Concentrate on the correct movements each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value. Joseph Pilates
I love pilates. This method of exercise offers a no/low impact workout that challenges core, hip and houlder girdle strenth, helps improve posture, improves mood, and promotes body awareness.
Pilates is sometimes a tough sell to todays' fitness enthusiast who believes that only high intensity, hard core, burpee including, vomit inducing, dripping sweat kind of workout are the best (or only) way to maximize your precious workout time. And those kinds of workouts definitely have their place(you know how I love them) but a knowledge and regular practise of the Stott Pilates Method is likely to enhance your ability to participate more fully in other forms of movement - running, sports, dance, fitness, and more! The more you practise, the more you are aware of how your unique body responds to movement and how that applies to your workout, or for your better health. You will notice a desire to correct your posture at daily activities, an ability to control your breath more efficiently, better sleep, and more. With a focus on functional core strength, stability and mobility, STOTT Pilates applies all the most current research into human movement to make each movement unique and easily modifiable to fit your individual needs. In short, STOTT Pilates is AMAZING and I fully recommend it as part of your fitness program!
A Short Biography Of Pilates Founder, Joseph Pilates (Excerpt from About.com)German born Joseph Pilates was living in England, working as a circus performer and boxer, when he was placed in forced internment in England at the outbreak of WWI. While in the internment camp, he began to develop the floor exercises that evolved into what we now know as the Pilates mat work.
As time went by, Joseph Pilates began to work with rehabilitating detainees who were suffering from diseases and injuries. It was invention born of necessity that inspired him to utilize items that were available to him, like bed springs and beer keg rings, to create resistance exercise equipment for his patients. These were the unlikely beginnings of the equipment we use today, like the reformer and the fitness circle.
Joseph Pilates developed his work from a strong personal experience in fitness. Extrememly unhealthy as a child, he studied many kinds of self-improvement systems. He drew from Eastern practices, and was inspired by the ancient Greek ideal of man perfected in development of body, mind and spirit. On his way to developing the Pilates Method, Pilates studied anatomy and developed himself as a body builder, a wrestler, gymnast, boxer, skier and diver.
After WWI, Joseph Pilates briefly returned to Germany where his reputation as a physical trainer/healer preceded him. In Germany, he worked briefly for the Hamburg Military Police in self-defense and physical training. In 1925, he was asked to train the German army. Instead, he packed his bags and took a boat to New York City. On the boat to America, Joseph met Clara, a nurse, who would become his wife. He went on to establish his studio in New York and Clara worked with him as he evolved the Pilates method of exercise, invented the Pilates exercise equipment, and of course, trained students.
Exercise Of The Week - The Hundred
The Hundred exercise in Pilates got its name because you hold the exercise for 100 beats. It is a great exercise to come early in a series because it gets your whole body warm, possibly even breaking a sweat. The Hundred gets your breath going strong and your blood moving. In addition, it is an excellent exercise for increasing torso stability and abdominal strength. You may have some difficulty keeping your head up for so long. Drop your head to mat and continue the exercise in this manner if your neck feels strained.
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and up in the air, your knees and hips forming 90-degree angles.Your back should be in Neutral Spine. If this position feels like a strain on your lower back, try keeping your feet down on the floor for now.
2. Inhale: Reach your arms straight up to the sky.Your palms should be facing forward.
3. Exhale: As you reach your arms back down to the floor, lift your head and roll up to the Pilates Abdominal Position (similar to an abdominal crunch) with your shoulder blades just off the mat.Think of squeezing a tangerine under your chin on the way up. Your palms gently slap the air in a percussive rhythm.
4. Inhale: Inhale deeply for 5 beats (keep the rhythm with your arms)
5. Exhale: Using percussive breathing, exhale for 5 beats (saying shh, shh, shh, shh, shh).Percussive breathing is forced exhalation using the abdominal muscles; think of forcing the air out in short percussive blows.
6. Hold the position and continue pulsing your arms for 10 breaths.Remember that 10 breaths is 100 total beats (5 for each inhale and 5 for each exhale).
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