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Pilates Fitness

The ballerinas' secret for long and lean muscles is now recognised as having benefits for everyone from recovering rugby players to recovering couch potatoes. You don't have to don a tutu to get the most from these midsection moves.

Joseph H. Pilates was no ballerina.

A puny youth who suffered from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever, he developed his now famous technique in a concerted attempt to overcome his own physical weaknesses. He didn't have the resources of a modern gym to help him either. He mainly worked up his theories when banged up in an internment camp during World War I. What he did have was time, a fairly confined amount of space and minimal equipment (apart from bedsprings, but we won't deal with that here). Despite, or perhaps because of that, our Joseph forged himself a new body, and in the process a career as gymnast, boxer, circus performer and eventually physical educator.

His theories have been taken up and moved on by generations of practitioners, but certain characteristics and the basic principles remain unchanged. Without going through them all, the keys are concentration, precise control of movement, an understanding of the role and technique of breathing, and of the importance of building a strong physical core to anchor all other movements and exercise.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

You'll start with mat work and perhaps a large sausage of plastic foam. Initially a lot of work will focus on making you aware of specific parts of your body and in particular the muscles of your stomach and the bones that you sit on. Next come simple movements such as rolling up into a sitting position or lifting legs and shoulder blades off the deck. These help you realise how different parts of the body work together - for example how lying on your front and pulling your shoulder blades down should lift your chest slightly off the ground. The moves are all done slowly, with considerable emphasis on breathing correctly, and repetitions are very few in number. If that sounds a bit cushy, then think again. The degree of concentration, plus the effort of tensing muscles in unfamiliar ways, makes for surprisingly hard work. You would have to be some kind of twisted genius to injure yourself during a Pilates session, however, so it suits all ages and levels of physical strength and flexibility. It also promotes a general feeling of well-being due to measured breathing, gentle pace and the sense of muscle control. That control is also the key to why it appeals so much to recovering athletes. If that's what draws you, then make sure you signal your injury to the instructor before launching into a class.

Among the benefits of Pilates are a greater attention to the deeper-lying muscles of the core, such as the transversus which lies under the abs. For athletes, this core strength approach gives greater balance and power. Dancers appreciate the suppleness encouraged by moves, and there are those who swear that it improves posture so much that you can end up taller!

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