About Pilates
Stay active and fit for a lifetime with Pilates
WHAT IS PILATES?
Pilates or “Contrology“ as the originator of the system, Joseph H. Pilates, called it is a total body conditioning system with over 500 strengthening and stretching exercises. The complete system includes the Pilates mat work and the exercises utilizing the Pilates equipment, which was originally engineered by Joseph Pilates himself.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM PILATES?
The classical Pilates exercise system can benefit anyone from the post-physical therapy patient to conditioned athletes. It improves overall strength, posture, coordination, balance and flexibility. Each workout is tailored specifically to individual’s body and capabilities.
It has also been known to make you feel good!
It can help improve your golf, basketball or tennis game and enhance how you run. It improves breathing, sharpens mental focus and increases endurance. Many professional athletes are embracing Pilates as a crucial part of their rehabilitation exercise regime and for injury prevention. Dancers have known about the benefits of Pilates for years.
Pilates helps to relieve or eliminate pain, and is beneficial for conditions such as back pain, arthritis, hip and joint pain, joint replacements, general tightness and stiffness, lack of balance, fibromyalgia and repetitive stress injuries. Increasingly more medical professionals now recommend Pilates to their patients as part of the patient’s continuing care.
WHAT MAKES PILATES SO EFFECTIVE?
The classical Pilates method integrates and balances muscles in the whole body by strengthening the core muscle groups that make up the “powerhouse” or the “center”- the deep torso and abdominal muscles, the pelvic floor, lower back and buttocks muscles.
The focus on core stabilization and correct alignment aligns, strengthens and supports the spine by balancing muscle strength on the two sides of the body. By strengthening and learning to move from the deeper core muscles and the pelvic floor, stress on the joints is reduced and support for the internal organs is created.
Every Pilates exercise is comprised of a balance of stretching and strengthening, which helps to develop better posture, better alignment and improve balance. The emphasis on maintaining correct posture throughout the workout and working within the correct range of motion for the joint increases joint mobility and stability. It helps to counteract the cumulative effects of repetitive postures and motions of everyday life.
The entire body becomes stronger, leaner, more flexible and more resistant to injury.
You look, feel and move better.
Focusing on correct breathing during the work out increases lung capacity and creates more efficient breathing. Learning to coordinate correct breathing with movement creates more effortless and efficient movement.
The results are more efficiency, ease and confidence in how you walk, work and move in every day life and in recreation.
MIND-BODY CONDITIONING
“It is the mind itself that controls the body” – Joseph Pilates
The strong focus on the mind body connection during the Pilates session enhances body and self-awareness and the use of correct biomechanics. This awareness also carries over into the functional activities of everyday life. Centering the mind and body together helps to reduce stress and clients report feeling invigorated, calmer and a greater sense of well being as a result of their session.
MORE BENEFITS OF PILATES
- Reduces stress in both body and mind
- Improves biomechanics by getting the muscles to work with anatomical efficiency
- Creates a more streamlined and sculpted body
- Prevents back pain
- Increases energy and stamina
- More precise and controlled movement
- Creates more confidence in physical strength and balance
- Flow, dynamics, natural rhythm
- Creates better movement patterns
ABOUT JOSEPH PILATES
Joseph H. Pilates was born in Germany in 1883. He was a sickly child who suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever and dedicated his entire life to becoming physically stronger. In 1914 he moved to England and earned a living as a boxer, circus performer and self-defense trainer. During World War I he was interned with other German citizens in a camp near Lancaster where he trained other inmates in fitness and exercises. After the War, Joseph emigrated to the United States and on the ship to America he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and taught Pilates’ method which they called “Contrology”. They soon established a following with dancers and gymnasts. Joseph is called a “genius of the body”. His approach to fitness includes over 500 exercises. He also engineered all the equipment, with specifications required to teach the exercises properly. Pilates practiced what he preached and lived a long and healthy life. He died in 1967 at the age of 84.
ABOUT ROMANA KRYZANOWSKA
Romana, born in 1923, was Joseph and Clara’s protégé. She was a professional ballerina and a master Pilates teacher who taught Pilates’ system of exercise for over 60 years. She taught at the studio in New York with Joseph and Clara Pilates. Joseph put Romana in charge of creating the training program for the students of Pilates and upon his death, handed down his exercises and philosophy to her. She taught the Pilates system as taught to her by Joseph Pilates and inspired thousands of Pilates students and instructors around the world with her knowledge and “joi de vivre”. She died in 2013 at the age of 89.
What Our Clients Say
I am very athletic and want to stay as fit as possible as I age. I started taking Pilates sessions last year to add variety to my work outs. I am a competitive golfer and taking Pilates sessions using the reformer has increased my flexibility and strengthened my core and back muscles. It also has minimized occasional back issues. I feel GREAT after my Pilates sessions. I am hooked on Pilates and highly recommend instructor Lucille Noggle.
I am 72 and for the last two and a half years Pilates has been my focal point for exercise. Lucille has been my instructor and guide. I have done my routine consistently over the two-year period of time. This has resulted in weight loss, as well as increased flexibly, endurance and strength plus a general overall sense of well-being. It is a series of exercises well suited for any age and I highly recommend it.
Since I’ve been doing Pilates, which is the last 3 or 4 years, every time I have a bone density test it improves a little bit. That is from the weight bearing exercise that you get with the springs on the Pilates equipment. I have also become more flexible.