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Pilates (pronounced Puh-LAH-teez) is a method of exercise and physical movement that is designed to stretch
and strengthen the body. There is a debate as to precisely what Pilates means since Joseph
Pilates never developed a training program or had his name trademarked. Many different schools of Pilates have
developed since his death; such as Winsor Pilates®, Stott Pilates®, and Body Control Pilates®, each
with their own unique characteristics.
Highlights of Pilates:
- Pilates wrote about a connection to ancient Greece and to Greco-Roman gymnastics.
- Pilates applied body-weight exercise techniques to what Pilates people often call the powerhouse.
- All of Pilates Matwork exercises are performed lying down on the ground.
- Pilates' had a strong belief in the wellness benefits of strong mental concentration while performing his matwork
exercises.
- In Pilates, there is no training to failure.
- Pilates is a mind-body exercise that combines slow, deliberate, and precise movements along with concentration
and breathing.
- Slow, deliberate and precise movements are performed. Emphasis is on postural correction.
- No pieces of equipment are required for performing Pilates matwork exercises at home.
"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment
and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily
performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure."
--Jospeh Pilates, Return to Life Through Contrology, 1945 |
While some people like to claim a strong connection to yoga, Pilates' only connection with yoga is the use of
a sticky mat for matwork exercises. Pilates wrote about a connection to ancient Greece. He nevver mentioned yoga
or Eastern philosophies. "All of the [Pilates matwork] exercises are performed while you are in a sitting
or reclining position."[2] While a large number of yoga positions are performed standing. Many of the
matwork exercises use what Pilates calls "spinal rolling and unrolling,"[2] which were clearly
derived from a gymnastic tumble. All of this documents a strong connection to Greco-Roman gymnastics, rather than
to yoga.
Joseph Pilates studied gymnastics in his youth and even boxed professionally. So, Pilates simply applied the
body-weight exercise techniques of gymnastics, such as the tumble, to what Pilates people often call the powerhouse
or the muscles of the abdomen, lower back, thighs, and buttocks. Basic physics answers the question why the powerhouse
is important. The center of gravity of the human body lies within its core or trunk area. By always slightly bending
at your body's center of gravity while standing you will significantly improve the stability of your body by a
basic law of physics called the center of gravity.
What is unique about Pilates? First, its sole focus on the powerhouse. Second, all of Pilates Matwork exercises
are performed lying down on the ground. Third, Pilates' strong belief in the benefits of strong mental concentration
while performing physical exercise. And, finally there is a total lack of a musclehead or jock attitude among Pilates
devotees.
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According to Joseph Pilates, the correct practice of Pilates
Matwork, along with proper nutrition and sleep, will do a number of different things for you. When you modernize
Pilates' original writings, what he was basically claiming was that the correct practice of Pilates will result
in wellness, or the sense of well-being.
None of Pilates health claims should ever be taken literally, since he was very loose and imprecise with his use
of language.
Benefits of Pilates Matwork, in Joseph Pilates own words:
- "You [will] gradually and progressively acquire that natural rhythm and coordination associated with
all your subconscious activities."[2]
- Pilates liked to use the analogy of how a kitty cat naturally stretches and moves about. He is referring to
benefits of a mind-body exercise[See Benefit #5 & 3].
- These benefits come from:
- Practicing correct breathing, where conscious control is placed on a unconscious activity: breathing.
- Your "mind [is supposed to be] wholly concentrated on the purpose of the exercises as you perform them."[2]
- Jospeh Pilates defines wellness (i.e., "normal health"[1]) as "the attainment of perfect
balance of mind and body."[1] that results in the achievement of happiness (See Benefit #5 & 3), where
neither your mind or your body is more developed than the other, as was advocated by the Ancient Greeks.
- It "develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the
mind, and elevates the spirit."[2]
- Pilates claims that Pilates will develop your muscles more uniformly than any other method of exercise.
- He, also, places great importance on improving posture, in order to obtain wellness.
- It "is designed to give you suppleness, natural grace, and skill that will be unmistakably reflected
in the way you walk, in the way you play, and in the way your work."[2]
- Pilates is simply stating the benefit of mind-body exercise.
- A major claim of Pilates is that his "corrective exercises" will increase the flexibility
of your spine.
- According to him: "If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30 you are [i.e., will feel] old; if it is
completely flexible at 60, you are [i.e., will feel] young."[2]
- People practice Pilates in order to gain "mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body."[2]
- This simply means that you will gradually learn to balance and control your own body-weight.
- "Self-confidence, poise, consciousness of possessing the power to accomplish our desires, with renewed
lively interest in life are the natural results of the practice of ... [Pilates]."[2]
- Joseph Pilates states that the benefit of mind-body exercise is "the achievement of happiness."[1]
In other words, the benefit of mind-body exercise is "the attainment of perfect balance of mind and body."[1]
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There is no general agreement on what the principles of Pilates are. Joseph Pilates himself never provided a
list of principles. But a list of at least six basic principles are often quoted; such as breathing, concentration,
control, centering, precision, and flow. Most of these principles are based upon what Pilates wrote that others
consider important in the practice of Pilates. The list of Pilates principles will differ organization from organization
and will even change within the same organization depending on when and where the principles were stated. But a
few general comments can be made on the Pilates method, as well as on common criticisms..
Bodyweight Exercise
Pilates is a body-weight exercise because it uses the weight of your own body to provide resistance. The main
problem with bodyweight conditioning is that the weight of your own body is basically fixed. So, that begs the
question: how can anyone increase resistance, or the work load, in a bodyweight exercise? The answer is simple:
You learn to use leverage. You can control the leverage of a bodyweight exercise by changing the position of your
legs, for example. By decreasing the amount of leverage the resistance of a body-weight exercise becomes greater.
There is also the option of using elastic stretch bands to make your Pilates workouts harder.
Powerhouse
Pilates strengthens, or stabilizes, the powerhouse -- the muscles of the abdomen, lower back, thighs, and buttocks.
Interestingly, Joseph Pilates himself never mentions the powerhouse in his writings. Pilates believed that working
the deepest layer of abdominal muscles will develop a girdle of strength for the spine. And, that a flexible, more
stable, spine results in improved posture, stance, walking gait, and balance. The arms and legs are exercised,
but they are simply not emphasized in Pilates matwork.
In other words, Pilates does not emphasize either the upper or lower body, but rather just the middle core of
your body, known as the powerhouse. Interestingly enough, Joseph Pilates never used the word powerhouse in his
two booklets. He mentions the trunk only once.
Many people who practice Pilates report that these powerhouse exercises make them feel better, stronger, more
in control, and less prone to injury.
No-Pain-No-Gain Bodybuilding
The Pilates method of exercise is in direct opposition to the no-pain-no-gain school of bodybuilding which
generally requires training to failure. This means that in Pilates, there is no training to failure. Because of
this, many consider Pilates a painless form of exercise.
Pilates emphasizes the importance of using fewer repetitions of compound movements that require significant
motor skill and coordination. Whereas the no-pain-no-gain school of weight machine bodybuilding generally emphasizes
the prolonged repetition of fairly automatic movements.
Pilates thoughts on this was that endless repetition of unchallenging mind numbing routines naturally decreases
the degree of mental involvement in exercise, whereas carefully executed sets of very few repetitions of precise
movements would only tend to better balance mind-body
training.
Strong Lean Bodies
Pilates does NOT create long muscle fibers. A Pilates trained body however will develop the strong lean body look
of a ballet dancer. And, the reason for this is rather obvious. Pilates works only the Powerhouse. Abs of steel
simply do not become noticeable to others until you take your clothes off.
No-pain-no-gain bodybuilding tends to build short bulky looking muscular bodies. The reason again is rather
obvious. Training to failure bodybuilding often emphases only the upper body, or your chest and arms. Bodybuilders
with well developed chests and arms are characterized by bulky looking muscles, or a lightbulb shaped figure. Pilates
does not produce these results, simply because it does not concentrate on your upper body.
In order to develop either the upper or lower body, all you have to do is supplement Pilates with body-weight
exercises that develop those areas. There are many exciting possibilities that use Swiss balls, balance boards,
or a modified chin up bar.
Concentration
Pilates is a mind-body exercise
that combines slow, deliberate, and precise movements along with concentration and breathing.
"What is balance of body and mind? It is the conscious control of all muscular movements of the body. It
is the correct utilization and application of the leverage principles afforded by the bones comprising the skeletal
framework of the body, a complete knowledge of the mechanism of the body, and a full understanding of the principles
of equilibrium and gravity as applied to the movements of the body in motion, at rest and in sleep."
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Working out in gyms using aerobic equipment and weight machines often has a mind numbing effect. While working
out on the treadmill, bicycle, or on an elliptical trainer in a gym, you will notice that most people around you
are watching television, music videos, or listening to music. They are wearing headphones, or maybe even reading.
They are oblivious to the exercises that they are performing.
Watching instructional videos in order to learn Pilates is great, but trying to perform Pilates matwork by watching
a follow-along video, as if Pilates was just another form of aerobic dancing, is contrary to the requirement of
performing Pilates with strong mental concentration.
Body-weight exercises, like Pilates, force you to concentrate on balancing and controlling your own body weight.
Regularly performing Pilates will, thus, help improve your own body awareness.
Better Posture
Stretching is built into most of the 34 Classical matwork exercises. Slow, deliberate and precise movements are
performed. Emphasis is on postural correction. This is said to help you to realign your bones and improve your
posture, when you regularly do Pilates.
Pilates' Equipment
Pilates from the very beginning was used to rehabilitate bedridden patients by the use of specially designed Pilates
equipment.
Joseph Pilates designed several unique pieces of exercise equipment: universal reformer, cadillac, big barrel,
panoply, wunda cvhair, magic circle, flexring toner, and spine supporter. The larger pieces of equipment like the
universal reformer, cadillac, and spine supporter were designed for rehabilitative use in a Pilates studio. The
original wunda chair was actually designed to double as a piece of living room furniture that by turning it upside
down could be converted into exercise equipment for home use. He, also, developed a number of hand held exercise
gadgets, like the magic circle, that are not anymore valuable then similar equipment being sold by Joe Weider and
other exercise entrepreneurs. None of this equipment is required for performing Pilates matwork exercises at home.
Physical exercise will improve your natural health and fitness. Physical exercise is part of healthy living.
Anybody interested in natural health should regularly participate in moderate forms of physical exercise like fitness
walking. An active lifestyle, is even better than physical exercise, in improving your natural health and fitness.
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The Pilates Body - This book is invaluable for anyone already sold on the value of doing Pilates classical
matwork correctly. This book is "the" modern version of the Bible for devotees of classical matwork.
And, serves as an excellent adjunct to video workouts. The main part of the book is the detailed description of
a long sequence of 34 exercises on the mat, as taught by Joseph Pilates. The book classifies each of these exercises
as either beginner, intermediate, or advanced moves. This makes mastering classical matwork, which is physically
demanding even for ballet dancers, more manageable. One valuable feature of the book is where thumbnail photographs
of all the 34 exercises are provided on one page. This clearly shows that all of Joseph Pilates original matwork
exercises work powerhouse muscles. In addition, the book also includes photographs of Joseph Pilates at various
ages who obviously never suffered from skinny legs, nor ever had that skinny frail look so characteristic of old
age, even at 82 years of age. That is the promise of Pilates classical matwork: the long muscular look of a dancer,
even in old age. |
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Pilate's for Dummies offers step-by-step instruction for 18 popular Pilates matwork exercises. As the name
implies it is an instructional video for beginners. This means that there is a lot of talking in it. Once you get
proficient in Pilates, it would be irritating to try following along on this tape. I found the expert instruction
by only one person, very easy to follow, and precisely what I wanted. However, overall the tape suggests that Pilates
is not quite as physically demanding as it could be. The hundred exercise demo suggests that the objective is to
lower your legs to about a 45 degree angle, rather than to the desired level of about 6 inches off the floor, for
example. As an instructional video, it is surprisingly good, thorough, and authentic. |
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Study the 34 classical Pilates matwork exercises, demonstrated by, and with the original instructions written by
Joseph Pilates. Anybody who takes their Pilates seriously, should be interested enough to read everything written
by Joseph Pilates. Now, you can get both of his booklets (Return
to Life and Your Health) at one
low price |
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References
- Your Health, Published by Jospeh Pilates, 1934.
- Return to Life Through Contrology, Published by Jospeh Pilates and William John Miller, 1945.
- Michele Olson, Carrie Myers Smith. Pilates exercise: lesssons from the lab.IDEA Fitness Journal. Nov-Dec 2005
v2 i10 p38(6).
- Owsley, A. An introduction to clinical Pilates. Athletic Therapy Today; 2005 Jul; 10(4); p. 19-25, 34-5, 68.
- Smith, K; Smith, E. Integrating Pilates-based core strengthening into older adult fitness programs: implications
for practice. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation; 2005 Jan-Mar; 21(1); p. 57-67.
- Segal, NA; Hein, J; Basford, JR. The effects of Pilates training on flexibility and body composition: an observational
study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; 2004 Dec; 85(12); p. 1977-81.
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