10/05/2023
(I was asked to write an article for a magazine about Pilates... thought I'd share)
WHY PILATES IS THE FASTEST GROWING WORKOUT TREND
If you’re wondering why Pilates is being embraced by world class athletes, Olympians, professionals and amateurs, old and young, men and women, it is because it is the most effective discipline to provide strength, flexibility, structural alignment, aerobic stimulation and co-ordination. It is also fabulous for weight loss as it is the only exercise that revs up the metabolism and leaves it rev’d up even after you’ve stopped doing it. Not even running gives you that.
It’s one stop shopping: like going to the gym but more effective, yoga/stretching but with faster deeper development, chiropractic, except because your own muscles move the structure, so the adjustments hold and it’s like running without leaving the room.
Pilates, originally known as Contrology, is a movement art discipline which
*Is done mostly lying down
*Provides flexibility and balance
*Unites body and mind
*Heals back and neck pain
*Stabilizes the joints
*Improves posture
*Strengthens and unites muscles
*Creates a more streamlined shape
*Improves digestion and elimination
*Increases physical and mental energy
*Reduces size and weight
Why is it more effective than the gym? It’s the simple concept of unification of the muscles. In the gym, circuit training with a series of machines, the muscles are isolated. You work them one at a time; and as you develop these isolated muscles, the prominent ones which pop out actually inhibit the development of the smaller groups. In Pilates it’s “no muscle left behind”. There is always a part that is moving and there is always a part sitting still. Oftentimes the sitting still part is working harder than the moving part as it resists against movement. Another saying is “resistance is your best friend”. Resistance with your own body engages every muscle. Why is it better than yoga and simple stretching? Because Pilates adds heat and motion, so flexibility happens faster and deeper. With a properly trained teacher, with good equipment you can achieve perfect alignment. Just like when the car is out of alignment and it goes to the shop, it gets put on four corners; likewise, the Reformer and the basic work is all about the four corners being stabilized on a machine and you move within the supported corners.
Most importantly, the work meets you… any level, any condition, with over 632 exercises there is no shortage of ways to work out.
The work looks subtle, small movements, not many reps and lots of blood moving which carry oxygen throughout the body. The warm-up exercise known as the 100 immediately cleanses and pushes blood as the arms, like an old-fashioned water pump, move blood from heart to muscles. During the 1918 flu epidemic in Europe, Joe Pilates was at Isle of Man with 1500 people under him doing Pilates. Not one person got so much as a sniffle. So in addition to what it does for the physique it’s impossible to ignore the benefits of resisting infection. If you’re looking for a health and body make-over, run don’t walk, to your nearest classically trained Pilates studio.
www:truepilatesmaui.com
