What is Pilates?
Pilates, takes its name from a guy called Joseph Pilates who was way ahead of his time when it comes to exercise and fitness. He came up with ‘Contrology’ now named Pilates. A system of exercises that, in his day, should be practised in a certain order to become fitter and healthier. Joseph believed the whole world would benefit from Pilates and he is probably right!
Why Pilates?
Pilates now comes in a variety of forms and functions. Most Pilates classes will have a focus on building strength from the outside in, this means starting with the core muscles of your body and then looking outwards. By building strength at the core you improve your bodies ability to move with ease, this creates better posture and movement patterns, which help you out in daily life!
Think of it this way, if a tree grew a really big and heavy branch, but kept its trunk small and spindly, it is more like this branch is going to pull the tree over. If the tree however builds a strong and thick trunk, it can grow bigger and longer branches to reach its leaves to the sunlight and have no issue in most weathers to keep it all together.
In terms of your body, if you don’t build strength in your trunk (core) but through daily life whether its picking up the kids, shopping or weights at the gym add excess weight to your limbs without building a suitable amount of strength in your core, you create muscle imbalance which can lead to aches and pains.
The great thing about Pilates is although the focus is on core muscles, your body is worked as a whole and not through muscle group isolation which leads to better functional movement, muscle tone and flexibility.
The thing I love about Pilates and especially the way I teach it is I like to use functional movements like squats and add them into my classes, these movements that replicate the muscle groups used in daily life, help you to build a strong and less injury prone body
If you would like to find out more about Pilates and see how it could benefit you, why not join my 21 day beginners Pilates course. These 10 minute realistic workouts take you from no Pilates experience through the basic exercises as well as breathing and posture techniques.
To get involved just follow this link and book onto my 21 days beginners course, just £19.99.
