With it’s ever-increasing popularity, Pilates is becoming the thing to do on a Saturday morning. Miley Cyrus, Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon – everybody’s at it. Surely there’s no better way to kick off your weekend than to grab yourself a takeaway cappuccino (skim, of course) and head off for a workout?
We absolutely agree, but to get maximum benefits Pilates should be more than just a Saturday morning thing. The founder, Joseph Pilates created this unique set of exercises to teach alignment of the spine and to strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles. He advocated doing Pilates every day, even if only for 10 minutes. Pilates, especially on the reformer, can be an intense workout. To be inactive for a week and then subject yourself to a Saturday morning beating out of nowhere is definitely not ideal.
By practising reformer Pilates as often as possible you are most closely following Mr. Pilates ideology. Regular workouts build resilience and mean that you’re less likely to suffer from the dreaded post-workout muscle soreness or incur injuries. They also mean that you are more readily able to take the Pilates principles of muscle activation and isolation and transfer them into your everyday life.
In my life, I have noticed that with regular practice of Pilates I become more conscious of how I walk. When climbing a flight of stairs I now begin the movement through activation of the buttock of the standing leg, and then drive through the quad of the other to commence the climb. Similarly, I am now able to feel the small muscles in my mid-back and activate them to improve my posture when sitting at my desk. These subtle movements and activations become second nature through regular Pilates practice and contribute significantly to your balance, posture, strength and overall physical condition.
Of course finding the time and money to do reformer Pilates daily not realistic for everyone. We recommend that you should try to get to class at least 3 or preferably 4 times a week. That’s why we launched our Reform Club studio – so that our members can practice throughout the day or night at a time to suit them. If you can’t get along 4 times a week, don’t worry – all is not lost. As Mr. Pilates advocated, just 10 minutes of matwork each day at home will get you in shape for your next Saturday morning hit!
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
Related Posts
You may not have tried Pilates, but you will most likely have heard people say that it’s good to strengthen your core. Or that you should definitely try these new core strengthening exercises. In Pilates, we mention it a lot. We talk about how [...]
Many types of food we eat contain sugar, yet not all sugar is the same. Generally, our food and drinks contain two main types of sugar – natural sugar or refined sugar. So, let’s look at the difference between these different types of sugar. [...]
