Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

By now, we’ve all read about celebrities who swear by Pilates for achieving a long, lean and strong look. But, if you’re like me, you have only a vague idea of what Pilates actually is—a different kind of yoga, right? Not exactly.

Origins

Joseph Pilates described his exercise system (which he originally called “contrology”) as

“a complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. Through Contrology you first purposefully acquire complete control of your own body and then through proper repetition of its exercises you gradually and progressively acquire that natural rhythm and coordination associated with all your subconscious activities …”

Over the years, Pilates practitioners have developed six principles:

1)   Breathing

2)   Centering

3)   Concentration

4)   Control

5)   Precision

6)   Flow

They say that integrating these principles produces balance, grace and ease.

The yoga connection

As the American Council on Exercise explains,

“The mind/body connection associated with yoga and meditation also plays an integral part in Pilates. Unlike exercise techniques that emphasize numerous repetitions in a single direction, Pilates exercises are performed with very few, but extremely precise, repetitions in several planes of motion.”

Getting to the core

Pilates can help develop long, strong muscles, but much of the focus is on the core—i.e., the abdominal, hip and back muscles. The exercises develop pelvic stability and abdominal control, while improving flexibility and joint mobility.

Pilates is sometimes done on a machine called the Reformer—a wooden contraption with cables, pulleys, springs and sliding boards. Your own body weight provides the main source of resistance as you go through a series of progressive range-of-motion exercises. The exercises generally are very low impact.

Machines aren’t necessary to perform Pilates, though. You can find mat-based Pilates classes with exercises that also stress stabilizing and strengthening the back and abdominal muscles.

Interested in giving Pilates a try? Next week, I’ll post on how to select a quality instructor.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 5:37 am and is filed under General Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.