The Pilates System
Elizabeth White, M.Sc., RYT
The Pilates exercise system integrates mind and body. Through regular practice, the practitioner increases awareness of his or her body and its rhythms, learns about anatomy and how their body functions, and acquires mastery and focus of the mind.
This exercise system was created during WWI by Joseph Pilates who was taken into custody as a POW. Joseph ended up working as a nurse in an English hospital and used his exercise system to strengthen and rehabilitate patients, his fellow POW inmates, and the soldiers on guard over them. After the war, he immigrated to New York City, where he opened a studio in Manhattan and started training and rehabilitating professional dancers. Way ahead of his time, he viewed the body holistically, emphasizing how it worked as a whole unit. Over the intervening years, the Pilates method has passed through several generations of teachers and has evolved along the way. In the U.S. today, there are over 15 thousand Pilates teachers.
Joseph Pilates studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise. Therefore, you see elements of yoga, Tai Chi, breathing meditation, boxing, stretching, and strength building in the exercises. The Pilates system is intelligent and functional. The emphasis is on the correct performance of the exercise, breathing, and maintaining mental focus. Pilates will condition your body, protect you from potential injury, and enable you to stand and walk with grace and ease. While the skeletal muscles are stretched and strengthened, changes actually start on the inside. A Pilates student may notice that they sleep better and feel better. Their confidence and endurance will improve. As Joseph Pilates used to say, “In 10 sessions you will feel totally different by doing Pilates. In 30 sessions, you will start to look different.”
This exercise system was created during WWI by Joseph Pilates who was taken into custody as a POW. Joseph ended up working as a nurse in an English hospital and used his exercise system to strengthen and rehabilitate patients, his fellow POW inmates, and the soldiers on guard over them. After the war, he immigrated to New York City, where he opened a studio in Manhattan and started training and rehabilitating professional dancers. Way ahead of his time, he viewed the body holistically, emphasizing how it worked as a whole unit. Over the intervening years, the Pilates method has passed through several generations of teachers and has evolved along the way. In the U.S. today, there are over 15 thousand Pilates teachers.
Joseph Pilates studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise. Therefore, you see elements of yoga, Tai Chi, breathing meditation, boxing, stretching, and strength building in the exercises. The Pilates system is intelligent and functional. The emphasis is on the correct performance of the exercise, breathing, and maintaining mental focus. Pilates will condition your body, protect you from potential injury, and enable you to stand and walk with grace and ease. While the skeletal muscles are stretched and strengthened, changes actually start on the inside. A Pilates student may notice that they sleep better and feel better. Their confidence and endurance will improve. As Joseph Pilates used to say, “In 10 sessions you will feel totally different by doing Pilates. In 30 sessions, you will start to look different.”
THE PILATES APPROACH TO FITNESS
BY: ELIZABETH WHITE, M.SC., PILATES INSTRUCTOR
Introduction
More and more people are choosing to stay fit and healthy with more mindful and less jarring exercise methods such as Pilates. It’s not surprising because such methods yield remarkable results and actually feel good to do. Contemporary Pilates have evolved from the original “mind-body” exercise method pioneered by the late Joseph Pilates.
Who was Joseph Pilates?
Born in Germany in 1880, Joseph Pilates suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever as a child. His determination and drive to overcome those ailments led him to study both Eastern and Western forms of exercise. Over time, Pilates not only overcame his frailty, he also became an accomplished skier, diver, gymnast, yogi, and boxer. He maintained top physical form well into his seventies.
In 1923, Pilates immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City, where he opened a studio in Manhattan and started training and rehabilitating professional dancers. Way ahead of his time, he viewed fitness holistically, emphasizing how the body worked as a whole unit. Pilates developed a repertoire of over 500 exercises that could be performed either with or without specialized equipment, known as the Pilates method. Over the intervening years, the Pilates method has passed through generations of teachers and has transformed a great deal along the way. In fact, the original Pilates method now seems antiquated.
The Benefits of Pilates
1. Increase circulation, relieve tension
For each Pilates exercise, there is a specific breath pattern that emphasizes deep inhalation and full exhalation. The Pilates method involves breathing deeply into the lower lobes of the lungs. This deep lateral breathing exercises the lungs, increases lung capacity, and produces relaxation as a pleasant side effect. In addition, breathing into the lower lobes ensures effective oxygenation of the blood, increasing blood flow to the brain, and producing a revitalizing effect.
2. Enhance body awareness
The Pilates practitioner is given specific instructions as to how to position and move the pelvis, rib cage, scapular, head and cervical spine during each exercise. This awareness enables the participant to focus on the precision and control that is necessary to reap the full benefits of the method.
In order to protect the back from injury, the pelvis is positioned to ensure stability of the pelvis and lumbar spine throughout the exercise. A pelvic position is specified for each exercise, either neutral or flattened, depending on the position of the legs and feet during the exercise.
Stability through the rib cage is maintained by keeping the abdominals engaged throughout the exercise. This should ensure that the lower ribs remain flat on the chest, not “popping” or protruding forward when the participant is either lying on his/her back or sitting upright and performing an exercise that involves moving the arms overhead.
When engaging the trapezius muscle and protracting, retracting, elevating, or depressing the shoulder, the scapular should glide across the back. The scapular should always be flat on the rib cage and never wing out or protrude. By keeping the shoulders back and down in this fashion, the practitioner must engage the back muscles (primarily the latissimus dorsi) to stabilize the shoulders and this prevents overworking the upper “traps.”
When sitting or lying in a neutral position, the head should always be centered over the shoulders and the ears aligned with the shoulder. When either flexing or extending the upper torso, attention must be paid to the position of the head and neck to ensure that the cervical spine is neither overextended nor over flexed. Rather, cervical flexion comes from lengthening the back of the neck away from the shoulders and flexing the cranium on the first two vertebrae of the cervical spine, not from jamming the chin into the chest.
3. Heighten concentration
One of the goals of Pilates is to focus on the specific muscles that should be working and relaxing all the muscles that may want to help out but shouldn’t. For instance, some people constantly tighten their shoulders when performing any difficult or challenging exercise. This is a bad habit that a good Pilates instructor should correct. By becoming conscious of their muscles and how to control them, practitioners strengthen the mind-body connection and this heightened awareness will carry over into everyday life. This can be described as bringing your mind into your body, rather than using your mind to gain control over your body.
4. Improve posture
Joseph Pilates’ original teachings promoted a flat spine. Modern day Pilates recognizes and restores the important shock-absorbing features of the spine’s natural curves which can sometimes be distorted through poor postural habits.
5. Flatten, tone, and strengthen abdominals
Instead of doing endless “crunches”, a Pilates workout involves lower reps of exercises, done with control. Furthermore, exhaling deeply activates the deep support muscles (the transversus) in the abdomen. Activation of the transversus enables the lumbo-pelvic region to remain stable throughout the exercise. Throughout a Pilates workout the focus is constantly on maintaining this stability in the torso. The end result is strong, flat abdominal muscles.
6. Longer, leaner muscles
Joseph Pilates originally called his method Contrology. One of the fundamental rules when doing Pilates is to control every movement. This trains the muscles to hold in a lengthened state. In addition, when focusing on control of a movement, the body is forced to recruit helper muscles (synergists). The big muscles don’t get too big and bulky because they don’t have to do all the work and you become a long and lean machine, able to move with ease.
Pilates is not primarily a fat-burning form of exercise. The appearance of someone who is carrying excess body fat will become more streamlined from Pilates training. However, if you want to lose weight, it may be necessary to make dietary adjustments and add an aerobic activity to your Pilates practice.
7. Balance strength with flexibility
Pilates exercises develop strong abdominal, back, butt, and inner thigh muscles. However, the first goal of Pilates is to strengthen the transversus abdominus and the deep segmental spinal muscles (including the multifidus) that support the skeletal system and stabilize the lumbar spine – to build a strong body from the inside out.
All the exercises are performed in graceful, flowing movements, allowing the body to move freely. This way of moving brings flexibility to the joints and muscles and trains the body to move smoothly and evenly.
8. Prevent and treat injury
Strengthening the core torso stabilizers of the abdomen and back will protect your back from potential injury, and if you have a problematic back, strengthening these muscles will probably alleviate the problem. In fact, if your remind yourself to exhale and engage your core abdominal muscles before your undertake any movement, you will build the principles of Pilates into your everyday life and protect yourself from injury when undertaking everyday tasks. You will soon find that you are engaging these muscles without conscious effort. Joseph Pilates used to say that if you do Pilates for 20 minutes a day, your spine will have the strength and mobility of a cat's, and you will be able to move freely
BY: ELIZABETH WHITE, M.SC., PILATES INSTRUCTOR
Introduction
More and more people are choosing to stay fit and healthy with more mindful and less jarring exercise methods such as Pilates. It’s not surprising because such methods yield remarkable results and actually feel good to do. Contemporary Pilates have evolved from the original “mind-body” exercise method pioneered by the late Joseph Pilates.
Who was Joseph Pilates?
Born in Germany in 1880, Joseph Pilates suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever as a child. His determination and drive to overcome those ailments led him to study both Eastern and Western forms of exercise. Over time, Pilates not only overcame his frailty, he also became an accomplished skier, diver, gymnast, yogi, and boxer. He maintained top physical form well into his seventies.
In 1923, Pilates immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City, where he opened a studio in Manhattan and started training and rehabilitating professional dancers. Way ahead of his time, he viewed fitness holistically, emphasizing how the body worked as a whole unit. Pilates developed a repertoire of over 500 exercises that could be performed either with or without specialized equipment, known as the Pilates method. Over the intervening years, the Pilates method has passed through generations of teachers and has transformed a great deal along the way. In fact, the original Pilates method now seems antiquated.
The Benefits of Pilates
1. Increase circulation, relieve tension
For each Pilates exercise, there is a specific breath pattern that emphasizes deep inhalation and full exhalation. The Pilates method involves breathing deeply into the lower lobes of the lungs. This deep lateral breathing exercises the lungs, increases lung capacity, and produces relaxation as a pleasant side effect. In addition, breathing into the lower lobes ensures effective oxygenation of the blood, increasing blood flow to the brain, and producing a revitalizing effect.
2. Enhance body awareness
The Pilates practitioner is given specific instructions as to how to position and move the pelvis, rib cage, scapular, head and cervical spine during each exercise. This awareness enables the participant to focus on the precision and control that is necessary to reap the full benefits of the method.
In order to protect the back from injury, the pelvis is positioned to ensure stability of the pelvis and lumbar spine throughout the exercise. A pelvic position is specified for each exercise, either neutral or flattened, depending on the position of the legs and feet during the exercise.
Stability through the rib cage is maintained by keeping the abdominals engaged throughout the exercise. This should ensure that the lower ribs remain flat on the chest, not “popping” or protruding forward when the participant is either lying on his/her back or sitting upright and performing an exercise that involves moving the arms overhead.
When engaging the trapezius muscle and protracting, retracting, elevating, or depressing the shoulder, the scapular should glide across the back. The scapular should always be flat on the rib cage and never wing out or protrude. By keeping the shoulders back and down in this fashion, the practitioner must engage the back muscles (primarily the latissimus dorsi) to stabilize the shoulders and this prevents overworking the upper “traps.”
When sitting or lying in a neutral position, the head should always be centered over the shoulders and the ears aligned with the shoulder. When either flexing or extending the upper torso, attention must be paid to the position of the head and neck to ensure that the cervical spine is neither overextended nor over flexed. Rather, cervical flexion comes from lengthening the back of the neck away from the shoulders and flexing the cranium on the first two vertebrae of the cervical spine, not from jamming the chin into the chest.
3. Heighten concentration
One of the goals of Pilates is to focus on the specific muscles that should be working and relaxing all the muscles that may want to help out but shouldn’t. For instance, some people constantly tighten their shoulders when performing any difficult or challenging exercise. This is a bad habit that a good Pilates instructor should correct. By becoming conscious of their muscles and how to control them, practitioners strengthen the mind-body connection and this heightened awareness will carry over into everyday life. This can be described as bringing your mind into your body, rather than using your mind to gain control over your body.
4. Improve posture
Joseph Pilates’ original teachings promoted a flat spine. Modern day Pilates recognizes and restores the important shock-absorbing features of the spine’s natural curves which can sometimes be distorted through poor postural habits.
5. Flatten, tone, and strengthen abdominals
Instead of doing endless “crunches”, a Pilates workout involves lower reps of exercises, done with control. Furthermore, exhaling deeply activates the deep support muscles (the transversus) in the abdomen. Activation of the transversus enables the lumbo-pelvic region to remain stable throughout the exercise. Throughout a Pilates workout the focus is constantly on maintaining this stability in the torso. The end result is strong, flat abdominal muscles.
6. Longer, leaner muscles
Joseph Pilates originally called his method Contrology. One of the fundamental rules when doing Pilates is to control every movement. This trains the muscles to hold in a lengthened state. In addition, when focusing on control of a movement, the body is forced to recruit helper muscles (synergists). The big muscles don’t get too big and bulky because they don’t have to do all the work and you become a long and lean machine, able to move with ease.
Pilates is not primarily a fat-burning form of exercise. The appearance of someone who is carrying excess body fat will become more streamlined from Pilates training. However, if you want to lose weight, it may be necessary to make dietary adjustments and add an aerobic activity to your Pilates practice.
7. Balance strength with flexibility
Pilates exercises develop strong abdominal, back, butt, and inner thigh muscles. However, the first goal of Pilates is to strengthen the transversus abdominus and the deep segmental spinal muscles (including the multifidus) that support the skeletal system and stabilize the lumbar spine – to build a strong body from the inside out.
All the exercises are performed in graceful, flowing movements, allowing the body to move freely. This way of moving brings flexibility to the joints and muscles and trains the body to move smoothly and evenly.
8. Prevent and treat injury
Strengthening the core torso stabilizers of the abdomen and back will protect your back from potential injury, and if you have a problematic back, strengthening these muscles will probably alleviate the problem. In fact, if your remind yourself to exhale and engage your core abdominal muscles before your undertake any movement, you will build the principles of Pilates into your everyday life and protect yourself from injury when undertaking everyday tasks. You will soon find that you are engaging these muscles without conscious effort. Joseph Pilates used to say that if you do Pilates for 20 minutes a day, your spine will have the strength and mobility of a cat's, and you will be able to move freely