Pilates Method
Pilates is for everyone whatever your age, body shape or level of fitness. Pilates can help you move more freely and efficiently in everything you do, from other sport's training to your everyday life activities. Pilates can also help to prevent injury by working on a better alignment, posture and consequently use of your body.
The Pilates method focuses on building core strength and stability while improving range of movement. Often referred to as an intelligent form of exercise requiring concentration and focus, Pilates considers the body as a whole where the breath, mind and body are related. So be prepared to be challenged and work muscles you never knew you had
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WARNING: PILATES IS ADDICTIVE!
Benefits
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Improves Flexibility, strength & muscle tone
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Creates an evenly conditioned body
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Develops Core strength
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Recovery from injury/surgery
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Improves sports performance & prevents injury
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Supports pre-post natal care
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Improves posture & strengthens the spine
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Reduces everyday pain & fatigue
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Alleviates back pain &migraine
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The Legacy of Joseph Pilates
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Joseph H. Pilates was born in Monchengladbach, Germany and as a kid suffered from several serious illnesses including Rickets, Asthma and Rheumatic Fever.
Joseph Pilates had great determination and this physical weakness pushed him to practice numerous sports to rebuild his body strength including yoga, martial arts, skiing and weight training to name a few. By using the most effective aspects of these various activities he developed a system that he believed brought the perfect balance of strength and flexibility and named his method “Contrology”.
After teaching fitness and self defence to the police and army in England , as a German citizen in England he was interned during the First World War. During this time he trained other interns with his method promising them they would be stronger than they were before their internment. It is in 1926 that he emigrated to the US and on his journey there he met his future wife Clara with who he set up his first studio in NYC and started teaching his method "Contrology". Their first clients were mostly men from the boxing community but with the NYC Ballet close by dancers also started to come to the studio when injured. It is in this studio that the Pilates method as we know it today was born, a method that emphasises the importance of the mind to control the muscle with a focus on strengthening core postural muscle and on building strength from the inside out.
Joseph Pilates lived until 84 years old and truly believed that his method, today called "Pilates", would become popular. How right he was! With an increasing number of people looking for a more thoughtful way to exercise, improve performance and well-being Pilates is today known and practiced all over the world.
