The Pilates Method

What is Pilates?   Who Can Benefit From Pilates?    The History
Why Pilates Pilates is a complete system of body conditioning used worldwide by hospitals, universities, athletes and celebrities. Pilates full-body conditioning system uses over 500 exercises done on mats and apparatus to balance strength with flexibility, reduce bulk, promote alignment, and improve balance and posture. What is Pilates? Pilates is a unique system of body conditioning and rehabilitation utilizing specifically designed machines developed by Joseph Pilates over 80 years ago.  It provides an innovative approach to dramatically improve strength, flexibility, posture, balance and coordination.  Originally attracting dancers for its rehabilitative protocols, the movement spread to mainstream popularity, and is now embraced by professional athletes, models and celebrities.  It creates long lean muscles, flatter abdomens, better posture and more core control.  Physical therapists, hospitals and universities worldwide now utilize this safe, effective balanced body method for a variety of orthopedic, neurological, chronic pain and geriatric uses. Who can benefit from Pilates? Everyone.  Pilates training provides safe, low-impact exercises that can benefit anyone regardless of age or fitness level.  Customized workouts address the needs of athletes to those requiring rehabilitation.  Fitness applications include general conditioning, sports enhancement, injury rehabilitation and conditions including chronic pain and arthritis.  Pilates dramatically transforms the way your body looks, feels and performs.  Positive results include conscious body awareness, reduced muscular tension, and an invigorated sense of well-being.  Pilates is the proven way to get in shape, slow the effects of aging, and stay active for life. • Builds strength without “bulking up” • Increases flexibility and agility • Develops optimal core control • Creates flat abdominals, slender thighs and a strong back • A refreshing mind-body workout • Challenging yet safe Pilates Fitness dramatically transforms the way your body looks, feels and performs. It builds strength without excess bulk, creating a sleek, toned body with slender thighs and a flat abdomen. It teaches body awareness, good posture and easy, graceful movement. Pilates improves flexibility, agility and economy of motion. It can even help alleviate back pain. Professional dancers have used Pilates for decades. Top athletes use it for strength, flexibility and injury prevention. Hollywood celebrities and supermodels use it to maintain beautiful physiques.  No matter what your age or condition, it will work for you. Develops a strong core Building on the principles of Joseph Pilates, Pilates Fitness develops a strong “core,” or center of the body. The core consists of the deep abdominal muscles along with the muscles closest to the spine. Pilates exercises develop core control, integrating the trunk, pelvis and shoulder girdle.   Builds long muscles and flexible joints Conventional workouts tend to build short, bulky muscles - the type most prone to injury. Pilates elongates and strengthens, developing muscle elasticity and joint mobility. A body with balanced strength and flexibility is less likely to be injured. Creates an evenly conditioned body In conventional workouts, weak muscles tend to get weaker and strong muscles tend to get stronger. The result is muscular imbalance - a primary cause of injury and chronic back pain. Pilates conditions the whole body - even the ankles and feet. No muscle group is over trained or under trained. Your entire musculature is evenly balanced and conditioned, helping you enjoy daily activities and sports with greater ease and less chance of injury. Trains efficient patterns of motion Pilates exercises train several muscle groups at once in smooth, continuous movements. By developing proper technique, you can actually re-train your body to move in safer, more efficient patterns of motion - invaluable for injury recovery, sports performance, good posture and optimal health. Improves the mind-body connection Pilates Fitness gets your mind in tune with your body. By emphasizing proper breathing, correct spinal and pelvic alignment, and complete concentration on smooth, flowing movement, you become acutely aware of how your body feels, where it is in space, and how to control its movement. The quality of movement is valued over quantity of repetitions. Proper breathing is essential. Correct breathing helps you execute movements with maximum power and efficiency. Last but not least, learning to breathe properly can reduce stress. One of the safest workouts you can use No other exercise system is so gentle to your body while giving it a challenging workout. Many of the exercises are performed in reclining or sitting positions, and most are low impact and partially weight bearing. Pilates Fitness is often used in physical therapy facilities to rehabilitate injuries.
History of Joseph Pilates The Pilates method of exercise was created by Joseph Pilates, who was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf, Germany. Joe was frail as a child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. He overcame his physical limitations with exercise and body building, becoming a model for anatomical drawings at the age of 14. He became accomplished in many sports, including skiing, diving and gymnastics. At the outbreak of World War I, Joe was interned as an "enemy alien" with other German nationals. During his internment, Joe refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise. He rigged springs to hospital beds, enabling bedridden patients to exercise against resistance, an innovation that led to his later equipment designs. An influenza epidemic struck England in 1918, killing thousands of people, but not a single one of Joe's trainees died. This, he claimed, testified to the effectiveness of his system.
After his release, Joe returned to Germany. His exercise method gained favor in the dance community, primarily through Rudolf von Laban, who created the form of dance notation most widely used today. Hanya Holm adopted many of Joe's exercises in her program, and they are still part of the "Holm Technique." When Joe was asked to teach his fitness system to the German army, he decided to leave Germany for good. In 1926, he emigrated to the United States. During the voyage he met Clara, whom he later married. Joe and Clara opened a fitness studio in New York, sharing an address with the New York City Ballet.
By the early 1960s, the Pilates' could count among their clients many New York dancers. George Balanchine out "at Joe's," as he called it, and also invited Pilates to instruct his young ballerinas at the New York City Ballet. In fact, "Pilates" was becoming popular outside of New York as well. As the New York Herald Tribune noted in 1964, "in dance classes around the United States, hundreds of young students limber up daily with an exercise they know as a pilates, without knowing that the word has a capital P, and a living, right-breathing namesake."
Joe continued to train clients at his studio until his death in 1967 at the age of 87. In the 1970s, Hollywood celebrities discovered Pilates via Ron Fletcher's studio in Beverly Hills. Where the stars go, the media follows. In the late 1980s, the media began to cover Pilates extensively. The public took note, and the Pilates business boomed. "I'm fifty years ahead of my time," Joe once claimed. He was right. No longer the workout of the elite, Pilates has entered the fitness mainstream. Today, five million Americans practice Pilates, and the numbers continue to grow.

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