The Fundamentals of Pilates

admin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:26:27 +0000

There are people who are fond of getting an exercise for maintaining their body figure as well as to condition their body so to look healthier and sexy. Some do the swimming or others stay in the gym to get their ideal body figure. We all dream and look forward to an exercise program that will always engage us and that will leaves us refreshed and alert with a feeling of physical and mental being. From famous people down to women who are conscious enough with their body, the Pilates can be a great and stunning method in building up your most desired figure.

Well, the Pilates (pu-LAH-teez) Method is a kind of exercise system that focuses on improving the flexibility and strength for the total body without building a weight. The Pilates method is not just exercise as well, but it is a series of controlled movements that engages in your body and mind, and performed on specifically designed exercise apparatus and presided by trained teachers. This Pilates was developed in the 1920s by the legendary physical trainer and founder of The New York Pilates Studio, Joseph H. Pilates.

Joseph Pilates was a performer and a boxer who lives in England in year 1914. During the outbreak of the WW1, he was placed under the forced internment along with the other German nationals in Lancaster, England, and there he taught his fellow camp members about his concepts and exercises that are developed through self-study and apprenticeship in yoga, Zen, and ancient Greek and Roman physical regimens. Just then, Joseph Pilates began devising the system of original exercises that is known as mat work, or an exercise that is done on the floor. John Pilates also became a nurse/caretaker to the internees that is struck with wartime disease and physical injury. He then began to devise some equipment to rehabilitate his patients.

The Pilates method provides a refreshing and energizing workout where it gives a physical harmony and balance for people of different ages and with physical conditions. The sessions of the Pilates are done one-to-one with a certified teacher or in close and well-supervised small groups. Each session is fitted perfectly for your specific needs. The Pilates method can also be the dominant mode of body conditioning and injury prevention, and can be integrated into a rehabilitative exercise and physical therapy programs that is designed to a speed recovery of soft tissue injuries. The Pilates method can also be used by pregnant women in a way to learn the proper breathing and body alignment. It also improves concentration, and recovers the body shape and tone of women after the pregnancy.

The founder of the Pilates really designed more than 500 specific exercises using its five major pieces of unique apparatus in developing the body uniformly. Instead of performing many repetitions of each exercise, the Pilates method was designed to have more absolute movements that require a proper control and form. Since the mind is required to engage with your body to perform the movements properly, you are meant to experience a new awareness of muscle function and control. The instructor of the Pilates methods is the only one who has the right to teach, who has completed a rigorous certification program that includes seminar training and 600 apprenticeship hours. This is because the Pilates want to provide safe and effective conditioning for their clients.

There are certain countries that usually practice the Pilates method, in which they enjoy the physical movement that is designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body. The Pilates has an efficient practice of specific exercises accompanied with focused breathing patterns. Well, you could probably believe that Pilates has proven to be helpful and not just as a part of fitness itself, but also a supplement to professional sports training and to physical rehabilitation of all kinds. The Pilates brings out infinite benefits to your body, such as the increased lung capacity and circulation through deep, and where healthy breathing is a primary focus too. The key components in an effective Pilates program is the strength and the flexibility that is particularly of the abdomen and back muscles, with coordination to both muscular and mental. The posture, balance, and core strength are fairly increased in your body and where your bone density and joint health is also improved.

For more information about pilates please goto the pilates resource center

Written By: Michael Sanford

Fitness And Pilates

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:50:44 +0000

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

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The Fundamentals of Pilates

Fitness And Pilates