Learn about Pilates

Pilates is an exercise technique, which encourages the mind to control the muscles by strengthening the powerhouse. In Pilates, the powerhouse resides in the middle of the body such as the abdomen, lower back and buttocks.

You will need to support and strengthen the powerhouse to enable the rest of the body to move freely.

Pilates is an exercise that you will perform while sitting or lying down. Thus, it is best for rehabilitation purposes especially for patients with injuries and those that are bedridden.

Initially, Joseph Pilates, the German national who discovered Pilates used this exercise to train police officers. Police officers perform this exercise in 1912 as a means to rehabilitate themselves after a long day of work.

Joseph Pilates also designed Pilates Cadillac, an exercise equipment patterned from an old hospital bed. He did this precisely for the purpose of teaching rehabilitating patients confined in bed and for those officers who are down from injury.

The exercises in pilates avoids too much repetition unlike other exercises do. This exercise uses fewer, but precise movements. These movements employ control and form. These exercises also reduce stress that regular exercise can do for the heart. It is thus safe for older exercisers and even for injured patients.

In almost five hundred exercises in pilates, the most frequent form is the mat work. The mat work involves a series of callisthenic motions without weight or apparatus and are done while lying down.

Additionally, Joseph Pilates believes that mental health and physical health are essential to one another, thus he creates this exercise program based on the belief that a total body conditioning is necessary and beneficial. Total body conditioning emphasizes proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, muscle tone, body awareness, energy and improved mental concentration. These words are the backbone of pilates.

Pilates focuses on the use of the mind to control the body, thus Joseph Pilates who lived his youth with asthma, rickets, rheumatic fever, overcame poor health and grew to be a body builder, diver, skier and a gymnast.

After which, in 1912, he worked in England as a boxer, circus performer and self-defense trainer. You will of course agree with me that this is quite odd for a sickly kid.

This therefore shows that the mind can be more powerful than the muscle. Following this belief, pilates practitioners use their body as weights in training to build strength and flexibility without focus on high-powered cardiovascular exercise.

You will not need to perform those rigorous exercises that put strain in your cardiovascular zone as other exercises do.

Pilates and the environment it evolves in is as an assistive environment that optimizes the acquisition of movement with a reduction of destructive forces. These exercises can be used to progress individuals through more challenging movements that represent day-to-day activities.

In fact, these exercises are an old approach to movement re-education that is coming to be important in physical fitness and rehabilitation from injury.

The method of performing Pilates especially for beginners consist of very gentle exercises done with a mat while sitting down or lying down. It focuses on awareness of the spine, proper breathing, core strength and flexibility.

The desired outcome of Pilates is a balanced body, which is strong and supple, flat stomach, balanced legs and strong back.

In today’s time, physical therapists use these exercises and techniques to help in the rehabilitation of injured patients. Only quite a few use pilates for general health and well-being, this however needs to change because Pilates offers more than just a cure for sick patients, it is in fact helpful for those overweight individuals who cannot find ways and means to lose weight and control their body.

It may be helpful to try Pilates if you want to be healthy and active.


About the author:

Shannon Brown is the editor of PilatesFactor.com. This site caters to Pilates enthusiasts. You can visit the site at: http://www.PilatesFactor.com

Written By: Shannon Brown

Pilates Exercises have been getting more and more attention from lots of people. Since its introduction to the American Population in the 1910’s, the exercise technique invented by the German national Joseph Pilates has caught the attention of millions of Americans to date. Pilates first started with simple springs attached to hospital beds for his first Pilates machine, and since then the machines, as well as the techniques used have improved so well. Pilates also has his share of students, who continued his “teachings” his studio and his work. Nowadays, the modern day Pilates instructor, need only a certification, that they indeed have the proper training to supervise a safe and effective Pilates class. Pilates certifications are offered by a vast number of firms that aside from offering Pilates certifications also hold classes for practitioners.

A Pilates Certification course basically consists of the different basic techniques in the Pilates exercise, as well as good positioning, machine work and mat exercises.

The first Pilates certification course that would probably be taught in a typical Pilates Certification class is basic mat work exercises. These are beginner and intermediate level matwork classes after which, you will be certified to teach beginner or intermediate level Pilates Class. You won’t need a machine for Pilates matwork, which make it the highest in demand because, if you’re planning on teaching Pilates for a living, you can easily start on a low budget, and teach Pilates without using Machines.

The second topic in your Pilates certification course may probably be standing Pilates; this like mat Pilates doesn’t need machines as well, but may take a bit more experience to learn because of the complicated position of standing upright, most Pilates certification schools do not teach standing Pilates until after the trainee has a certification in matwork Pilates.

After standing Pilates, is advanced matwork Pilates. The Pilates certification for advanced matwork, is given later because as its name says, it is advanced, meaning more difficult moves, which entails a higher probability of someone making a mistake. It is therefore crucial that the instructor to be is well trained before he gets an advanced matwork Pilates certification.

After the non equipment courses, the next course for Pilates certification would be the apparatus courses, where you’ll be certified as an instructor for certain machines. First, the would-be instructor is trained with the basic Pilates equipment, Cadillac, reformer, circle, and barrels. After the course, you will have a Pilates certification for apparatus. Some schools offer standing apparatus Pilates certification, as a separate training program from basic apparatus training, if you want to learn it all at once, then you’ll most likely find a certification firm that will accommodate you.

The last and probably the most complicated one is the training for people with special cases, like those with back, neck, knee, shoulder problems. These are more complicated situations and need more focus on. The only one that probably needs a better trained instructor would probably be Pilates for rehabilitation. Yes, Pilates can be used for rehabilitation, but to get a Pilates certification for rehabilitation, you must be certified in all the other Pilates techiniques, this is because most people that need rehabilitaiton are fragile and therefore need extra care, as well as extra training. After getting a Pilates certification for every course, the trainees should have the skills to teach the exercise techniques, as well as its Pilosophical aspects to practitioners. Some schools even teach the trainees so that after they finish each course, they will also have enough skills to modify the exercise techniques to fit their class’ needs, so that after you train, you can further improve on the teachniques that we’re taught to you and apply them as the case may be.


About the author:

Authored by Michael Bens – For more great information on how to lose weight, get in shape, and live healthy, visit Gabae Weight Loss for great resources, training and motivation!

Written By: Michael Bens

The Pilates Method of body conditioning, which strengthens both the body and mind, has been around since the 1920s, but in just the past couple of years, interest in the method has grown by leaps and bounds. As a result, so have the number of instructors. But according to Kevin Bowen, co-founder of the Miami, Fla., based Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), the national not-for-profit trade association of Pilates professionals, not all of them are qualified to teach Pilates.

The Pilates Method is safely taught only by teachers comprehensively trained in the Pilates Method and the use of Pilates equipment, both of which differ significantly from other exercise systems, says Bowen.

Developed in the 1920s by German-born Joseph and Clara Pilates, the Pilates Method is an exercise system that focuses on precise, controlled movements and breathing, using a special spring-driven apparatus. Pilates training improves strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. It also helps to achieve elongation of muscles. Among the first to use the Pilates Method were dancers such as Martha Graham and George Balanchine. Today, many athletes use it as well. They include basketball star Jason Kidd and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

To help you choose the safest Pilates alternative, the Pilates Method Alliance recommends the following guidelines for evaluation of Pilates instructors:

* Make sure the Pilates studio, gym or health club you choose has at least one comprehensively trained Pilates teacher on staff at all times when the facility is open for business.

* If you choose a studio with Pilates equipment for private lessons, you should receive a comprehensive physical assessment and initial training session prior to beginning the Pilates program. The assessment should include your personal fitness goals and medical history, including injuries, plus a clear, measurable assessment of your muscular strengths, weaknesses and imbalances.

* If you choose a group class with Pilates equipment, the PMA recommends there be no more than six participants per comprehensively trained instructor. Participants should receive physical assessments first, as above, and constant supervision while using equipment. Drop-ins should be prohibited without appropriate screening.

* For Pilates mat classes, the PMA recommends that no more than 10 to 12 participants are assigned to one comprehensively trained teacher. Classes should be defined with appropriate levels for the clientele and should include mandatory pre-screening for health related issues, as above.

The PMA also recommends that all programs teaching the Pilates Method of exercise provide the following information to clients:

* The names and various parts of the Pilates apparatus.

* The names of each Pilates exercise.

* The appropriate sequencing of the exercises, repetitions, and use of resistance.

* The appropriate set-up of the Pilates apparatus for each exercise, including all possible safety issues.

* Proper spotting and verbal cuing techniques for each exercise.

* The components of each exercise.

* The objectives of each exercise.

* The design of the clients specific program. Why a particular apparatus is used for a particular exercise.

* How to effectively modify, break down and/or adapt an exercise for your personal Pilates regimen.

The Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) is the international, not-for-profit professional association dedicated to the teachings of Joseph H. and Clara Pilates. The PMAs mission is to protect the public by establishing certification and continuing education standards for Pilates professionals.

About the author:

Contact www.pilatesmethodalliance.org to find a trained Pilates teacher in your area.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Written By: ARA