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ABOUT PILATES

What is Pilates?
Pilates is a mental and physical body-conditioning program that uses simple, non-impact exercises to restore healthy, natural movement patterns. Pilates recognises that good movement is all about sound muscle teamwork, and so seeks to lengthen and relax muscles that have become tight or over dominant, strengthen those that have become long or weak, while focusing on good alignment of the joints and building core stability in the body.

Performed on either a mat or with machines in a studio such as The Reformer or Cadillac, Pilates exercises are deceptively simple yet challenge the mind and body and produce amazing results.

The Origins – Joseph Pilates (1880-1967)
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1880, a sickly child who suffered from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever. His parents were warned that he would not live a long life, yet Joseph was determined to overcome his fragility and so began to explore and experiment with many different approaches toward health and fitness. Through this his health improved dramatically, and the origins of Pilates can be found in yoga, gymnastics, skiing, self-defence, dance, boxing, circus training and weight training. By choosing aspects of each to develop and strengthen his own body, he developed an incredible method of body conditioning which was years ahead of it’s time - today Pilates is widely practiced by professional athletes and performers and is widely endorsed by medical specialists.

Body Control Pilates
The founders of Body Control Pilates, Lynne Robinson and Gordon Thompson, recognised that many of Joseph Pilates original exercises, known today as classical Pilates, are far too advanced for the average person. Therefore they took these classical exercises and broke them down into manageable pieces so that each can be done safely, correctly and effectively by anyone, even people with injuries or illnesses. The exercises are taught progressively, building slowly and safely toward the advanced exercises. In this way, Body Control Pilates makes the classical exercises accessible to all bodies, rather than only to those from the worlds of dance or sports  – the traditional disciplines of Pilates enthusiasts.

For more detailed information on Body Control Pilates, go to www.bodycontrol.co.uk/information.html

The 8 Principles of Body Control Pilates

1 Relaxation
Before we begin to move we need to release unwanted tension in the body, and practice turning off over-dominant muscles that often want to stay ‘switched on’.

2 Concentration
Pilates requires you to focus and concentrate on each movement made and it develops your body’s sensory feedback or proprioception. It trains both the body and the mind.

3 Alignment
By making sure that your bones are in the best possible alignment before moving, you reduce stress on joints and connective tissue and are far more likely to get the right muscles working when you move.

4 Breathing
Many people do not breathe efficiently. Pilates teaches lateral thoracic breathing using the lower and upper lobes of the lungs. This can have a wonderful impact on health and well-being and the diaphragm plays an important role in core stability.

5 Centring / Core Stability
We aim to build strength from the inside out by firstly strengthening the deep stabilising muscles of the body in order to give us a strong and stable foundation upon which to work the rest of the body.

6 Co-ordination
Once we have done all of the 5 points above we then need to add movement! Learning these new co-ordination skills is very stimulating for the feedback mechanisms between the brain  and body.

7 Flowing Movements
Pilates is all about flowing, graceful movement patterns; slow and controlled movement from  a strong core, rather than holding static poses.

8 Stamina
Pilates improves respiration, circulation and the lymphatic system and as you advance to more and more challenging exercises, your stamina will increase dramatically also.