Pilates Exercises - Can They Give You The Body Youve Always Wanted?
Pilates exercises are a favorite fitness choice for many people including movie stars like Danny Glover and Gweneth Paltrow, professional dancers, and even some professional baseball players. Why this fascination with Pilates? What can it do that other forms of exercise can't? I began doing Pilates several years ago when I was searching for a different look for my body. I had been exercising for many years when I began to experience a level of dissatisfaction with the way my body looked. While I was lean and muscular, my body had a packed, crowded look to it. The more I used weights, the thicker my muscles looked. In addition, no matter how many crunches and reverse curls I did, I still had this abdominal bulge that would not budge. It drove me crazy. I began to yearn for the body I had as a dancer - trim, strong, with elongated muscles. That's when I stumbled upon Pilates. The people who did Pilates exercises had the long, lean look that I craved. So I began to do Pilates exercises and I have never looked back. What are Pilates exercises all about? They focus on your core.
Pilates focuses on strengthening the core of your body - the deep abdominal muscles and pelvic stabilizers, the back, the butt, and also creating flexibility in the spine. This continual focus on the core has helped me get rid of my belly bulge and also develop 'six pack' abs . They work your entire body as one unit.
Many people ask how Pilates exercises relate to yoga poses. In many instances, the poses overlap. However, while in yoga you often hold a pose, in Pilates you are always moving. In addition, no matter what area of the body you are focusing on, you are still engaging your entire body. For example, if you are doing an exercise for your legs, you simultaneously hold in your abdominal muscles and maintain proper body alignment while executing the movement. They focus on quality, not quantity.
Pilates exercises are focused on quality, not quantity. With some exercises such as The Saw, you might only do 2 or 3 repetitions. In most cases, you will usually only do 10 repetitions of any given exercise. Yet because you are focused on the quality of each movement, you get a greater benefit from each exercise than with traditional strengthening exercises. They focus on muscle balance and coordination.
Many people who do weight lifting have muscle imbalances. Strong muscles get over trained and weak muscles get more strained. That is because muscles are worked in isolation. With Pilates, you use many muscles at the same time. You also stretch and strengthen muscles during the same exercise. This helps correct imbalances and develops better body alignment. In addition, you learn how to more effectively coordinate movements in your entire body, which will help you as you go about your daily activities. They focus on body awareness.
In Pilates, you are always focused on your body - your alignment, your breathing, the way you are doing your movements. This increased body awareness can help you maintain better posture, it can help you relax muscle tension through proper breathing, and it can help you reduce stress. They are energizing, not exhausting.
With traditional weight lifting programs, your body often feels depleted after you finish your workout. An interesting thing about Pilates exercises is that after you do them, you feel more energized than before you started. The combination of deep breathing, high quality, low quantity movements, helps your body function better as a whole. The result -- you have more energy to go about your day. I love doing Pilates. I have seen dramatic changes in my body and I exert much less effort than I did when I was using traditional weight training programs. I have significantly strengthened my abdominal and back muscles and I have improved my overall posture. I also look better in a bathing suit. Try doing some of these exercises for yourself. When you do, I'm sure you'll be hooked on them too. Della Menechella is a yoga and fitness enthusiast who has been involved in fitness for over thirty years. Her website http://www.beauty-fitness-yoga-source.com/ is filled with practical information about how you can make yoga and fitness a positive part of your life. Visit the site and get your free meditation e-book.
MORE RESOURCES:
Yoga therapy for stressed out motormenTimes of India, India - 5 hours agoThe railways have now tied up with an NGO to study the effect of regular yoga on the health of stressed out motormen. Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute ... |
Yoga with a kickKOLD-TV, AZ - 10 hours agoBy Jenny Anchondo - email If you're tight and lack overall flexibility, the last thing you should attempt is yoga, right? Wrong. ... |
Hatha yoga at Rowley Public LibraryIpswich Chronicle, USA - 4 hours agoThe Rowley Public Library offers a mixed level Hatha yoga class for adults of all fitness levels Wednesdays Sept. 3-Oct. 29, 5:30-6:45 pm, in the Community ... |
The conventions: Good for a laughBoston Globe, United States - 3 hours agoI kept my eyes glued to Sara Avant Stover's pieces on the Yoga Journal website, where she has written on subjects like "The DNC's Challenge: Can You Walk ... |
Yoga at the River’s Edge continuesMarshfield Mariner, USA - 9 hours agoNorth and South Rivers Watershed Association’s Yoga at the River’s Edge series will continue through Sept. 20. Weekly classes, taught by certified yoga ... |
Nikita, not dressed for the occasion?Times of India, India - 44 minutes agoYoga guru Yogi Ashwini recently organised a spiritual healing session to promote the practice of yoga. Former Miss India-Universe Nikita Anand rued that she ... |
Martha's Vineyard Magazine |
Finding your yogaMartha's Vineyard Magazine, MA - 18 hours agoJust like Goldilocks trying to find the right porridge and bed, this writer had to sample different styles of yoga before settling into a groove that worked ... |
Yoga - Google News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Fitness Focus: Overcoming Obstacles
If you're like me, the quest to be in shape, manage weight and overall well-being, at times, feels overwhelming. And, as if the quest to be fit isn't hard enough, there's often other obstacles to overcome: health issues, time management, mustering up courage or energy.
Dangerous Shoulder Exercises
Have you ever suffered from shoulder discomfort after working out? I am referring to aching or sharp pain experienced in the front of the shoulder or lateral upper arm that is felt with overhead activities, reaching behind the back or even laying on the shoulder. These symptoms are often indicative of rotator cuff inflammation.
Sets And Reps - The High And Low Weight Workout
Big weights! Wicked pump! I always get caught between two minds whenever I hit my workout at the gym. One side of me says to lift heavy to get big and the other says that form should matter more than my weight poundage.
Integrating Core Stabilization into Your Workouts
Stabilization is a hot topic in the fitness industry over the past few years. But what is stabilization? Stabilization can be defined as the body's muscular systems ability to support (stabilize) the body during movement.
Strategies for Alleviating the Boredom Associated with Exercise
Just about every expert in the ADD field will tell you that exercise is one of the best ADD management strategies there is. According to the book Delivered from Distraction:"When a person exercises, she sets in motion a cascade of events that her brain loves.
Complete Physical Transformation Using The Purposefully Primitive Fitness Methodology
The Purposeful Primitive approach to the art and science of physical renovation is deceptively simplistic. By using a few basic tools and food purchased from the grocery store, you can radically alter the way you look while simultaneously improving health, vitality and energy levels.
Planning An Exercise Program
When designing an aerobic or strength training exercise program, fitness professionals, such as personal trainers and gym instructors, invariably use the F.I.
Arthritis Exercise for All Levels
Exercise can be very beneficial for arthritis sufferers, often relieving stiffness in joints, strengthening muscles thereby reducing stress on joints, keeping bone and cartilage tissue strong and healthy, and increasing flexibility. A recommended 30-minute minimum of daily activity is the norm.
Interval Training
Are you in an exercise rut? Do you want to kick your fitness level up a notch and increase your endurance? Would you like to add more intensity to you workout? Interval training is a good way to achieve all of these goals in a safe and systematic manner.Interval training is simply a matter of alternating high intensity exercise and low intensity exercise.
Arthritis Exercise - One Way to Relieve Pain & Stiffness in Your Joints (part 3)
There are three main types of exercises to include in a basic exercise program:Range-of-motion exercises - These lessen stiffness and help with improving flexibility. "Range of motion" refers to the area within which the joints move naturally or on a daily basis.
The Great Forgotten Exercise -- Parallel Bar Dips
When it comes to building lower pectorals, triceps and frontal deltoids, dips are without doubt one the best exercises I've ever used. They are seldom used nowadays and the reasons are plain to see: you have to be able to handle your own bodyweight for reps - unless you have access to one of those fancy-dan machines that allow you to dip (or chin) with less than body weight.
The Lactate Threshold - Reality or Fallacy?
For many years exercise science has perpetuated the concept of a lactate threshold - a point during exercise where a sudden, sharp increase is noted in the concentration of lactate in the blood. This phenomenon is supposedly noticed when blood samples are taken from subjects performing incremental to max exercise tests much the same as a VO2 max test.
Exercise Program
The exercise program you choose depends entirely on your fitness goals. The exercises you will be doing and the approach you take in performing these exercises will depend on whether you wish to gain muscle and strength, tone and lose weight or just stay in shape and be healthy.
Stretching and the Warm up - Are You Confused?
Lately, I've been receiving a lot of questions referring to the latest studies and research findings, and one question that I receive most queries about concerns the role that stretching plays as part of the warm up.Currently, there seems to be a lot of confusion about how and when stretching should be used as part of the warm up, and some people are under the impression that stretching should be avoided altogether.
Benefits of a Good Training Journal
Most of us have trained at one part in our lives. Chances are if you've ever taken your training seriously you've used a training journal or a training log.
Weight Loss & Low Body Fat - High Calorie Burning Techniques During Workouts!
My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder, personal, trainer to movie stars, and former employee of Kathy Smith.
The Fundamentals of Pilates
There are people who are fond of getting an exercise for maintaining their body figure as well as to condition their body so to look healthier and sexy. Some do the swimming or others stay in the gym to get their ideal body figure.
How to Maximize Your Fitness Results
What I am about to reveal to you can make a drastic change in the out come of your fitness results. Many of us are willing to dedicate a decent number of hours each and every week to our workout plan.
2-Minute Fitness
Why would I want to write about yet another fitness program? There are so many out there. There is no escape from fitness programs whether you watch TV or read a magazine or newspaper.
No Time For The Gym?
As you have undoubtedly heard, college students around the country are gaining weight at a rapid rate. A recent study by Cornell University found that on average, college freshman gain about 0.
|
