What is Pilates? Things to know before you take Pilates classes

The evergreen buzzword when it comes to fitness – Pilates is an exceptional fitness training through body movements that help to tone the body and condition the strength. You must have surely come across the word Pilates while reading a celebrity column, it’s easily the well-adapted fitness lifestyle by who’s who of the industry. Pilates brings about a balanced mind-body with core strength and stability. This fitness phenomenon proudly holds 10.9 million posts under the hashtag #pilates on Instagram. Keep reading on how you can board this extravagant fitness training.

First thing first, what does Pilates mean?

Pilates is a with or without equipment form of exercise, it helps strengthen the core muscles while toning the body, improving the body postures and flexibility. Pilates consists of a series of movements using body weight, springs, and bands. All these movements are done slowly and precisely with rhythmic breathing. It helps to condition the body’s mobility while stabilizing the core.

Pilates is the name of the person who founded this exercise, his name is Joe H Pilates, he named this exercise “Contrology” which means “the science of control”. He introduced to show how controlling the body movements can make all the difference in movements and toning of the body.

Pilates is more than a normal exercise, it shows you how to make correct body movements, for better postures and alignments. When you’re moving the body in a correct manner, it reduces the body pain and helps reduce the pain caused by working out. The best way to learn pilates is by getting on a one-on-one session with certified trainer.

Courtesy - VIE Magazine

Joe Pilates introduced a series of 34 set of mat exercises that you can easily do at your home, these Pilate exercises are still being practiced all over the world. These 34 mat exercises are enough to take you on a fit and flexible body journey, you can add the modern variations of this classic exercises to get the most benefit of your Pilates session.

Yoga vs. Pilates

People often confuse Yoga with Pilates, but these are two totally different exercises although both emphasizes on body movements and breathing cycle. Pilates help to strengthen the stomach, improve posture, stabilize and elongate the spine and develop balance and overall strength. While yoga is all about the total well being general, with yoga roots back to ancient times and it has numerous benefits and one can learn it on levels from the certified yogis all over the world.

6 principles of Pilates

Like we mentioned before, Pilates was originally called ‘Contrology’, so it comes with a basic structure and principles that you must know. Pilates principles closely infuse all the exercises to make sure it doesn’t lose the true meaning of body contrology. Following are the 6 principles of pilates:

Centering

Centering is all about focusing on the center of your body which is also known as a powerhouse. The powerhouse area is mainly your lower ribs extending till the pubic bone. Pilates are energetically charged from the center.

Concentration

Concentration is the key to any form of exercise and pilates is no different. To get desired results, it’s important to concentrate on your exercise with full commitment and dedication. Concentrating on each movement help you focus more in order to make it work totally in your favor.

Control

Pilate movements demand complete control of the body movements and postures. Your mind is fully conscious of the muscular control which helps keep the entire movement a well-coordinated process.

Precision

Pilates involves the awareness of your body control throughout each movement. There is an appropriate movement of each body part with precise alignment, and orientation route for each part of the body.

Breath

Right breathing technique is one of the most important things in any workout routine. Mr. Pilates strongly suggests that Pilates is all about deeply inhaling the air to the max capacity of your lungs and then exhaling it all out at once. Breathing properly is the most integral part of practicing Pilates.

Flow

Pilates is like a series of well-choreographed movements, it has a flow and grace that has to be followed in a certain manner. The flow helps to keep the body movements in sync so that the energy flows evenly to all parts of your body.

3 common types of Pilates:

Classical Pilates

Classical Pilates is about focusing on the postural muscles of the body and nurturing strength from within. Classical Pilates realigns the body posture through correct movements with fewer repetition. This helps toning the muscles, making your body strong and lean.

Polestar Pilates

Introduced around 10 decades ago by Mr. Pilates, Polestar Pilates is more of a contemporary form that focuses on physical therapy and rehabilitation. This is more beneficial for people who have injuries and want to work on the full functionality of the body parts. This contemporary exercise involves precise movements of body muscles, that enhances elasticity and strength of the muscles.

Stott Pilates

Designed especially for strengthening your back muscles and spine movements, Stott Pilates is the revised form of traditional Pilates. It helps to align the natural curve and form of your spines, shoulder blade, cervical spine, pelvis, ribs, and head.

Pilates and its popularity in India

Pilates has been adopted as a lifestyle by many famous personalities in India, the most well-known name is Yasmin Karachiwala, she introduced pilates in the metropolitan city of India around 2 decades ago and made a huge name for herself. Over the years, many celebrities enrolled themselves under the expertise of Yasmin to adapt Pilates. Malaika Arora, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar, Aliya Bhatt, Katreena Kaif, Zoya Akhtar, are the few celebrities who swear by the benefits of Pilates in making them fit and lean.

So, what are you waiting for? If you’re not into conventional training but want to get into fitness, Pilates can be your door to fitness alley. Find the best Pilates classes/center in your area on Gympik.com and get, set, ready to take fitness the celebrity way!