Pilates- Popular Exercises Regimes in the World

History

Pilates was formed by Joseph Pilates during the First World War with the proposal to improve the rehabilitation program for the many returning veterans. Joseph Pilates believed mental and physical health is essential to one another.He recommended a few, precise movements emphasizing control and form to aid injured soldiers in regaining their health by strengthening, stretching, and stabilizing key muscles. Pilates created "The Pilates Principles" to condition the entire body: proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement.
Pilate’s sessions claim to help increase strength and flexibility, lengthen the body, and align the spine.

Principles of Pilates:

Pilates claimed his method has a philosophical and theoretical foundation. It claims not merely to be a collection of exercises but a method developed and refined over more than eighty years of use and observation. One interpretation of Pilates Principles: Centering, Concentration, Control, Precision, Breathing, and Flowing Movement, is similar to yoga.

Mind over matter

According to practitioners, the central element of Pilates is to create a fusion of mind and body, so that without thinking about it the body will move with economy, grace, and balance; using one's body to the greatest advantage, making the most of its strengths, counteracting its weaknesses, and correcting its imbalances. The goal is to produce an attention-free union of mind and body, the method requires that one constantly pays attention to one's body while doing the movements.

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. Breathing, too, should be done with concentration, control, and precision. It should be properly coordinated with movement.

Centering

Pilates called the very large group of muscles in the center of the body encompassing the abdomen, lower back, hips, and buttocks called the “powerhouse.” All energy for Pilates exercises regions from the powerhouse and flows outward to the extremities. Physical energy exerted from the center coordinates one's movements. Pilates felt that it was important to build a strong powerhouse in order to rely on it in daily living. Modern instructors call the powerhouse the "core".

Concentration

Pilates demands intense focus. Beginners learn to pay careful attention to their bodies, building on very small, delicate fundamental movements and controlled breathing.

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. The focus is on doing one precise and perfect movement, rather than many halfhearted ones.

Forms of Pilates:

There are 2 forms of Pilates

• Mat-based Pilates– the most popular form of Pilates.  This is a series of exercises performed on the floor using gravity and your own body weight to provide the resistance.  The central aim is to condition the deeper, supporting muscles of the body to improve posture, balance and coordination.
• Equipment-based Pilates-includes specific equipment such as the “Reformer”, which looks like a rowing machine that you push and pull along the floor.  These classes can be easier for beginners because the machines support you when you do the movements.  Some forms of Pilates include free weights (such as dumbbells) that offer resistance to the muscles.

Benefits of Pilates:

Those who practice and teach Pilates swear by its benefits.  If you do Pilates regularly, they say, you’ll have:

• Better posture, body alignment, and balance
• Greater body awareness
• More flexibility
• Increased and balanced muscle strength, particularly of the abdominal muscles, lower back, hips and buttocks (the core muscles of the body)
• Relief from back pain, sports injuries, and other chronic health problems
• Enhanced muscular control of the back and limbs and improved stabilization of the spine
• Longer, leaner and better-conditioned muscles, especially your “deep” or underlying muscles
• Better range of motion and freedom of movement 
• A whole-body workout
• Relaxation of the shoulders, neck and upper back
• Less stress and physical/mental tension

Summary:

The Pilates Method (or simply Pilates), pronounced, is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Pilates called his method Contrology, because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles. The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilate’s exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.