Pilates

At a time when the fitness industry is tripping over itself to create new, innovative trends in exercise technology, the Pilates method, with more than nine decades of success, stands out as a tried-and-true formula of wisdom and unwavering results.

In today’s modern world, people are realising the important role that physical and mental fitness plays in leading a happy, healthy and pain-free life. There has been a recent surge in the mind-body focus movement. Our lifestyles have grown increasingly less active and our work, mind and bodies have suffered greatly. Some go to great lengths to correct this, but these efforts are met with little of no success, some people end up damaging their bodies even more.

Enter Pilates...

Pilates, pioneered by the late Joseph Pilates (1880-1967), is a mind-body exercise system to strengthen the weak and challenge the strong. Joseph Pilates was a German expat who developed a series of exercises and innovative equipment to help prisoners of war regain strength and mobility. He discovered, upon immigration to the US from Germany, that his conditioning techniques could help dancers from the New York Ballet prevent injury and improve strength while maintaining long, even muscle tone.

Contemporary Stott Pilates^TM, the method we promote in our studio, is an anatomically based approach to the original exercise method. It incorporates modern exercise science and rehabilitation principles, eliminates contra-indicated movements and emphasises neutral alignment, core stability and peripheral mobility.

Pilates is a fitness program for a lifetime. It is ideal for everyone from young adults to ageing baby boomers, post-rehab patients to elite athletes and is the perfect compliment to cardiovascular exercise, athletic training or rehabilitation!

The benefits of Pilates include:

· Developing optimal strength, flexibility, endurance and posture,
  without building bulk or stressing your joints
· Longer leaner muscles
· Improving postural problems whilst increasing core strength and stability
· Balancing strength and flexibility
· Improving balance, co-ordination and circulation
· Rehabilitation of back and neck injuries
· Post-operative rehabilitation and sports injuries
· Preventing recurrence of injuries

For more information on Pilates and to check class times, click here to visit our Pilates website at Pilates.co.za.