Body Beautiful

Pilates is a body-conditioning programme, which uses core strengthening, stretching and mobility exercises to improve both the appearance and efficiency of your body.

The Pilates method will correct faulty muscle use and imbalances, restore good postural alignment and natural, normal movement. It will help you develop a greater awareness of your own body, its posture and how you move. The creation of a ‘core strength’ is one of the primary aims of this method and is achieved by working the deep postural muscles that stabilise the torso and control the lumbar spine.

Each Pilates exercise is built around 8 key principals:

1. Concentration - To be mindful of your body and its movement, a failure to concentrate will result in loss of alignment and faulty muscle use.
2. Relaxation - To learn how to recognise areas of undue tension and relax the body before you start each exercise. Over dominant and over active muscles inhibit can movement and need to be switched off and relaxed before trying to strengthen the weak ones.
3. Breathing - To learn how correct breathing facilitates movement and benefits your overall wellbeing. Correct deep breathing is a way of cleansing the body, increasing oxygen levels and stimulating your circulation.
4. Alignment - To restore natural ‘neutral’ alignment of the head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, hips, knees, ankles and feet. Pilates teaches good alignment in standing, sitting, side- lying, prone and semi-supine. For each exercise great attention is paid to correct alignment throughout, ensuring good muscle control and avoiding undue pressure on the joints.
5. Core Stability - To create a ‘core of strength’ is one of the main aims of Pilates, and abdominal strengthening is key to every exercise. Pilates targets the deep abdominals and other stabilising muscles to support the spine and create a core strength from which movement can take place.
6. Co-ordination - To co-ordinate breathing and core stability into all movements. We usually start with small movements and then move up to more complicated combinations.
7. Flowing movement and mobility - To move with control, grace and flow. The exercises work muscles through their full range of movement, resulting in long lean muscles with greater strength through their entire range. The exercises will increase mobility of the joints with special attention being given to the shoulders, hips and spine.
8. Stamina - To improve strength with staying power by challenging the core muscles. Mastering efficient movement frees up your energy and increases stamina. And as a result of all the stabilising work the postural muscles will have greatly improved endurance.

Pilates classes are not an aerobic workout, although some of the advanced sequences are cardiovascular. It is recommended to combine Pilates with some aerobic-style exercise, i.e. brisk walking, running, cycling or swimming.

As you become more aware of the right way to move and hold yourself, repeating these key movement patterns during the Pilates sessions will encourage you to do the same in your daily activities. Overt time, many of the movement patterns will actually become second nature.

Integrating the Pilates principles and correct movement patterns into any sporting activity will greatly improve your performance and can prevent injury.