“Pilates, explained for real life”, not the Instagram version.
“Why does Pilates matter for how I live in my body every day?”
Over the last several years Pilates has risen to the “top of the fitness popularity chain” You see it everywhere, boutique studios, large health clubs, online memberships. In the pilates industry there are several different ways to approach pilates - contemporary, classical, rehab based, strength based, “reformer pilates”, hot pilates, pilates with music and on and on. While I am happy that more people are exposed to a method I have loved for over 30 years I am said to see how “watered down” the method has become. So many things I see called “pilates” don’t even come close to what “Pilates” really is .. good exercises, yes, but pilates NO.
PIlates Is the Foundation of All Fitness Programs
Many people want to put pilates into a strengthening category, or lump it in with yoga or stretching, or “ab”/core exercises. That is the issue, where does pilates belong in a crowded wellness space? Is is fitness, mind/body, therapeutic, the best way to get great looking arms? Well, pilates was never meant to compete with the “gym” or “yoga” or “strength training”. It is it’s own method of movement that embraces principles of concentration, control, centering, flow and breath. The exercises were developed with all those principles in mind.
We can build strong bodies with weights, high intensity workouts, “functional fitness”, however eventually the body craves the stability and control that pilates can provide. Many fitness programs fail, because the body looses it compass of where it is, it looses stability, it looses the muscle balance that all can be provided through pilates.
Studies show that 80% of musculoskeletal pain can be linked to poor movement patterns, not lack of strength. Go to any physical therapy office for any injury that they bring you back to a basic, fundamental exercise to re-wire your brain back to balanced movement. Sometimes, the more you train and build your muscle you actually start to move worse because you do not have good movement fundamental built into your body. You just cannot build a house on a weak foundation! When we have a weak foundation and we build and build the foundation breaks - it can’t withstand the loads put on it anymore. Injury happens and then your out of the game for awhile - you can play the sport you love, you can’t pick up your grandchildren, you can’t take that trip you’ve worked so hard for and you loose crucial muscle mass that you do need for everyday life.
Pilates fits into your wellness routine as a gateway for optimal movement. Through the fundamentals of the Pilates movement system your brain learns how to organize movement. Pilates helps with joint positioning, spinal sequencing, and breath to core coordination. When you have control of this principles, true strength can follow. Then you can build your house.
Pilates goes into the wellness space - it was really never meant be in a gym or even a yoga studio for that matter. It stands alone with a multitude of benefits that can be used in virtually anything you choose to do in your life. When we start caring about how our bodies function and not how it looks, when we give attention to our bodies and concentrate on precision - movement gets easier, we have less aches and pains, and we become happier because we move better and we can participate in a life that demands us to be present!
