Learn about Pilates

There are endless options for exercise videos and equipment that you can buy to use in your home, if you are trying to shed weight and shape up. However, care must be taken that you do not concentrate on just one part of your body. The most popular of all equipment is the Pilates Reformer. It is a sophisticated system of springs, straps and pulleys. You can perform more than 100 exercises on this versatile piece of equipment.

There is a gliding platform on which one can sit, kneel, stand or lie on the front, back or side. There is a foot bar which is pushed and pulled by the user using the arms, legs, wrists and ankles to slide back and forth along the rails in a controlled manner.

The Pilates Reformer is recommended for establishing torso stability and postural alignment. The adjustable springs allow for progressive resistance, which helps to lengthen and strengthen the muscles.

The Reformer is a fixture in Pilates studios and gyms as well as places like rehabilitation clinics. A more economical, compact, and portable model such as the Allegro is available to cater towards group classes.

Prices are in the $2000-$4000 range for various models of quality Reformers.

Another popular piece of equipment is the Pilates Cadillac, which is also known as ‘The Rack’ and ‘Trapeze Table.” It is one of the most effective and versatile pieces of exercise equipment, and is a bridge between exercise and physical therapy.

The Cadillac is a raised horizontal table-top surrounded by a four-poster frame on which various bars, straps, springs and levers are fixed. Standard models include a push-through bar (which can be sprung from above or below), a roll-down bar, a trapeze or cross bar, arm springs, leg springs, thigh and ankle cuffs and even fuzzy hanging loops.

Several manufacturers have combined the Reformer and Cadillac to make hybrid models.

There is also Pilates Chair, also known as the Wunda Chair, for carrying out more than 75 exercises involving push-up-like moves with the arms. The price of a basic Pilates Chair starts at around $700 but can be more than $1200.

Pilates Ladder Barrels, consisting of ladder-like rungs and a rounded barrel-like surface, enable a multitude of stretching, strengthening and flexibility exercises. Professional-quality ladder barrels come in the $900 to $1500 range.

For mat workouts, there are Pilates Arc Barrels, which are upholstered arches that help support the back and shoulders. They are great rehabilitative tools for those recovering from stress, tension or injury. They range in price from $130 to $230.

The Pilates Spine Corrector has a sort of a whistle shape, with a semi-circular arch plus an angled step or seat. The unit is effective for stretching the spine and shoulders in a way that is safe, stable, and supported. Pricing is in the $300 to $450 range.


About the Author

Pilates Info provides detailed information about Pilates exercises, equipment, videos, classes, studios, certification, and more. Pilates Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

Written By: Richard Romando

People today are starting to understand the importance of good health, which is achieved through a well balanced diet, cutting out smoking and drinking, and incorporating some type of fitness program into daily life. While there are some excellent opportunities such as walking, swimming, tennis, handball, or working out in the gym, another option includes Pilates, which has taken our society by storm. In addition to being fun, Pilates is easy on the body while producing outstanding results.

Pilates involves a system of movement coupled with therapeutic exercise. This particular fitness program took Joseph H. Pilatu over 60 years to perfect. In addition to helping people look better by toning and firming the body, Pilates makes people feel better. Through precision toning and bringing balance to muscles at the joint area, this fitness method stimulates circulation by using muscular flexibility, proper musculoskeletal alignment, and range of motion.

Pilates also offers better body awareness while promoting coordination and creating new neuromuscular patterns. The result of this fitness program is a reduction or complete elimination of chronic pain and/or injury or re-injury. Joseph himself grew up with arthritis and asthma, making him feeble. His father was a prize-winning gymnast and his mother a practicing naturopath. Using a discarded anatomy book, Joseph studied and studied to better understand the various body parts. By the age of 14, he had learned how to develop his own body, so much so that he was hired as an anatomy model for other students to study.

With Joseph’s knowledge and fine-tuning of this fitness method, he and his wife began teaching Pilates. The exciting thing about this fitness program is that by being developed around the natural movement of animals and other natural movements, millions of people are able to incorporate the program into their daily lives, finding they look and feel better. The bottom line is that whether using Pilates or some other type of fitness, you can tone the muscles, strengthen joints, and even reduce stress on the heart and lungs, giving you a longer, healthier life.

We now see people from stay-at-home moms to famous movie stars faithfully using Pilates with amazing results. In fact, if you want the most out of fitness, we recommend you combine Pilates with a cardio type of exercise such as biking, walking, or swimming. This way, you get the best of both worlds. Best of all, fitness can be done by people of all ages and expensive equipment is not needed to be successful. Therefore, if you are tired of looking and feeling bad, get involved with a good fitness program such as Pilates.


About the Author:

Jon Gransworth runs the website Depo Fitness which a site dedicated to promoting fitness related material and contains very recent fitness tips and gossip. For more details please visit http://www.depofitness.com

Written By: Jon Gransworth

A look into the history of Pilates helps you understand the tremendous power that this form of exercise has to help strengthen and transform your body. Unlike yoga, which has a tradition that goes back thousands of years, one individual developed the Pilates Method at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In 1880 in Dusseldorf, Germany, a sickly baby named Joseph Pilates was born. As a young child he watched as his friends ran, jumped and played games activities that he could not do because of his frail, weak body. That is when the Pilates Method really began. Pilates was determined to find a way to improve his health and physical strength and stamina. He set off on a lifelong quest for fitness and exercise. Pilates not only overcame his physical frailties he mastered them. He became an accomplished yogi, boxer, gymnast, and skier.

During World War I, Pilates was interned in England where he worked as a nurse with injured war victims. Pilates was convinced that exercise could help rehabilitate their badly damaged bodies. Many of these patients were not able to move, but that did nothing to deter Pilates determination to help them gain strength and mobility. He rigged up their hospital beds with straps and springs and created a series of exercises to help move their joints through a greater range of motion. The exercises also helped his patients develop muscle strength, flexibility and endurance. Eventually, many of these people were able to get up and move around by themselves.

In 1923, Joseph Pilates and his wife moved to New York City where they opened up a studio and began working to rehabilitate injured dancers. Some of the most famous dancers that they worked with were George Balanchine and Martha Graham. Word of the dramatic results that came from using the Pilates method spread, and soon it became the exercise of choice for not only dancers, but also entertainment stars and professional athletes. For a long time, this unique form of exercise was limited to this elite community.

That has all changed. Now millions of people are familiar with the Pilates method of exercise. They have discovered for themselves that Pilates can help them gain the strength, flexibility, and balance of a professional dancer, without having to spend hours at the gym. They spend less time to achieve better results. No wonder it has become one of the hottest fitness trends to come along in years.

Now that you know the background of Pilates and why it was developed, you can realize how this powerful form of exercise can help you gain strength, flexibility, endurance, and the body of that youve always wanted.


About the Author

Della Menechella is a yoga and fitness enthusiast who has been involved in fitness for over thirty years. Her website http://www.beauty-fitness-yoga-source.com/ is filled with practical information about how you can make yoga and fitness a positive part of your life. Visit the site and get your free meditation e-book.

Written By: Della Menechella

As the world continues to revolve on its own pace, many movements and developments come out and filled the entire cosmos instantly. These improvements create a titanic result to most of the people. One of those great improvements that ever came out and caught the attention of the whole humanity is the fitness industry.

It is undeniable that many people today have prodigious interest and intensity to fitness programs and one of the most popular fitness programs is the Winsor Pilates exercise. But what it is?

The Basic Basics

The Winsor Pilates exercise, was said to be developed by Mari Winsor, one of the most sought after Pilates trainers by the biggest stars and celebrities in Hollywood. Being a unique form of exercise, the Winsor Pilates exercise has various things that make it distinct from many other fitness programs. The Winsor Pilates exercise is a complete set of Pilates program that will not only help the customers get toned and sculpted but also lose weight all at the same time when abiding by the Winsor Pilates exercise Win-in-10 Meal Plan. It is interesting to note that not all Pilates programs are conceptualized and treated to help the customers lose weight and inches. But you dont have to worry because this fact is not at all impossible with the Winsor Pilates exercise.

The Dynamic Sequencing

The Winsor Pilates exercise will help everyone to lose weight because the Winsor Pilates exercise is the only program that highlights an exclusive dynamic sequencing which is considered as the key to Pilates sytem. Mari Winsor with her Winsor Pilates exercise has tutored and improved her Pilates techniques over the past 15 years to acknowledge the proper order of exercises to aid the Winsor Pilates exercise clients maximize their outputs.

Virtual 3-D Training

As such, the Winsor Pilates exercise to further create a better result, introduced the Winsor Pilates exercise special video feature which is the Virtual 3-D Training which shows the Winsor Pilates exercise methods. Since it is important in every Winsor Pilates exercises and with the other Pilates exercises to be in correct position to attain the best posture, the Virtual 3-D training definitely introduces the correct positioning of the body by providing a distinct glimpse with graphics and special camera angles.

Balanced Kinesics

Finally, the Winsor Pilates exercise will give you a special blending of controlled kinesics that are assured to shape and sculpt long and lean muscles. So you better try it because without doubt the Winsor Pilates exercise is one of the excellent workouts ever created. Youll enjoy every minute of it!


About the Author:

Evan Chloe, author, is a fitness specialist who writes articles for http://www.bodybuildingdirect.com

Written By: Evan Chloe