Aren't Pilates classes boring? No! Or at least I don’t think so. If you mean is there repetition
in the exercises taught in class, then
the answer is yes. Pilates is an exercise system that works your
whole body but concentrates on the deep
postural muscles which have often become slack and lazy through
poor posture and inactivity.
Because most people starting Pilates have little control of these muscles,
it takes time to develop
and strengthen them. At first, it takes time for your brain even to find and
isolate them!
It can take months, even years to fully develop these muscles so that they
can once again do their job
properly. This means many of the exercises we do in class are repeated week
in and week out. The good
news is a well- trained Pilates instructor can always make classes seem interesting
and new by introducing
many different ways to exercise the same target muscles.
The use of equipment
such as Chi-Balls, bands,
blocks and circles for example. And once you start your Pilates class the
time will just fly by because you
will be so relaxed and focused on your workout.
The few people who complain to me that Pilates is boring are the ones who
just don't seem to "get" it.
These are usually what I call the "crash, bang & wallop" brigade,
whose only love is a pounding beat
and a high-impact, head-banging workout that has them throwing up in the toilets!
The ones who don't feel
they have had a workout unless they are in mortal agony from muscle pain for
the next three days...
Pilates is only for dancers and gymnasts.
Not
true! Pilates is for everyone at any age and any fitness level. It's
true Joseph Pilates did teach
dancers and gymnasts, but he developed his system to help everyone.
For further details see my article Pilates
body
Pilates is a recent exercise fad Not
true! Joseph Pilates first
developed his philosophy and technique for movement in the
1920's and 1930's
and continued to refine it until his death in 1967. In the 1990's
Pilates once again grew in popularity.
Hollywood stars discovered that the exercises resulted in the long
and lean shape they desired and their
enthusiasm re-launched Pilates into the popular exercise system
it is today.
Pilates is "something like yoga". Joseph
Pilates was influenced by many exercise systems and yoga was
one of them. Pilates differs from yoga
in many ways. In most types of yoga a position or pose is held
in a static position. In Pilates you continue
to move in slow flowing movements.
For further detail see my article Pilates
and Yoga
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