About
Pilates
(pronounced puh-la-tees)
Joseph
H. Pilates was born in Germany in 1880. As
a child he struggled
with rheumatic fever, asthma and rickets. This motivated him to study
yoga, martial arts, gymnastics, and boxing in order to improve his
health. Combining these various forms, he began to develop his own
method of exercise with the help of his wife Clara. While in a British
internment camp during World War I, Pilates developed exercises to aid
the patients' recovery. He used the hospital beds as exercise
equipment. It was this ingenious idea that would later become the
Pilates machine known as the Cadillac and most
notably the Universal Reformer. But his original technique was based on
his matwork, or floor exercises, which use just the body and gravity
for
resistance to develop superior strength and flexibility. In 1926,
Joseph and Clara decided to emigrate to the United States and set up an
exercise studio in New York City. Over the next fifteen years and
beyond, the Pilates method became very popular in the dance community.
His studio attracted many
famous dancers and performers who need to rehabilitate from
injuries. Modern-dance pioneer Martha Graham and ballet master George
Balanchine were among his many
students touched and changed by Pilates work. Pilates named his method
'contrology'
and considered it a way of life. Today we know the method by his last
name.
About Pilates
Pilates
is an exercise method
safely delivers optimal
strength, flexibility and endurance without adding bulk. It teaches
body
awareness, good posture and easy, graceful movement. It can even help
alleviate
back pain.
Benefits of Pilates:
Longer, leaner
muscles (less bulk, more freedom of movement)
Improve
postural problems
Increases
core strength/stability and peripheral mobility
Help
prevent
injury
Enhances
functional fitness, ease of movement
Balances
strength & flexibility
Heightens
body awareness
Non-impact
–
easy on joints
Can
be
customized for everyone from rehab patients to elite athletes
Complements
other methods of exercise
Improves
performance in sports (golf, skating, dance, etc)
Improves
balance, coordination & circulation
In
some respect, pilates is
considered mind-body type of
method of more emphasize deep breathing and smooth, long movements that
encourage your muscle to relax and lengthen.
In achieving
fitness through Pilates, you may find
your motives to be health related, in that you wish to improve your
general fitness level, Performance related if you are a sports
professional or in training, or as Remedial therapy, if you seeking to
improve your posture.
Rehabilitation
Pilates is usually recommended
after an
injury, either through physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths or
alternative
medicine practitioner. This type of Pilates, depending on the nature of
the
injury could be taught in matwork classes, re-hab studio equipment or
reformer usually is on a one-to-one basis with
an
instructor.
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