PILATES, POSTURE, AND BREATHING FOR WHOLE BODY HEALTH

Pilates is whole-body commitment to improve whole-body health for every body! A Pilates workout program can improve your health as well as help you get in touch with your body, mind, and spirit. As a mind-body wellness program, Pilates is focused fitness training.

Developed in the 1920’s by Joseph H. Pilates, it has been used for general fitness, rehabilitation, and to help increase athletic performance. Regardless of age or current health and fitness level, there is an appropriate place for you to start practicing Pilates.

Pilates can enhance many different aspects of a healthy lifestyle, and it’s never too late to improve posture, gain strength, flexibility, and improve your whole-body health!

There are many amazing benefits that can be achieved by doing Pilates. If you asked 10 Pilates students why they started Pilates and what benefits they’ve gained, you’ll probably get 10 different answers. But it’s not about the benefits other people get, the real question to ask yourself is: In what specific ways do I want MY life to improve?

• What are YOUR Wellness Goals?
• What do YOU struggle with, that you really want to improve on for a healthy life?
• What physical activities, sports, or daily life activities are you challenged to have the strength, stamina, balance, flexibility, or body support to do well in?
• In what ways would improving these things in your life make a difference and make your life better?
• What would the impact of these positive health improvements mean to you, physically, emotionally, mentally?
• How will you know your efforts and hard work is making a positive difference?
• What will you be able to do effortlessly and easily that you are challenged to do now?

By knowing what your personal goals are and discussing them with a Pilates trainer, they can be the focus in your Pilates training program. You won’t just be doing a bunch of Pilates “exercises” but you can be assured that your expectations and outcome is in alignment for wellness success to maximize the benefits of your Pilates workouts.

Everyone CAN do Pilates! But not every Pilates exercise is appropriate for every person.

Being able to make smart (and safe) choices with the exercises in your weekly workout program can be the difference between doing exercises that are helpful vs. potentially harmful to your body. It is a part of why it is important to work closely with a well-trained Pilates teacher (especially getting started!) and why providing a detailed health history with information on any injuries/accidents, or medical conditions, as well as your goals and reasons for wanting to do Pilates need to be taken into consideration.

Pilates can be a fantastic to enhance wellness, whether you are young or old, super-fit and athletic, or dealing with health challenges and need to be cautious with what you are doing. In some cases, getting pre-approval to participate in a Pilates program by your Physician or Physical Therapist will need to happen before you begin. By working closely with your Pilates teacher, you can be assured that you are using Pilates exercises to take care of your body and working towards enhancing your optimal health in a safe manner.

If you are new to Pilates, it is important that you get your Pilates training program off to a great start.

To get the most benefits from your workouts, working closely with a well-trained and qualified Pilates expert to help guide you can be a priceless investment. It can help transform your body for better health, maximize the efficiency of your workouts, make safe and smart exercise choices, and help you quickly progress from being a beginner Pilates student to a passionate Pilates pro, confident and empowered to use your Pilates workouts to enhance your health and vitality.

At Centerworks^® whether you participate in our Bodhi Body “In-Studio” Pilates programs or our Virtual Training Programs, your first step is to complete our Health Survey forms, and have a quick-chat with Aliesa or a member of our Wellness Success team to recommend the best (and safest) options to get started. Our recommendations will be based on your wellness goals, and your health history information to guide you into what will be the most advantageous Pilates programs we offer at Centerworks®.

Both private Pilates sessions, and group Pilates classes can have great benefits! But it does depend on what YOUR goals are, and your personal health status, as to what might be safest and most appropriate.

Group Pilates Classes: If you are healthy, with no underlying medical issues, chronic health problems, recent surgeries, or injuries, participating in group Pilates classes can be a more economical option, and you have the added benefit of a little extra camaraderie with your classmates. But with the lower cost, comes less personalized attention. Your group Pilates teacher must make exercise choices that are most appropriate for everyone that is in your class. You will not get as much individual help to improve your technique, or be able to adequately address any personal goals or concerns during group classes (unless it happens to be an issue that all your classmates are also challenged with, and it is relevant and appropriate to discuss it as a group). Depending on the type of group Pilates class, and equipment available, group Pilates classes may range in size from 4-10 participants.

Private Pilates Training: While considered a more “expensive” option, you really do get what you pay for. Private training is an investment in your good health! Being able to work one-on-one with a well-trained Pilates expert can be priceless. At some point, we will all be spending money on our health. The question is: Do you want to spend it on doctors, pharmaceuticals, and medical intervention when you are desperately trying to get your good health back? Or invest in yourself, and your body, and be pro-active to take care of yourself to do what you can while you are still healthy to maintain and improve your well-being?

Pilates is designed to keep you proactive and empower you to do what you can to maintain and manage wellness. If you have been struggling with health improvement issues. Private training can be extremely beneficial, especially getting started. But truthfully, Private Pilates training can be greatly beneficial for everyone! There is nothing better than Private Pilates training to ensure that every single exercise in your workout program has a specific reason for being there, and everything you do is working on improving YOUR health, to help you reach YOUR WELLNESS GOALS. Plus, you’ve got the expert mentorship and guidance of a well-qualified Pilates professional overseeing and helping you with every exercise to ensure success.

It is important to understand that Pilates is a system, and to get the best benefits from the Pilates system, doing BOTH Pilates Matwork and Pilates Equipment exercises will give you the best benefits.

Pilates Matwork can be considered the “hardest” part of the Pilates Method. You must have the strength and support IN your body to do the exercises. If you have this support in the right places, and are using the right muscles, you can be assured that you are using the Pilates exercises in your workouts as they were designed to enhance your health, and improve functional movement. There is no special equipment needed, just a Mat – it is also the easiest, and most economical part of the Pilates system. Ideally, it is recommended that people do their Matwork exercises, with discipline and consistency, at least 4 days a week.

The basic Pilates equipment exercises make it easier to do good beginner Pilates Matwork. The beginner Pilates Matwork exercises make it easier to do more intermediate-level equipment work. This layering effect continues between Pilates equipment exercises and Pilates Matwork exercises as you progress and get stronger and can work into more advanced Pilates exercises (as it is appropriate for your body).

Everything about doing Pilates and getting the best benefits possible with both your Pilates Matwork and Pilates equipment exercises boils down to connecting mind and body, and striving to always make the last repetition of every Pilates exercise you do the best rep you’ve ever done, to leave your muscles with good memory of how to work well. More reps done in a sloppy manner, (or not using the muscles that really should be doing the work) will not give you the results you desire. But by focusing your efforts on recruiting the right muscles, doing things as well as possible with precision and control, and making the last rep your best one ever, you will gain the whole-body health benefits of this amazing system.

Pilates and Yoga are both great systems for developing health and wellness, but it is somewhat like comparing apples and oranges.

Both Pilates and Yoga can help you develop strength and flexibility, they are both fitness modalities that can be considered mind-body systems. There are many different “schools” or types of Yoga, some of the most popular are Hatha, Iyengar, Kundalini, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Bikram, and Yin Yoga. It’s unfair and impossible to lump all of the different Yoga systems together and compare them to Pilates.

Pilates Matwork and Yoga are both done on a Mat, and can be done in a group class, or at home on your own. Typically, yoga classes are done in larger groups ( a Yoga class might have 10-30 or more students in class) and your Yoga teacher most likely is doing the exercises with you to “follow” along, and might occasionally give you personal corrections, or help you with an individualized hand-on correction to help the positioning or alignment of your Yoga pose. How a yoga class is taught, and the amount of personalized attention you might get in class totally depends on the experience and expertise of the Yoga teacher, and the training format/philosophies of the studio or gym.

Generally in a Pilates Mat class, the number of participants is much smaller, (not more than 10-12 participants) and most of the time a Pilates teacher is not on the mat getting a “workout” during your Mat class, but will demonstrate when necessary. Otherwise, a Pilates teacher is up and moving amidst their Mat class participants watching every exercise to provide cues to not only for HOW to do each Pilates Mat exercise in your workout, but also helping with fine-tuning cues, both general and personalized, to continue improving your technique. How a Pilates class is taught can also vary, depending on the experience of the teacher, and training format/philosophies of the studio or gym you take classes at. Pilates Matwork is the part of the Pilates system that can also be practiced at-home on your own.

The biggest difference between Pilates and Yoga, is that Pilates also has numerous additional exercises, modifications, and variations as a part of the Pilates system, that are done on the Pilates Reformer, Cadillac, Chairs and Barrels. On the Pilates equipment you get the benefit of working against spring-tension resistance that mimics the actual contraction/release action of the muscles. The Pilates equipment provides support, resistance, and assistance to fine-tune your technique and improve your functional movement habits. The benefits of using the equipment for support/resistance/assistance by doing workouts with Pilates equipment, is something that neither Yoga or Pilates Matwork offer.

In the world we live in today, there are lots of options for how, where, and how much you spend to participate in Pilates training.

Each option has its pros and cons and will have distinctly different benefits to offer. While the cost of each will be different, the benefits will also vary greatly depending on your chosen investment. It can be safe to say that “you get what you pay for.” Investing in your education and training as a Pilates participant can be priceless to help improve how you move, enhance overall wellness, and reduce your risk of aches, pains, and injuries. However, the benefits you receive may be in direct proportion to the type of training you choose, the experience and expertise of the Pilates teacher, the facility: small boutique studio, or big box gym, and/or Virtual Pilates Training with live-streaming classes vs. watching pre-recorded Pilates Videos.