health and wellness

What Are Pilates?

Pilates, without a doubt, has taken the fitness world by storm in the last several years. Everyone is doing it - from dancers to footballers - and the benefits are as much mental as they are physical. Pilates is a disciplined and focused form of exercise intended to strengthen ligaments and joints, as well as increase flexibility and lengthen muscles. A Pilates exercise move is designed primarily to focus on elongating the body through various stretching movements. Additionally, its style focuses on training the muscles for core strength to better support the ligaments, tendons, and joints. 

Pilates exercises was developed and formed by Joseph Pilates during the 1940s with the proposal to improve the mental and physical health through a rehabilitation program for World War ll veteran soldiers. Pilates created, The Pilates Principles to condition the entire body through proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement, and today, it is more centered around injured dancers and the likes.

Pilates Benefits

Pilates offers many benefits. Many people with back problems ask whether Pilates work for back pain. The answer is most definitely. If your posture is bad, your lower back and hips will then adjust themselves accordingly which means they’re essentially out of alignment which then causes back pain.  By strengthening and stretching the back muscles, it will improve overall flexibility, mobility and bring back precision at which you move.

Other benefits are:

• Improved circulation which awaken all the cells in the body and carries away the wastes related to fatigue.
• Unity of mind and body which creates balance, and vitality.
• Improved sleep, with total mind and body relaxation, and alleviates daily stress.
• Improves clarity through concentration exercises which centers you and enhances rhythm and motion.

Types of Pilates

There are three types of pilates, the most popular being the mat workout, where much time is spent on the floor using gravity and your own body weight to create resistance. There is also a pilates class that incorporate weights and one that uses special equipment. Joseph Pilates developed these machines which allow people to do the pilates moves using a pulley-system of resistance. Most places, however, preform the mat workouts.

Who Can Benefit From Pilates?

Pilates are most beneficial to people with injuries, weak muscles, and particularly bad posture because it encourages you to strengthen your problem areas in a relaxed and low impact way. It is advisable to anyone with serious injuries to consult their doctors first. Pregnant women should also get clearance from their doctor before proceeding.

“People should also be very careful to ensure that the instructor who is taking the class is fully qualified,” says Dr. Ibrahim. “No one should be twisting and turning their body unless under professional guidance.”

Pilates is offered through most gyms as part of their membership program, however, there are many people that chose personal pilates trainers as they find that the individual attention helps them to tailor the moves to their body needs.