What is Pilates?

 

Since it’s very first times, in the 1920s, Pilates reveals its basic purpose: rehabilitation.

   It was created by the physical trainer Joseph Pilates (1880-1967) especially fot this purpose:strenghten the body and heal the aches and pains. The first people treated by Pilates were soldiers returning from war and dancers like Martha Graham and George Balanchine.In his first book published in 1945,Pilates’ Return to Life Through Contrology, Joseph Pilates described the 34 original Pilates exercises with the guiding principles of contrology. What Joseph Pilates named “contrology” means a coordination of mind, body and spirit.
So, what is Pilates? A fitness exercise system focused on improving flexibility and strength, without building bulk if it’s not necessarily. They are not aerobic exercises (cardio),although the heart rate is rising during the exercises, but the resistance ones. The power of weight lifting in those exercises are similar to jogging, biking or other aerobic activities. They can be performed on specially designed spring-resistant machines (reformer especially) but also on the floor (mat exercises) and they are classes and sessions for this type of exercises supervised by specially trained instructors.
The base in Pilates movements are core muscle strength and spinal alignment. The core muscles refers to muscles that support the structures of spine, abdomen, pelvis and hips.

   More concret we are talking about the erector spinae ( located in the back along the spine), hip flexors (in pelvis and upper leg), the transverse abdominis (located in the gut, pulling the belly button in toward the spine),the rectus abdominis (the “six-pack”)and the sides of the abdomen. Whether they are perfomed on the machines or the floor (reformer or mat exercises), the principles of these exercises are the same: to concentrate deeply on your core muscles as well as your breath. In Pilates the quality it’s important, not the quantity. These principles will be taught by the instructors to the students in first classes of Pilates.

  It’s indicated for the beginning that these exercises to be supervised by an instructor and to begin with the most simple type of exercises, Pilates mat.  Pilates mat work is often done in live classes, which are much easier to find than reformer sessions.While doing Pilates on a mat instead on a reformer seems not to be so challenging and fun, the results have been seen on a short time: toned muscles as well as improved strength, posture, agility and flexibility in a few months from once-a-week Pilates mat sessions.They are many benefits of Pilates but they are unproven in research. For they who want to improve flexibility, to strengthen and tone muscles,to have challenge and fun in the same time I think that Pilates it’s a good opption and a great workout. In this workout the movements are slow, deliberated and controlled. So I recommend Pilates if you are looking for an alternative or complement to weight lifting,want a change of pace and would like to try something new and you need some resistance exercises sessions. Many experts said that you might have some classes before performing it at home, but with some high-quality DVD’s choreographed and led by a certified, well-known Pilates expert, as Mari Winsor Pilates DVD’s from Gaiam, you can start at you home with no worries. So, relaxe and enjoy!