Exercise is very important for keeping your body fit and flexible. It also helps in boosting our immune system. For a healthy lifestyle exercise is also important along with a proper balanced diet. If you want to try something new apart from old traditional yoga and other form of exercises, Pilates exercise can be ideal for your health and fitness regime. If a person is not comfortable in doing exercises or heavy workouts in the gym then Pilates can work great for them.
Pilates is just not only a form of exercise for fitness. But it is a convenient method in order to construct strength to the core muscles for the betterment of posture, thus balancing the body and its flexibility. Pilate’s method of exercise is not only concerned with a particular area of your body but has a complete impact on core muscles, hips, abdomens, thighs and specially improves the postural alignment.
Usefulness of Pilates method exercise:
- Pilate is a form of full body workout. It has a remarkable impact in our whole body.
- Pilates can be performed irrespective of gender, age, size and potentiality. Everyone is free to do it.
- Pilates can be performed on a simple yoga mat or can also be done with special exercise equipment.
- It strengthens the core muscles and improves the posture of our body.
- It not only keeps us fit physically but it has also a positive impact on our mental health and thus decreases the stress level.
- It also helps in reducing acute back pain problems.
- Pilates increases the stamina of our body making us feel more active and fit.
- It is also recommendable by the doctors during menstruation as it relives the menstrual cramps.
Types of Pilates:
There are basically two forms of Pilates- reformer Pilates and mat Pilates.
- Mat Pilates: Mat Pilates can easily be done on a mat without any requirement of reformer or special equipment. It generally includes free hand exercises such as side planks, toe taps, plank leg lift, roll, the swan pose and many more. This can be done with the help of instructors in the yoga or exercise the classes. Some other Pilate moves also includes:
- The Roll-Up: It provides strength to the abdomen and helps in stretching the back of the body and spine.
- Rolling Like a Ball: It provides flexibility to your back and relaxes the spine.
- Leg Circles: It increases the strength of core abdominal muscles and hips.
- The Hundred: It is a breathing exercise for strengthening muscles and stability.
- Series of 5: It is a set of moves which strengthen back muscles and abdomen.
- Reformer Pilates: This form of Pilate is carried out with the help of an apparatus called reformer. It is a frame resembling bed like structure with flat platform having wheels that rolls back and forth. The reformer Pilates are best for those recovering from muscle injuries and correcting postural alignments. There are many other types of equipment for doing reformer Pilates such as the Cadillac, the spine corrector, the Magic Circle, etc. Moreover, the main objective of reformer Pilate is to strengthen your body and correcting posture. These machines give you more resistance with a sliding surface which can be a challenge for workouts.
The outfit for Pilate
Body fitting soft costumes are ideal for Pilates. Thus, the instructor can see the posture and the movement of your body clearly and can guide you with the proper posture. Leggings are preferable as it is clearly visual while doing leg movements.
Pilates should definitely the part of our daily routine. It can be done in fitness group classes or can be carried out through online classes easily.