Friday, March 20, 2009

Pilates Fitness Essentials 101

By Dori Clayton

Exercises are good for the body however, some traditional ones are only a set of repetitive movements making the participant tired and bored of the program. If you are one of them, you are probably experiencing the same boredom with your set of exercises and these movements might have been contributing more stresses instead of making your body relaxed. In cases like these, it is a good thing that there are some alternative ways to resolve the issue about exercises and one of them is the Pilates fitness program.

You see, you don?t have to suffer forever from those difficult to execute exercises. Pilates fitness is an alternative that is just perfect for a dynamic and adventurous person like you. There is one special individual to commend in this case and that is Joseph H. Pilates who was altogether a skin diver, skier, and a skilled gymnast. Before he became any of those though, he was a sickly child who fortunately had a lot of exercise motivation.

When he developed this program, he was thinking of the victims of the war who were injured and need physical training to be able to make the body function again. After the Pilates exercises were being noticed, he had his first students who happened to be some dancers who strongly believed that this program will help them improve their skills. His next students were some individuals who were physically challenged individuals, elderly people, health enthusiasts to movie actors and actresses.

In case you are thinking what Pilates fitness means, here is a brief summary of it. Pilates fitness is about the body motion performed slowly but purposefully with the intention of improving body condition and core muscle appearance. With its philosophy that if an individual doing this fitness will be able to develop his midsection muscles, he will also tend to develop the other sections of the body.

As such, one is guided through a slow development from executing small-scale movements to large-scale actions as confidence increases. Pilates motion that runs from the core towards the extremities allows greater control of joints in the body. Likewise, injuries are far from happening in this sense.

This Pilates exercises are good for those who are on their senior years since their body is aging and needs slow motion to reduce the effects of aging and to control the body to become more improved when it comes to good posture, coordination, flexibility, and strength. This fitness is also advisable to individuals who went through surgical operations.

However, this kind of exercise is not all physical. The most essential part of the exercise is the much-needed concentration that allows the mind to get harmonized with the body. In this way, it is much like yoga or meditation. Similarly, Pilates incorporates proper breathing with exercises that are done on the mat or with some Pilates exercise equipment.

There are equipments that are specifically designed for Pilates fitness training. It includes the following the reformer, the pedipull, the cadillac, the barrel and the chair. Unlike the usual weight training though, exercises done on these machines are more focused on mind concentrations to execute the proper form. In particular, the abdomen and the buttocks exert all the effort while the extremities are fully out-stretched.

Evidently, Pilates fitness training is a whole new world of exercise. If you?re the type who wants to achieve a slimmer body that is also strong and well toned, then Pilates is the one for you.

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