Pilates

What Is Pilates?

Pilates is a progressive series of exercises that focus on strengthening and stabilising your central “core” of muscles. Your central “core” muscles are all the muscles that wrap deeply around your spine including the deep abdominal, spinal and pelvic floor muscles.

Where Did Pilates Come From?

Pilate’s exercises have been modified form the original series of exercises designed by the man Joseph Pilates. German born in 1880, he began the exercises to fight personal illness of asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever.
His exercises helped wounded soldiers during WW1. He then moved to America and become famous for his exercise regimes provided to ballerinas.

How Does Pilates Work?

In the process of strengthening your “core” muscles Pilates re-educates your body awareness. Posture and body alignment are improved. All body movements are then performed from a more stable base creating more efficient movement and reducing incidence of injury.

Who Can It Help?

Everyone! Everyone can benefit from Pilates!

Pilates works all the muscles and joints of your body. It moves your spine in all directions. For most of us during our daily lives we spend long periods of time in stationary positions: sitting at a desk, in front of the TV, prolonged standing, working with our arms in front of us etc.

Pilates moves your body in all directions maintaining the strength and mobility of all the muscles and joints.
Just like we brush our teeth to keep them healthy, regular Pilates helps maintain the strength and health of our joints and muscles.

Back & Neck Injuries
Most people with back and neck pain have poor posture, overly tight or weak muscles through the back and abdominal regions. By improving posture, movement patterns and the “core” muscles, in most incidences back and neck pain improve.

Shoulders, Hip/Groin and Knee Injuries
By correcting posture, muscle imbalances and movement patterns, excessive loading on the groin region, shoulder, hip and knee joints is reduced and pain is often improved.

Sports Injuries
Many athletes now do Pilates to enhance performance, reduce risk of injury, and to treat existing injuries.
By correcting muscle imbalances, improving core stability and correcting the sports specific movement patterns the injured area is often unloaded and performance and pain levels are improved.

Teenagers
Many teenagers have poor posture and body alignment.

Rounding of the shoulders through hours spent sitting badly studying over books and the computer or carrying heavy schoolbags are major contributors to poor posture.

Poor posture can lead to headaches, back and neck pain and can be improved with appropriate Pilates' instruction.

Poor body alignment is often associated with growth spurts and weak muscles that can’t yet support the new height. During growth spurts many muscles don’t lengthen quickly enough.
Tight muscle can also effect body alignment.

Poor body alignment can contribute to “growing pains” and can be improved by strengthening weak muscles and stretching the tight ones.