Pilates: How does it work?
Pilates focuses on strengthening and elongating the body. It is comprised of 500 exercises that are derived from yoga, ballet, and callisthenics. While traditional workouts tend to focus on weight bearing exercises that build and bulk muscles, pilates is centered around the core and having a strong center body. The exercises completed are low-impact and work the whole body. Instead of continually building up strong muscles and neglecting weaker ones, every muscle group from head to toe is incorporated. Since a lot of emphasis is placed on flexibility, some movements can be challenging. However, exercises can be catered to beginners or individuals that are more advanced.
Who does Pilates benefit?
Essentially, EVERYONE! Whether you are an athlete, rehabilitating from an injury, or just looking to regain your strength, pilates is for you. From improving flexibility, posture, muscular control, concentration, and coordination to increasing body awareness, muscular strength, relaxation of the upper body, and rehabilitation of an injured muscle, pilates will help you.
Athletes
The following are benefits of Pilates that will help any athlete elevate their game.
- Improved Flexibility: More movement in the hips, hamstrings, lower back, and upper body has shown to improve mobility and decrease the likelihood of injuries.
- Balance: By working unused muscles, the entire body become active and centered. This means less room for injuries to occur.
- Efficiency and Endurace: With the emphasis on building a strong core, it has been shown that athlete's movements become more efficient. This is especially helpful in athlete's that focus on improved endurance, such as triathletes.
- Injury Prevention: As stated above, by working muscle groups that often get neglected, the unnatural movements that occur in sports are less likely to result in an injury. For example, the twisting motion in golf can causing back injuries. By doing Pilates, the muscles used in a swing can be improved in their strength and flexibility, leading to a more powerful movement.
This is why many professional athletes cite Pilates as the key to their success.
Injury Rehabilitation
If it hasn't become apparent, Pilates is tremendous for injury recovery and rehabilitation. By regularly engaging in pilates and proper rehabilitation methods, you can see improvements in:
- Spinal Curvatures
- Muscular Symmetry
- Slip Discs
- Hip and Knee Surgery Replacement Recovery
- Blood Circulation
- Strength and Healing of Bones