No, not pie and lattes, it’s pronounced Pilates. If you want your body to love you as much as Kayne loves Kayne, then it’s time for Pilates. It’s a low impact fitness routine for everyone and anyone with a focus on strengthening your core (or centre) of your body. Become the triple threat you’ve always wanted to be by improving your strength, flexibility, and balance. Unleash your inner chi while doing structured movements designed to have the mind and body working together in harmony. Less is more in Pilates, so we don’t care how many times you can lift your leg over your head, we care about how well you can do it. If you want long, lean, and toned muscles then this low impact exercise is the one for you.
The Godfather of Pilates
Pilates lovers say a collective “thank you!” to the original Pilates lover, and its creator, Joseph Pilates. The Godfather of our lifelong obsession originally named his method “Contrology”, as a reference to the controlled movements used. The name we know now didn’t come along until after Joseph passed.
As someone who struggled physically, Joseph created Pilates to help his own issues and soon turned it into one of the world’s best fitness routines. The early techniques still walk the earth today in every Pilates fanatic, and this is largely thanks to the early fame Pilates gained in the dancing community.
CHANGE HAPPENS THROUGH THE MOVEMENT AND MOVEMENT HEALS
- Joseph Pilates
Pilates 101
The Six Key Principles
Breathing
Breathe in and breathe out…and again… and one more time. You may as well add this to your playlist now because you’re going to be hearing it a lot. The breath increases your oxygen intake and circulates your blood which helps you perform each exercise like a champion.
Centering
Get your rock on…becoming as stable as a rock that is. Pilates focuses on the centre of the body where the powerhouse muscles such as the abs, lower back, pelvic floor, and glutes live. Every movement in Pilates begins in the centre and flows outward to the other muscles.
Concentration
Focus, focus, focus. Pilates is all about the mind and body working in unison to get your health and fitness on track. Together, the mind and body work on body positioning, correct muscle activation, and breathing technique to create an effective, and fun, workout.
Control
Say bye Felicia to painful workouts because Pilates focuses on correctly activating muscles and controlling movements to prevent those post-workout pains.
Precision
Pilates requires you to move in a way you aren’t used to so precision is key to training your body up. You’ll rewire and outsmart the old habits in your head and start to move like you were born this way.
Flow
Feel the flow with controlled movements that gracefully slide from one to the next. It’s all about the correct body alignment so each move will flow seamlessly into the next while keeping you in the most effective position.
The Good Stuff
Benefits of Pilates
Core Strength
Build abs of steel with a complete core workout every single time. By building up your core strength you’ll have a solid foundation for the rest of your body and you’ll move better.
Controlled Body Movements
Become the master of your own body and say ‘not today’ to injuries. Pilates gives you healing abilities…okay maybe that’s a bit of a stretch…but by increasing your physical strength and body awareness you and your body will actually be on the same page about what you can and can’t handle, thereby preventing some injuries!
Muscle Strength and Tone
If you want to bulk up head another way, but if you want long, lean muscles then you’ve come to the right place. You’ll be a lean, mean Pilates machine after a few workouts. Each exercise is low-impact and strengthens each muscle group equally throughout the body in every single workout.
Improved Posture
You’ll feel like Madonna herself after some quality time in Pilates. Every exercise promotes proper spine alignment while strengthening the muscles that keep you up-right every day. Strike a pose, there's nothing to it... vogue.
Flexibility
Forget touching your toes, you’ll be bending like a pretzel in Pilates. As every movement is dynamic, the muscles are constantly being stretched and lengthened in a gentle and effective way giving you the flexibility you’ve always wanted.
Pilates Zone
We’ve got you covered with Corporate on-site Pilates and Live Online Classes - see our service page for more details. We want to help you live your best life through healthy living, movement (starring Pilates of course!) and good nutrition.
Yoga and Pilates
It’s Complicated
“Aren’t Yoga and Pilates like the same thing?” I’m afraid those are fighting words, my friend. In all seriousness though, although we love our fitness cousin, Pilates and Yoga are actually very different. We may seem very similar, but as any good sibling will tell you, just because we look alike doesn’t make us the same.
What Actually is Yoga?
Think of Yoga as the half-sibling or cousin of Pilates that took a similar but different career path. Yoga originated in ancient India and is a combination of physical exercise, meditation, breath control, and relaxation. There is a mammoth amount of Yoga types ranging from the super traditional such as Bikram Yoga all the way to the modern Naked Yoga.
The Benefits of Yoga
There’s plenty of benefits to be had by practicing Yoga such as improved flexibility and balance, mental calmness, less stress, spine protection, and prevention of back pain.
So What is
Pilates Then?
Pilates is the one that’ll have you stronger, fitter, calmer, and saying “leave class early? Namaste here”. Pilates focuses on core strength and stability to build up all of your muscles.
It’s low impact exercising that will strengthen the body and improve your flexibility, posture, and balance.
Pilates comes in Mat Work and Reformer.
Sum It Up for Me, What Is the Main Difference Between Pilates And Yoga?
Now that you know the benefits of both, the simplest way to define the difference between them is that Pilates is a physical exercise with constant movement focusing on building up the muscles, whereas Yoga is a holistic discipline that focuses on finding stillness.
In the end, it can be boiled down to calmness and balance vs muscles and flexibility.
The Benefits
of Pilates
The many, many benefits to Pilates are:
Improved flexibility
Proper and healthy posture
Injury prevention
Increased muscle strength and tone, particularly in the abs, lower back, hips, and glutes (the 'core muscles' of the body)
Balanced muscular strength on both sides of the body
Enhanced muscular control of the back and limbs
Improved stabilisation of the spine
Rehabilitation or prevention of injuries related to muscle imbalances
Improved physical coordination and balance
Relaxed shoulders, neck, and upper back
Increased lung capacity and circulation through deep breathing
