannot spot reduce fat stores as how they are deposited and stored is purely genetic. Fat loss is about eating less then you will begin to tap into your fat stores, exercise burns little in the way of calories. The abdominal muscles should be trained the same as any other muscle (if at all) and that's with low force high intensity weight training.
I like to do cardio for fitness. Firstly health and fitness are not connected you can both healthy but not fit and the other way round. Cardio is simply short for cardiovascular which means your heart and lungs, whenever you engage in a form of cardio exercise your muscles are performing mechanical work which then engages the metabolic process of your heart and lungs, however high intensity low force weight training will also force your muscles to perform mechanical work but at a much higher level and therefore your heart and lungs will become engaged and forced to work that much harder, therefore you will derive all the neccesary cardiovascular benefit from it without the need to perform additional exercise which is simply counterproductive.
Paul Marsland
