Pilates was once known almost exclusively to the dance world, but over its 85 year life span the general public has gradually become aware of its gentle-on-the-joints approach to fitness.


Image courtesy of Elizabeth Larkam and Balanced Body, Inc.
Every year more and more people abandon whatever current exercise fad is in fashion to enroll in Pilates, a technique that sculpts a body back to health with nowear and tear on ankles, hips, knees or elbows. One of the primary benefits of Pilates, however, is how it affects everything else one does. You learn not only the specific exercises, but a philosophy for the correct use of muscles, joints, and breath during movement. As students develop this body awareness, participation in other strenuous activities are less likely to cause injury. In short, Pilates students will actually get more benefit out of that activity because of the application of the principals they have learned.

Every Pilates session starts out with breathing and relaxation exercises designed to move the student into a more natural alignment. You will then be led through several exercises designed to loosen the back, neck, chest, hip joints and other body areas where muscle tension may need release. Only then do you begin the real exercises. Every move is performed with perfect alignment, and is modified as necessary to ensure that the alignment is maintained throughout. In this manner, your body is strengthened into patters of correct posture. Each set of muscles is also trained in such a way as to create perfect balance in in the body. Whenever a muscle is work- ed, its opposite muscle is also worked.

Additionally, rather than doing many repetitions of one movement (like 50 push-ups), in Pilates the student performs 5-10 reps of many exercises designed to affect the muscles slightly differently. By emphasizing deliberation and control in every exercise, both the concentric (shortening) and eccentric (lengthening) contractions of the muscles are worked, creating the long, lean musculature of a dancer, rather than the shorter, bulkier muscles of a weight-lifter. Recent studies have shown that emphasizing the eccentric contractions when exercising results in significantly greater increase in bone density over concentric contractions alone. This is particularly important for women, as it is an effective treatment for and prevention of osteopenia and osteoporosis.