Pilates
Pilates
The Pilates Method (sometimes simply Pilates) is a physical fitness system that was developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Pilates wrote at least two books about the Pilates method: Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education.
Pilates called his method Contrology, which refers to the way the method encourages the use of the mind to control the muscles. It is an exercise program that focuses on the core postural muscles that help 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 strengthen the deep torso muscles, which are important to help alleviate and prevent back pain.
History
Born in 1880 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Joseph Pilates, a German national of Greek descent,[1] became an avid exercise enthusiast (skier, gymnast, diver, martial arts student) and developed his body into superb condition. In his teens, he was used as a model for fitness charts. Traveling to England before the first World War, he worked as a boxer and circus performer. During WWI, he was interned in the Isle of Man with other German nationals and POWs. A trained nurse in his native Germany, he was investigating ways that he could rehabilitate bed-ridden victims of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Thus he created a series of movements that could be practiced within the confines of this controlled environment. The Pilates Reformer (a piece of Pilates equipment) is based on an old hospital bed. Returning to Germany briefly after the war, he then began training professional boxers, notably heavyweight champion Max Schmelling, and police officers. He then moved to the United States and opened his own training studio in New York city in 1926 with his wife Clara.
Instead of performing many repetitions of each exercise, Pilates preferred fewer, more precise movements, requiring control and form. He designed more than 500 specific exercises. The most frequent form, called "matwork," involves a series of calisthenic motions performed without weight or apparatus on a padded mat. He believed that mental health and physical health were essential to one another. Pilates created what is claimed to be a method of total body conditioning that emphasizes proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement (The Pilates Principles) that results in increased flexibility, strength, muscle tone, body awareness, energy, and improved mental concentration. Pilates also designed five major pieces of unique exercise equipment that he claimed should be used for best results. Although the two components are often taught separately now, the method was always meant to combine both matwork and equipment exercises. In all forms, the "powerhouse" (abdomen, lower back, and buttocks) is supported and strengthened, enabling the rest of the body to move freely.
Pilates practitioners use their own bodies as weights in training, to build strength, and flexibility. This is targeted without a focus on high-powered cardiovascular exercise. Today, Pilates is used in the rehabilitation process by many physical therapists. Pilates is an old approach to movement re-education that is becoming popular in the field of fitness and rehabilitation. The Pilates environment can be used as an assistive environment that optimizes the acquisition of movement with a reduction of destructive forces and can be used to progress individuals through more challenging movements that represent their day-to-day activities. Pilates' focus on building core muscles and postural awareness are especially well indicated for the alleviation and prevention of back pain. Research and theories in motor learning, biomechanics, and musculoskeletal physiology help support the phenomena experienced by many Pilates-based practitioners; however, the Pilates-based approach needs to be subjected to the rigors of research to better evaluate its efficacy in the field of rehabilitation.
Pilates has been used to train dancers and many professional athletes in flexibility and physical strength. Joseph Pilates died in 1967, with Clara running the studio for another 11 years. In recent years it has become a popular fitness modality, with many stars attributing their lithe bodies and increased muscle tone to Pilates.
In more recent years Pilates has been the subject of peer review research articles and is now gaining acceptance amongst the medical profession, even for conditions previously contra-indicated such as pregnancy. Adi Balogh wrote a substantial review article in the Journal of the Royal College of Midwives[2].
Instructor Certification
Instructors of the Pilates method are not licensed by governmental agencies. While there are no official standards for pilates education, there are various teacher training centers throughout the world.[3] The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which provides certification for various professions not licensed by government agencies, also provides accreditation services for pilates instructor training. The only American exam that has been accredited and offers a professional certification is that of the Pilates Method Alliance. Please see professional certification for more information on what constitutes a professional certification.
Limitations and criticisms
Pilates is not designed to be a complete physical fitness discipline. For example, in its more original forms, it does not supply effective cardiovascular training.
Pilates largely avoids high impact, high power output, and heavy muscular and skeletal loading. As a result, Pilates is not as effective as other training methods at building muscle mass.
Some doctors have suggested that medical advice be sought by those who have, or who have risk factors for, conditions such as osteogenesis imperfecta, Osteomalacia, osteoporosis, and Paget's disease, before choosing Pilates over other strength exercises.
The marketing claims of some Pilates instructors have been criticised. Although Pilates is also a rehabilitation technique, or was derived from physical therapies, its methods may not conform well to physical therapeutic knowledge and doctrine. Although it is sometimes claimed that Pilates avoids the danger of hypertrophic muscles, hypertrophy is not the end result of most strength training, and Pilates cannot avoid hypertrophy from other causes such as disease. A frequent claim made in favour of Pilates is that it produces longer and leaner muscles than other training techniques; but skeptics point out that there is no evidence to support this claim, although any low-impact, high-repetition strength training will result in slender muscles. Skeptics also say that occasional claims that Pilates can make a person taller are refuted by measurements of Pilates practitioners. Critics also point out that modern Pilates instructors sometimes make use of exercises that Joseph Pilates did not. Critics charge that this decreases the authenticity of Pilates and suggest that the term Pilates is being used deceptively for marketing advantage.
Historical claims about Pilates are also subject to criticism. Pilates' emphasis on a smaller number of repetitions of precisely controlled movements requiring strength and coordination is sometimes said to have been pioneering. But this emphasis reflects principles previously advanced by Eugene Sandow, Vladislav Krayevsky, and others. Similarly, the equipment Joseph Pilates invented is sometimes said to be distinctive or unique, but many of the pieces appear to be derived from pre-existing examples:
- The "high chair" is similar to the pommel;
- The "reformer" appears to be similar to a modified rowing trainer;
- The "pedipull" appears to be similar to a modified pulley machine;
- The "Cadillac" appears to be partially derived from gymnasts' parallel and horizontal bars;
- The "low chair" is similar to a staking pommel;
- The "spine corrector barrel" is similar to a low level pommel horse
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pilates".
