Summary

Pilates was enamoured of the classical Greek ideal of a man who is balanced equally in body,mind, and spirit. Joseph Pilates experiences taught him to believe that the modern lifestyle, bad posture, and inefficient breathing were the roots of poor health. His answer to these problems was to design a unique series of life-enhancing physical exercises that help to correct muscular imbalances and improve posture, coordination, balance, strength, and flexibility, as well as to increase breathing capacity and organ function.

Pilates is a mind/body conditioning exercise program focusing on the core postural muscles, which helps keep the body, balanced and are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen and tighten the deep torso muscles. 

Anybody can benefit from Pilates and it is also ideal for anyone suffering from back pain, poor posture, sports injuries, arthritis or stress.

Whether you're an aspiring athlete or simply want to shape up in 2013. Power Pilates is a mixed ability class tailored to individual needs, drawing on Hope's years of experience. Classes are designed to suit any individual's lifestyle. 

  • Pilates creates a strong core by retraining the body to work efficiently with minimal effort and no tension. Stamina and co-ordination are improved. The body comes in to perfect balance and alignment, with the result that the immune system is stimulated and the level of general health very often rises because the internal organs can now sit and function correctly.                            

  • Pilates stops rounding of the shoulders and poking our heads forward we must focus on Serratus Anterior and Lower Trapezius to hold our shoulders back and down. That will also help alleviate any pressure on the spine, and at the same time release any tension from around the neck.

  • Moving down the body to the leg we would then need to work on Vastus Medialis (one of the Quadricep muscles) responsible for stabilising the knee.

  • It is important to recognise that even though we may suffer one particular problem, whether it is in our spine, shoulder, neck, or legs the body needs to be looked at as a whole. A specific pain may not be the root cause of the problem, and may in actual fact be referred pain.