Pilates Pilots the Body to Fitness

Pilates Pilots the Body to Fitness

The Pilates Method is a system of movement best known for its emphasis on balance,body alignment, flexibility, and building core strength. Joseph Hubertus Pilates (pronounced pih-LAHT-ees) was born in Germany in 1880 and lived in England.Because he was a diver, a gymnast, a skier, a boxer, and a physical therapist for circus performers, he learned about physiology and biomechanics before these fields really had names. During World War I, he used his knowledge to help rehabilitate wounded British soldiers, using hospital bed frames and springs as exercise equipment. In the 920s, he extended it into a full range of complex yet effective exercises to strengthen,elongate, stretch, firm, and tone the body.
Dancers were the first to gravitate to The Method, as Joseph Pilates’s system is widely known. More recently, Madonna, Uma Thurman, Sharon Stone, Vanessa Williams, and other actors and models who want tone without bulk have embraced it. “In 10 sessions,you’ll feel the difference. In 20, you’ll see the difference. In 30, you’ll have a new body,”is the way Joseph Pilates described his innovative system, and adherents over the decades would agree.
Pilates has two components: mat exercises and apparatus exercises. Between them,they include 500 exercises that require concentration rather than perspiration. Pilates involves low reps focused on strengthening the core, elongating the limbs, and rebalancing the body. At first glance, mat classes resemble other exercises done on the floor, but in fact they are more complex. The odd-looking devices associated with the Pilates Method are distinctive, even at first glance. To the untutored eye, Pilates apparatus-wooden contraptions outfitted with ropes, pulleys, springs, and padded footboards plus various padded boxes, platforms, and other paraphernalia—look like the brainchild of a mad scientist. They go by such fanciful names as The Reformer, The Cadillac, The Barrel, Ped-O-Pull, The Wunda Chair, and Magic Circles. Two classic Pilates moves using The Reformer to limber, tone, and lengthen the muscles.
Typically, you start Pilates with an evaluation and perhaps a few private sessions to familiarize yourself with the movements, the apparatus, and the approach. Many people then switch to Pilates classes, and some studios now offer group Pilates classes,inspired by the growing popularity of studio cycling and other group activities. The Method is useful for people of various ages and degrees of fitness. It often helps people with chronic back problems, hip and shoulder injuries, post-polio syndrome, and other conditions. In fact, in addition to serving as part of a fitness regime, it is used in hospitals and rehabilitation centers—truly going back to its origins.
A series of positions in a Pilates mat class.