Tuesday, June 4, 2013

What Are Pilates?

What Are Pilates?


by Angela Winter


Joseph Pilates of Germany developed a kind of exercise known as Pilates which is already practiced by a lot of people nowadays. It is already one of the most popular types of exercise. Body conditioning, core strength and awareness and flexibility are the key points of Pilates to attain balanced development which is the main focus of this type of exercise.

Pilates and the effects that it has on one's body:

1. Pilates helps in toning the body and enhance its overall flexibility. But unlike other forms of exercises, Pilates is not focused on using weight lifting exercises to tone the muscles of the body. Instead, it makes use of other different apparatuses to achieve this goal.

2. Pilates also helps in developing agility and muscle strength which is important for a person to perform the activities that are expected for them to do.

3. This kind of exercise also aids in preventing injuries and promotes proper use of body mechanics and correct posture.

4. Practicing Pilates also helps an individual to develop and improve breathing efficiency, making your heart and lungs healthier.

5. If you are suffering from injuries, practicing Pilates will also aid in the recovery and rehabilitation of that injury.

6. For people that is suffering from chronic pains, practicing may help alleviate their experience of pain in effect they experience improved quality of life.

These are some of the benefits we get in doing Pilates exercise but it is also important to remember to ask the help of a Pilates instructor on what form of Pilates exercise is appropriate for you individually. Also, for pregnant women, Pilates exercise is not prohibited but doing this exercise, as with any other forms of exercise, should only be done with the approval of your doctor and with the guidance of a trained Pilates expert.

Now there are 6 important principles of Pilates as outlined by two students, Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen. These principles are as follows:

1. Centering-the center is the starting place in which an individual should have to achieve body control. This is central point in the method of Pilates.

2. Control-Pilates method of exercise also emphasizes the importance of gaining control over your own body, mainly muscle control. A person wanting to do Pilates should be focused in doing it properly to achieve the goal of having control in every aspects of the exercise.

3. The third principle of Pilates is Flow which is also known as moving with efficiency. This principle of the Pilates exercise is focused on attaining a well-coordinated movement of the body which may be attained if a person has proper flow of exercises. In effect, the body will have increased stamina and become stronger because of the body precision that you have gained by doing the Pilates exercises making the principle of flow as your guideline.

4. Breathing is the fourth principle of Pilates which is also one of the most important principle of Pilates. Doing the Pilates exercise is observed to improve breathing pattern as well as oxygenation.

5. Precision-doing the Pilates 100% correctly is one of the principles that is emphasized. They want Pilates practitioners to perform the exercises properly for them to maximize the benefits that they can get in doing the exercise.

6. Concentration-extreme focus is also one important principle in Pilates exercise. An individual practicing Pilates need to fully concentrate on their body while doing the exercise to achieve smooth transition of movements.

As with any other kinds of exercises, one must do Pilates properly and accurately to obtain the result that they are looking forward to. Aside from that, an individual must have proper discipline for them to actively participate in doing Pilates exercises. Also, for beginners, they might want to consult or ask help from Pilates experts before performing the different kinds of Pilates exercises and making use of different Pilates exercise tools for safety purposes.




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