THE PILATES EXPERIENCE

Clas­si­cal Pilates is a method of phys­i­cal and men­tal con­di­tion­ing cre­ated and devel­oped by Joseph H. Pilates (link JHP his­tory) over 75 years ago. Using spe­cially designed equip­ment in com­bi­na­tion with mat exer­cises, Pilates dra­mat­i­cally improves strength, flex­i­bil­ity, coor­di­na­tion and pos­ture, devel­op­ing firmer, sleeker and more pow­er­ful muscles.

Pilates incor­po­rated his study of east­ern and west­ern philoso­phies of phys­i­cal and men­tal con­di­tion­ing to cre­ate more than just an exer­cise program. Pilates engages mind, body, and spirit, work­ing as an inte­grated whole.

Clas­si­cal Pilates is a Mind/Body Experience. So, what does “Mind/Body” mean?

This ques­tion is best answered by one of Joseph Pilates’ favorite quotes:

“It is the mind itself which builds the body“
–Friedrich Schiller

Joe Pilates for­mu­lated 6 basic prin­ci­ples for Clas­si­cal Pilates:

Breath­ing

The pat­tern of breath­ing is con­nected with the pat­tern of move­ment. It ensures a free flow of cleans­ing oxy­gen through­out the body, improv­ing cir­cu­la­tion and help­ing to avoid unnec­es­sary ten­sion in the muscles.

Pre­ci­sion

The Method empha­sizes qual­ity of move­ment over quantity.

Cen­ter­ing

Cen­ter­ing refers to the prac­tice of ini­ti­at­ing and con­trol­ling move­ment from the cen­ter or “Pow­er­house” — abs, but­tocks and back mus­cles. This con­cept lies at the heart of Pilates work.

Flow­ing Move­ment (Fluidity)

In com­bi­na­tion with deep and relaxed breath­ing, the flow­ing move­ments in Pilates reduce stress on the body and the risk of injury.

Con­trol

Con­trol is vital! Momen­tum has no place in this method of training.

Con­cen­tra­tion

In Pilates, the mind and the body work as a team. Every exer­cise requires your full attention.

How is one Pilates expe­ri­ence dif­fer­ent from another?

Pilates is more than just exercise! When taught well, Pilates teaches a com­pre­hen­sive way of body con­di­tion­ing that builds a bal­anced body, with the upper and lower mus­cu­la­ture inte­grated with a deeply strong body core and coor­di­nated with a focused mind. In addi­tion Pilates helps cor­rect spinal misalignments. The body aware­ness that comes from con­sis­tently prac­tic­ing Pilates cor­rectly improves pos­ture and pre­vents injury.

So, with Pilates becom­ing more and more main­stream, from infomer­cials to videos to mat classes at health clubs, how do these dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ences of Pilates differ. Which ones are most effec­tive and truly deliver what they claim?

Phys­i­cal fit­ness can nei­ther be achieved through wish­ful think­ing
nor out­right pur­chase” —Joseph Pilates

What to expect from Pilates classes at your gym

Pilates Mat classes at gyms or health clubs vary in quality. One prob­lem is the classes have too many stu­dents per instructor. Very few gyms offer the com­plete sys­tem of Pilates, which includes work­ing with 5 major pieces of Pilates appa­ra­tus.
Due to the pop­u­lar­ity of Pilates, the you need to be dis­cern­ing about who you receive train­ing from. Make sure your gym’s Pilates instruc­tion isn’t from an aer­o­bics or yoga instruc­tor that took a week­end course in Pilates. Ask the instruc­tors if they are a cer­ti­fied Pilates instruc­tors; and if so where they were cer­ti­fied and how long the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process took.

It’s the sub­tleties that count…

The ben­e­fits of Pilates do not develop from just doing the movements. Classical Pilates is ALL about the pre­ci­sion and qual­ity of the movement.

Videos are help­ful for work­ing out at home after you’ve learned the exer­cises from a pro­fes­sional Pilates instruc­tor who has uti­lized their expert eye to help you see where your own imbal­ances are and been able to hone in on which mus­cles you overuse and which you under use. Without this set of expert eyes, you are most likely going to con­tinue with “bad” habits even in doing Pilates exercises. It is dif­fi­cult to cor­rect habit­ual imbal­ances on your own.

There are Pilates pro­fes­sion­als who are cash­ing in on video sales, mak­ing claims that you don’t need to work with “expen­sive” per­sonal train­ers to get the ben­e­fits of Pilates. However, these indi­vid­u­als have made their rep­u­ta­tions through being per­sonal train­ers and if con­fronted on this topic face to face, would admit that the most effec­tive Pilates pro­gram is Clas­si­cal Pilates train­ing with a cer­ti­fied instruc­tor, learn­ing appa­ra­tus and mat work in pri­vate or small group sessions. The appa­ra­tus allows the stu­dent to access and work parts of the body they may need to become more in tune with.

Infomer­cials for home use equip­ment. Again, it would be much more ben­e­fi­cial to you to learn the exer­cises from a pro­fes­sional Pilates instruc­tor first. We rec­om­mend that you try some of the exer­cises with pro­fes­sional instruc­tion before pur­chas­ing any equip­ment to see if this is some­thing you think you will want to do on your own. Aren’t your clos­ets full enough?

The “Core” of Pilates is dis­cov­er­ing and work­ing your “Powerhouse”

The buzz­word in fit­ness these days is “Core” train­ing, refer­ring to strength­en­ing of the body core musculature. In Pilates, your body’s cen­ter, or core, is referred to as the “Powerhouse”. The Pow­er­house is made up of all of your abdom­i­nal, back, and but­tocks mus­cles, includ­ing your inner and outer thigh. Discovering these mus­cles is a very impor­tant and often times chal­leng­ing part of the Pilates process.

So what is the dif­fer­ence between Pilates and “Core” training? The answer is simple. “Core” train­ing, like most forms of weight train­ing, iso­lates and con­tracts the mus­cles to build strength. In Clas­si­cal Pilates, move­ments are ini­ti­ated and con­trolled from the “Pow­er­house” while work­ing and inte­grat­ing the upper and lower mus­cu­la­ture of the body. Your body is stretched and strength­ened at the same time, devel­op­ing a har­mo­nious whole. In Clas­si­cal Pilates, exer­cises are dynam­i­cally and inten­tion­ally ordered to cre­ate a bal­ance of exer­tion and relax­ation, flex­i­bil­ity and endurance.