Exercise or Therapy
IS PILATES EXERCISE OR PHYSICAL THERAPY?
Pilates is widely known as a form of exercise popularized in many health clubs and fitness facilities throughout the world today. It is designed to improve awareness and coordination, alignment and flexibility, strength and endurance without adding extra bulk to your body or undue stress on your joints so it is very popular among women although more and more men and athletes are also realizing the conditioning benefits of a pilates oriented approach to exercise.
PILATES EXERCISE ALIGNS AND REFINES BODIES AND MINDS
Although less known for its benefit as a therapeutic modality pilates is quickly being incorporated into increasingly more physical therapy practices and rehabilitation clinics worldwide because it works great in a therapeutic setting as well. Pilates exercises can be done on a mat with or without additional apparatus or on specialized equipment that include tables, pads, rollers, pulleys, levers, and coiled springs. These extra elements add both support and resistance adapting equally well to fitness and therapeutic applications. Props and spring resistance are used to both challenge skilled exercisers and or assist rehabilitation clients, thus pilates exercise encompasses quite a spectrum of conditioning objectives, engaged for both fitness and therapeutic purposes.
PILATES EXERCISE INSPIRES & PILATES THERAPY HEALS
Since pilates is a movement method that improves awareness and coordination, alignment and flexibility, strength and endurance without contributing undue stress on your joints it is ideal for EVERYONE. Hence it can be done to get in shape, to stay in shape or to rehabilitate injuries due to overuse or sudden, unforeseen mishaps.
Some of the first individuals to engage in pilates workouts were WWI veterans recouping strength and functionality lost as a result of battle injuries. Athletes looking to enhance their performance potential or to rehabilitate injuries due to the powerful demands of their chosen professions soon discovered pilates workouts. Dancers were also among the first to veraciously experiment with pilates methods in order to both improve their performance skills and to rehabilitate after injury.
FORGE AHEAD & COME BACK STRONG
While talented dancers appear fluid and free and effortless when performing, the rigors of their art can be extremely hard on their bodies. George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Martha Graham were among the many American dancers to practice pilates regularly in efforts to improve their conditioning and to avoid injury, to safely and effectively increase their range of motion and to refine their dance technique to peak performance levels.
Pilates exercise was often engaged by dancers to nurture acute injuries and to correct muscular imbalances incurred from under and overuse, but most significantly, pilates was practiced to strengthen the overall integrity of their extremely flexible bodies that harbored both battered and hyper mobile joints incurred as a result of the excessive repetition and constant impact caused by a diligence of virtuosic performance and the stressful demands of having a professional dancing career.
Ageless and Genderless: Pilates Works for Anyone Anywhere
Today, pilates has found its way into the workout programs of myriad populations because it can be tailored to a variety of objectives and fitness levels, from young athletes seeking to refine their skills and sharpen their competitive edge to seniors wanting a better quality of life through greater functionality, mobility, vitality and longevity.
If you are looking to improve your coordination and kinesthetic prowess, physical well-being and/or quality of life through an enjoyable proven method of proprioceptive stimulation and somatic contemplation then pilates may just be the fit for you.
If you are looking for a high intensity, skilled performance oriented workout, movement patterns and progressive sequences can challenge the most gifted dancers or serious athlete.
If you are a soon to be mom or seasoned exerciser needing to offset risks for osteoporosis or arthritis pilates programs can be tailored to your needs and designed to get you the results you are seeking.
PILATES WORKS WONDERS FOR WHATEVER INSPIRES OR AILS YOU
The late Joseph H. Pilates, founder and pioneer of contemporary pilates, said his conditioning method which he called “Contrology” was ahead of its time. He believed the stress of modern living was making people ill and he was offering a method back to the joys of living well happy and fit. He understood the amazing health and wellness benefits of his practice but said it would be another fifty years before his method really caught on in the mainstream.
Kudos to Joseph. That day has finally arrived and pilates is one of the most popular methods of exercise today not because he said so but because it works. Not only is pilates fun to do it delivers results: both those geared toward fitness enthusiasts and those oriented with therapy in mind. Pilates truly reforms bodies and transforms lives. As a teacher and pilates practitioner I hear about it everyday.
