Pilates
is a body conditioning method that works in a different way to other fitness techniques. Pilates rebalances the body and improves your posture. It reshapes your body, making it longer, leaner and more flexible. Its controlled approach means that it gives long-term results.
Its many benefits include:
- Better posture
- Toned, flatter abdominals
- Increased flexibility
- Stronger, leaner muscles
- Improved coordination
- Better balance
- Relaxation
- Improved immune system
- Stronger, more flexible spine
- Boosted self esteem
- Enhanced sporting performance
- Injury prevention
- Increased energy
- Increased pelvic control
- Improved core stability
- Better body awareness
- Better breathing
- Increased circulation and lymph drainage
- Mind body integration
Eight key principles of Pilates
- Relaxation
- Breathing
- Concentration
- Flowing movement
- Alignment
- Co-ordination
- Centring
- Stamina
Who can benefit from Pilates?
- Stressed out mums looking to relax and recover their figure
- Pregnant women
- Sports people who want to avoid injury and/or prolong their sporting career and people who want to enhance their sporting performance in a particular sport, be it golf, tennis, running, etc. The Olympic rowing team and professional footballers use Pilates
- People rehabilitating from accidents or injuries - many osteopaths, physiotherapists and chiropractors now recommend Pilates
- Celebrities! dancers including Darcy Bussell, and models and actresses including Elizabeth Hurley and Madonna
- Those with M.E. and similar conditions
- Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis sufferers
- Anyone with stress related illnesses
- Those with joint pains or R.S.I. symptoms
- Stressed out office workers who want to improve their posture
- Gardeners with muscular aches and pains
- Hip replacement patients
- People in the public eye who want to improve their presentation and body awareness
- People who do not usually exercise
Joseph Pilates and his studio
The method was developed by the late Joseph Pilates a German who emigrated to New York in the 1920’s.
His study of a whole range of activities, from boxing to yoga to circus performance, led him to devise a revolutionary way of exercising which became known as the Pilates method.
The results produced by Pilates were so impressive that he found fame with New York’s celebrities, particularly actors and dancers.
He invented special machines which use springs, ropes, pulleys and moving platforms to exercise on, such as the Wunda Chair, Trapeeze Table/Cadillac and Reformer. He also devised exercises which are performed on mats on the floor. The equipment and matwork was taught in dedicated Pilates studios either one to one, or in small groups.
His work has been researched and validated and is now a well recognised and widely enjoyed way of working out.
Pilates studio equipment sessions
The Pilates equipment which Joseph Pilates invented is still used today in specially designed studios for one to one lessons or small groups of about 5 people. It is the ultimate way to learn Pilates - as Pilates intended!
Using the machines adds a whole new dimension to a Pilates class; you have to experience it to understand it! The many advantages of using Pilates studio equipment are:
- The moving platforms and dynamic nature of the equipment means the machines are like an extension of your body allowing flowing movement and freedom in the joints
- The equipment is designed to work the whole body with every move creating good alignment and core stability
- The adaptability of the machines allows the equipment to be perfectly adjusted to suit your body
- The huge variety of exercises possible on the equipment is unimaginable
