The Pilates Method

Balanced Exercises - Phenomenon of Pilates.

"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.

Today an interest to Pilates Method grows worldwide. This method of physical exercises, is developed to stretch, strengthen, and to balance human body. Uniting a complex of physical exercises with the concentrated breathing, the Pilates Method has proven itself invaluable not only as a fitness endeavor itself, but also as very important addition to sportsmen training and physical rehabilitation of patients. First, Pilates Method was used by professional dancers, but now it appears in fitness classes, medical offices, health resorts, etc. With the fast aging of our population, and the increasing of vertebral diseases, Pilates Method will be same popular in future as fitness.

"I invented all these machines. Began back in Germany, was there until 1925-used to exercise rheumatic patients. Look, you see it resists your movements in just the right way so those inner muscles really have to work against it. That wayyou can concentrate on movement. You must always do it slowly and smoothly. Then your whole body is in it."

Practiced precisely and with diligence, Pilates Method can give numerous benefits, such as increased lung capacity and circulation; strength and flexibility of the abdomen and back muscles; muscular and mental coordination; right posture; body balance, and core strength are all can be increased by means of Pilates Exercises. Another benefits is an improving of bone density and joint mobility.Pilates Method teaches balance and control all of the body parts, and thus, positively influencing on other areas of life.

"Everything should be smooth, like a cat. The exercises are done lying, sitting, kneeling, etc, to avoid excessive strain on the heart and lungs."

The history of the Pilates Method.

Pilates Method was developed by Joseph Hubertus Pilates, a German who was born in 1880. During First World War, Joseph Pilates was an intern at an English hospital. Joseph Pilates observed that the injured soldiers, who were confined to their beds, recoveres very slowly. So Joseph Pilates has made a machine out of old hospital beds and springs and designed a method of physical exercise which would assist the patients in rehabilitation get stronger and regain their health and strength. In 1926, he has arrived to New York City and brought along this method of exercise, which he named "Pilates". Since the Pilates Method was introduced, it has appeared everywhere from dance schools to the local gym.

Joe Pilates wife Clara, a qualified nurse, quietly incorporated Joe's concepts and exercises in ways that benefited more seriously ill or injured patients. Her accessible style and unique techniques have allowed to train new experts, whose work have made Pilates Method very popular today. It is perhaps because of Clara that Pilates method is clearly recognized as an effective and progressive form of movement-based exercise that truly can be adapted to any level of not just fitness, but also of health care.

"I learned... every part of the body; I would move each part as I memorized it. As a child, I would lie in the woods for hours, hiding and watching the animals move, how the mother taight the young."

In spite of the fact that many excellent training programs exist today, you should clearly understand, that the full understanding of principles of Pilates Method and enjoying from exercises is practically impossible without competently trained and knowledgeable instructors.

Prices for Pilates classes range from $15-$25 for group mat sessions, to upwards of $60-$120 for one hour of personal instruction using the full set of Pilates equipment such as Pilates Reformer, Pilates Mats etc.