Pilates Method, More than Just another Exercise

The Pilates Method, or just Pilates, is a physical fitness system that was developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates.
Pilates called his method Contrology, which refers to the way the method encourages the use of the mind to control the muscles. The program focuses on the core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso muscles, which are important to help alleviate and prevent back pain.
Joseph Pilates preferred fewer, more precise movements, requiring control and form. He believed that mental and physical health were essential to one another and created what is claimed to be a method of total body conditioning that emphasizes proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement, “The Pilates Principles”.

History

Around 1914, Joseph Pilates was a circus performer, self-defense trainer and a boxer living in England and, at the outbreak of WWI, was placed under forced internment along with other German nationals in Lancaster, England. There he taught fellow camp members the concepts and exercises developed over 20 years of self-study and apprenticeship in yoga, Zen, and ancient Greek and Roman physical regimens. It was at this time that he began devising the system of original exercises known today as “matwork”, or exercises done on the floor. He called this regimen “Contrology.” A few years later, he was transferred to another camp, where he became a nurse/caretaker to the many internees struck with wartime disease and physical injury. Here, he began devising equipment to rehabilitate his “patients,” taking springs from the beds and rigging them to create spring resistance and “movement” for the bedridden. Joseph Pilates.

Nowadays, much of the United States, parts of Canada, Europe, and Pan-Asia are experiencing an explosion in demand for Pilates. Widely embraced among dancers for years, this system of exercise that doesn’t demand sweating, is popping up in fitness classes, physical therapy offices, corporate retreats, luxury spas and wellness centers across the world.

Real Health Benefits

Practiced faithfully, Pilates yields numerous benefits. Increased lung capacity and circulation through deep, healthy breathing is a primary focus. Strength and flexibility, particularly of the abdomen and back muscles, coordination-both muscular and mental, are key components in an effective Pilates program. Posture, balance, and core strength are all heartily increased. Bone density and joint health improve, and many experience positive body awareness for the first time. Pilates teaches balance and control of the body, and that capacity spills over into other areas of one’s life.

You don’t need much to improve your quality of life with Pilates exercise just three times a week for about half an hour and the first evident results can be seen starting within just four weeks.

Pilates Principles

Pilates follows principles based on a well-constructed philosophical and theoretical foundation. It is not merely a collection of exercises but a method developed and refined over more than eighty years of use and observation. While Pilates draws from many diverse exercise styles, there are certain inherent ruling principles that bring all these elements together under the Pilates name. One interpretation of Principles: Centering, Concentration, Control, Precision, Breathing, and Flowing Movement.

Mind over matter

Joseph Pilates in his studio in NYC with his wife Clara and niece Mary. ClaraThe central element of Pilates is to create a fusion of mind and body, so that without thinking about it you will move with economy, grace, and balance; using your body to the greatest advantage, making the most of its strengths, counteracting its weaknesses, and correcting its imbalances. The goal is this: to produce an attention-free union of mind and body, the method requires that you constantly pay attention to your body while you are doing the movements. Paying attention is so vital that it is more important than any other single aspect of the movements or the method.

Breathing

Joseph Pilates believed in circulating the blood so that it could awaken all the cells in the body and carry away the wastes related to fatigue. For the blood to do its work properly, it has to be charged with oxygen and purged of waste gases through proper breathing. Full and thorough inhalation and exhalation are part of every Pilates exercise. Pilates saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation. “Squeeze out the lungs as you would wring a wet towel dry,” he is reputed to have said. Breathing, too, should be done with concentration, control, and precision. It should be properly coordinated with movement. Each exercise is accompanied by breathing instructions. Joseph Pilates stated, “Even if you follow no other instructions, learn to breathe correctly”.

Centering

Pilates called the very large group of muscles in our center – encompassing our abdomen, lower back, hips, and buttocks – the “powerhouse.” All energy for Pilates exercises begins from the powerhouse and flows outward to the extremities. Physical energy is exerted from the center to coordinate one’s movements. Pilates felt that it was important to build a strong powerhouse in order to rely on it in daily living.

Concentration

Pilates demands intense focus. For instance, the inner thighs and pelvic floor may be accessed when doing a standing exercise that tones the triceps. Beginners learn to pay careful attention to their bodies, building on very small, delicate fundamental movements and controlled breathing. In 2006, at the Parkinson Center of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, the concentration factor of the Pilates method was being studied in providing relief from the degenerative symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Control

Joseph Pilates built his method on the idea of muscle control. That meant no sloppy, uncontrolled movements. Every Pilates exercise must be performed with the utmost control, including all body parts, to avoid injury and produce positive results. It’s not about intensity or multiple repetitions of a movement, it’s more about proper form for safe, effective results.

Precision

Every movement in the Pilates method has a purpose. Every instruction is vitally important to the success of the whole. To leave out any detail is to forsake the intrinsic value of the exercise. The focus is on doing one precise and perfect movement, rather than many halfhearted ones. Eventually this precision becomes second nature, and carries over into everyday life as grace and economy of movement.

Fluidity

Pilates mat exercises are supposed to be performed fluidly. There are no static, isolated movements. Concentration and body awareness replaces the quick, jerky movements of other exercise regimes. Grace of motion is emphasized over speed; ultimately the movements are meant to feel as fluid as a long stride or a waltz. Uniformly developed muscles are then developed to complement good posture, suppleness, and natural grace. However, with the usage of the apparatus, clients will need to take at least some time to adjust their equipment settings and props.

Pilates in our times

First Generation Instructors, who knew Joe, maintain that he and Clara (his wife) would be very happy and proud of the popularity and growth of Pilates. However, it is less clear how he might feel about the influx of “quickie certifications” available for would-be instructors wanting to be trained in a weekend or two. Joe worked at length with his own instructors, allowing them to assist and then finally teach after sometimes as long as 2 or 3 years of training and apprenticeship. He was quoted as saying, “Remember Rome was not built in a day.” and “Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.” While excellent training programs exist in the marketplace today, some are clearly condensed and homogenized, producing less-than-adequately qualified instructors. Prices for classes range from 10$-$20 for group mat sessions, to upwards of $50-$100 for one hour of one-on-one instruction utilizing the full repertoire of Pilates equipment. Comprehensively, competently trained and knowledgeable instructors are the essential element in realizing one’s potential, and enjoying the process of learning Pilates.

You may think that pilates is just another exercise routine, like aerobox, or tae-bo, but Joseph himself stood against his detractors with this frase:

“I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They’d be happier.”
- Joseph Hubertus Pilates, in 1965, age 86.

Negative Aspects of Pilates

Because of the extensive and expensive education that most Pilates instructors must complete, plus studio rentals and equipment, instruction can be costly. It is possible for the method to be taught in a class setting, but this will not allow an instructor to take the individual students’ personalized needs into consideration. Ideally new trainees will be given close, personally tailored supervision until they develop sufficient knowledge to continue their training in a class or group.

In recent years the term “Pilates” worked itself into the mainstream, and following an unsuccessful intellectual property lawsuit, a US federal court ruled the term “Pilates” generic and free for unrestricted use. While this ruling prevented artificial restrictions on the use of the term “Pilates” by legitimate, qualified Pilates trainers, it also permitted many untrained or under-qualified practitioners to capitalise on the name. Consumers now face extensive and conflicting information about what Pilates really is, how it works, and what credentials they should seek in an instructor.

Another less obvious drawback to Pilates is that while it can tone the rectus and transverse abdominis muscles, when performed wrongly or too often, certain exercises can also cause over-development in the external and internal oblique muscles of the abdomen, resulting in a flat stomach but a wider waist. This is because much of Pilates is practiced through extension with the torso moving in a linear, forward fashion.

Exercising during pregnancy is important for maintaining muscle strength and preventing musculoskeletal problems and Pilates in Pregnancy is well recognized as having many benefits both in physical and mental wellbeing. Yet, many exercises are contra-indicated and the use of Pilates in pregnancy should only be undertaken under guidance of a fully trained expert.

Sources: Pilates Method Alliance, Wikipedia