14 DAY TRIAL // Although it’s been a little over 40 years since Joseph Hubertus Pilates, the creator of the exercises with the same name, passed away, fitness enthusiasts and those just looking to unwind and lead a healthier life continue to show the same interest, if not even a greater one, in Pilates. Starting from the premise that Pilates is not for everyone, a thing that is by now common knowledge, and that it can’t be performed under any given circumstance, requiring both special apparatus and state of mind, here are the three main benefits you can derive from this type of physical exercise – just in case you were still wondering about why you should pick it up.
First of all, Pilates helps you achieve full body awareness and promotes it throughout all types of exercises. Unlike other fitness regimes, this is not so much about losing weight dramatically, or about getting those flat abs you’ve always wanted, as it is about reaching flexibility and awareness of how one’s body works – it’s about concentration, coordination and elegance of movement. Because Pilates exercises do not focus on sheer force or physical strength, whoever takes them up knows from the very start that each action and move must be well thought in advance and "visualized" as it’s being performed.
Thus, in time, true Pilates fans will get to know how their bodies move and act/react during the workout because, as already noted above, it’s the kind of physical exercise that calls for a particular state of mind. “It is an education in body awareness. There is an attention required [in doing the exercises] that changes your awareness even after class. It teaches you how to train your mind and build symmetry and coordination in the body. And when you can get control of the little things, that's practicing willpower.” says Siri Dharma Galliano, Pilates instructor at a famous health center in LA.
The second benefit of Pilates is achieving a stronger core, which, as you should know from the start, does NOT equal a six-pack. What it does mean, however, is that maximum muscular flexibility is reached, which, in turn, translates into a stronger body. But, experts warn, this doesn’t necessarily mean that whoever takes up Pilates will change their bodily shape dramatically in just a few weeks. The effects are, they say, long-term but more subtle, in that the body becomes trimmer without showing all those clear signs you would get with, say, a more aggressive and demanding workout.
"A flexible muscle is a strong muscle. A hard muscle may feel good and give an interesting look, but if you don't have the flexibility and the balance and the functionality that you need to allow your body to function properly, sooner or later, it's going to show up someplace else." says Kevin Bowen, co-founder of the Pilates Method Alliance.
Next up on the list of benefits is body control – Pilates does not mean knowing when to sit up and/or flex a muscle, but knowing precisely how to do that and which muscle needs flexed. Unlike weight lifting or running on the treadmill, both of which are activities that can be performed with almost the same results even when chewing gum or watching TV, Pilates requires concentration, in order to have the body in perfect coordination, necessary for attaining symmetry. While this might sound a bit too much like yoga, a breathing technique and heavy concentration, as well as proper "working" conditions, are all compulsory to achieving the best results. Otherwise, Pilates is nothing but crunches and funny-looking poses for which, to cap it all off, you also run the risk of seriously injuring yourself.
"Unless you are taught how to move and discover with your teacher what is blocking you (for example, keeping your shoulders up too high), you will never achieve body symmetry. When you start getting control of your body, it gives you a great degree of satisfaction." says the same Galliano, who also worked with Madonna, Sting, Cameron Diaz and Uma Thurman in their quest to getting to an enviable shape.
This being said, you should not take these benefits for granted just because they’re enumerated above – not without properly "testing" them out at least. Then again, Hubertus Pilates said in 1965, "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." He was 86 at the time and he was not lying, so he must have known what he was talking about.
