Pilates - health benefits | Better Health Channel

Pilates (or the Pilates method) is a series of over 500 mat or equipment based exercises inspired by calisthenics, yoga and ballet. Pilates improves flexibility, strength, balance and body awareness. It was introduced into America in the 1920s by physical trainer Joseph Pilates as a way to help injured athletes and dancers safely return to exercise and maintain their fitness. Since then, Pilates has been adapted to suit people in the general community.

Pilates can be an aerobic and non-aerobic form of exercise. It requires concentration and focus, because the body is moved through precise ranges of motion. Always consult your doctor before embarking on any new fitness program, especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition or have not exercised in a long time.

Benefits of Pilates


Some of the benefits of Pilates include:
  • Improved flexibility.
  • Increased muscle strength, particularly of the abdominal muscles, lower back, hips and buttocks (the ‘core muscles’ of the body).
  • Balanced muscular strength on both sides of the body.
  • Enhanced muscular control of the back and limbs.
  • Improved stabilisation of the spine.
  • Greater awareness of posture.
  • Improved physical coordination and balance.
  • Relaxation of the shoulders, neck and upper back.
  • Safe rehabilitation of joint and spinal injuries.
  • Helps prevent musculoskeletal injuries.

Pilates caters for everyone


Pilates caters for everyone, from the beginner to the advanced. You can perform exercises using your own body weight, or with the aid of various pieces of equipment.

A typical Pilates workout includes a number of exercises and stretches with sessions lasting up to 45 to 90 minutes. Each exercise is performed with attention to proper breathing techniques and abdominal muscle control. To gain the maximum benefit, you should do Pilates at least two or three times per week. You may notice postural improvements after 10 to 20 sessions.

Pilates challenges the body


Pilates is partly inspired by yoga, but is different in one key respect – yoga is made up of a series of static postures, while Pilates is based on putting yourself into unstable postures and challenging your body by moving the limbs.

For instance, imagine you are lying on your back, with bent knees and both feet on the floor. A Pilates exercise may involve straightening one leg so that your toes point to the ceiling, and using the other leg to slowly raise and lower your body. You need tight abdominal and buttock muscles to keep your hips square, and focused attention to stop yourself from tipping over.

Two forms of Pilates


The two basic forms of Pilates include:
  • Mat-based Pilates – this is a series of exercises performed on the floor using gravity and your own body weight to provide the resistance. The central aim is to condition the deeper, supporting muscles of the body to improve posture, balance and coordination.
  • Equipment-based Pilates – this includes specific equipment that works against spring-loaded resistance, including the ‘reformer’, which is a moveable carriage that you push and pull along its tracks. Some forms of Pilates include weights (such as dumbbells) and other small types of equipment that offer resistance to the muscles.

Quality is everything


Pilates consists of moving through a slow, sustained series of exercises using abdominal control and proper breathing. The quality of each posture is important, not the number of repetitions or how energetically you can move.

Books and videotapes are available, but seek instruction from a qualified Pilates method teacher or Pilates-trained physiotherapist to get the best results.

General cautions


Although Pilates is a low impact form of exercise, certain people should seek medical advice before embarking on a new program, including:
  • Following recent surgery
  • Pregnant women
  • People aged 40 years or more
  • People with a pre-existing medical condition such as heart disease
  • People with pre-existing musculoskeletal injuries or disorders
  • Anyone who has not exercised for a long time
  • Those who are very overweight or obese.

Where to get help

Things to remember


Pilates (or the Pilates method) is a series of mat and equipment based exercises that improve flexibility, strength, balance and body awareness.
Benefits of Pilates can include improved posture and increased flexibility, strength, coordination and balance.
You can perform exercises using your own body weight, or with the aid of various pieces of equipment.

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Physical Activity Australia (formerly Kinect Australia)

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Physical Activity Australia (formerly Kinect Australia)

Fact sheet currently being reviewed.
Last reviewed: February 2011

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Pilates - health benefits - Better Health Channel

Pilates (or the Pilates method) is a series of about 500 exercises inspired by calisthenics, yoga and ballet that improve flexibility, strength, balance and body awareness. Pilates is a non-aerobic form of exercise.

Content on this website is provided for education and information purposes only. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not imply endorsement and is not intended to replace advice from your qualified health professional. Content has been prepared for Victorian residence and wider Australian audiences, and was accurate at the time of publication. Readers should note that over time currency and completeness of the information may change. All users are urged to always seek advice from a qualified health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions.

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Area experts attempt to dispel myths about yoga

A California-based research firm last month listed yoga studios as the fourth-fastest-growing industry in the United States.

Yoga (and Pilates) studios, according to IBISWorld, are proving to be recession-proof with 12.1 percent growth per year.

The study attributes the growth to a recent rise in interest in fitness. (Reports that the increasing interest is a result of this column are unconfirmed.)

Clearly yoga is as popular as ever around the South Sound, with dozens of studios offering everything from yoga in 105-degree rooms (hot yoga) to yoga on floating stand-up paddleboards (SUP yoga).

Still, Holly Menzies, who runs Tacoma’s Ashtanga Yoga studio, says many people still have misconceptions about yoga. These concerns very well could be keeping some people from trying an activity that can help them get fit, increase strength and flexibility and perhaps even alleviate nagging pain.

So, I asked Menzies and a few others to bust some yoga myths.

MYTH: I have to be flexible to do yoga.

“I get this all the time,” Menzies said. “It’s just not true. People see these really flexible people doing pretty advanced (poses) and they think ‘I can’t do that.’

“The truth is you do yoga to become more flexible.”

MYTH: Yoga is easy.

Ha. Yoga can require more strength – both upper and lower body – than some people expect.

“A lot of people are really surprised,” Menzies said. “It can be so challenging. It really strengthens your legs and your core.”

MYTH: Yoga is for women only

I’ve attended several yoga classes around the South Sound and, true, women typically outnumber men by quite a bit. In fact, a 2005 study by Yoga Journal showed 77 percent of people doing yoga were female.

But yoga is for everybody, Menzies said, and men, who are often less flexible than women, can benefit significantly from the practice.

Odds are you’ll be outnumbered, guys, but it’s not likely you’re blazing a new trail when you unroll your mat. NBA star LeBron James and Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas are just a few pro athletes who use yoga as part of their training regimen.

Still scared? Take your wife or girlfriend. “She wanted me to go” is always a good excuse.

MYTH: Yoga on a floating stand-up paddleboard isn’t really yoga.

When I heard this one recently I relayed the notion to Chris Fry of Olympia’s West Bay Paddleboard. Fry’s response: “Seriously?”

Two days later Fry sent me this message from Trish Meyler, a yoga instructor and co-owner of California-based Boga Paddleboards: “Yoga, by all means, is many things to many people. Many people suggest ‘yoga’ isn’t even the asanas, or poses, that ... have been added by those of us in the West, but that yoga is meditation and devotion to the divine. For many, yoga is their spiritual practice, for others it is just for health and wellness, for many a mixture of both. How one goes about their practice of yoga is individual and yoga on water is absolutely another form of practicing yoga ... . With water you add the gentle motion of the water, adding to not only your balance and inner strength, but it is also a very peaceful way to practice yoga, surrounded by nature. So, like I said, yoga no longer has one definition, and truly it never did.”

MYTH: I can’t do yoga.

As is the case with any good instructor, Menzies says she can adjust a yoga class to the level of any student. All you need to reap the benefits of yoga, she said, is a willingness to try.

“Yoga is for any person young or old,” Menzies said. “The only person that can’t do it is a lazy person.”

Craig Hill’s fitness column runs Sundays. Submit questions and comments via craighill@thenewstribune.com and twitter.com/AdventureGuys. Also get more fitness coverage at blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure and thenewstribune.com/fitness.

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