Pilates and A New Year

Happy 2015!!! As we dive in to this New Year, we find the latest exercise trends to reach our fitness goals, appearing in many forms. During the month of January, media seems to overwhelm us with options, specials, and a never ending list of what to try next. Pilates has been around for some time, and in the past decade it has boomed in popularity. There seem to be a few common questions many people have, so I present a Q & A format on Pilates.

What is Pilates, and is there a difference between Pilates and Yoga? Pilates is a form of whole body movement that stabilizes and mobilizes each joint throughout the entire body. Core stabilization is one of the many emphases along with breathing, alignment, coordination, and spinal mobility. It addresses the body as a whole, as a sum of its parts. We work towards an efficiency of movement in Pilates, which can have profound effects in all aspects of life: from sitting at the computer to skiing down the mountain. Pilates is not just exercise. It is meant to enhance your mind, body, and spirit. This is where Pilates and Yoga are very similar. Yoga comes in many forms, and the focus is one of a mind-body connection. In my experience, Pilates looks more closely at the quality of movement to improve overall strength in a different way than Yoga. Yoga will utilize breathing for relaxation purposes, where in Pilates, breathing is more often to enhance movement. Both have value, making it worthwhile to try each and see which works better for your body and individual needs. How can I benefit from Pilates? If done consistently, Pilates will result in an economy of movement to help you not only avoid wasting energy, but also improve your efficiency in anything from daily activities to high level sports. It will help you develop long lean muscles that have both strength and endurance and increase your body awareness (think balance and coordination which we all could use a little more of, especially as we age). Our body can be broken down in to two muscle systems, a local and a global system. Our local muscles are small and are responsible for joint stabilizatio