What is Pilates?

A lot of people have heard of pilates, but have never tried it and don't really know what it is. They know its about the core. Its kinda like yoga. It has this vague mystery and aura about it.
Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates. Its original name was "contrology" – yeah, quite a mouthful. Joseph grew up as a sickly child in Germany, suffering from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever and dedicated himself to improving his physical strength and health. He moved to England in 1912 and worked as a boxer, gymnast and self-defence trainer.
During the war, he was interned in a prisoner of war camp on the Isle of Man. Being a highly active man with not much to do in a war camp, he began to intensely study movement, including the movement of animals, and trained his fellow inmates in fitness and exercise. Stories abound that the inmates survived the pandemic of 1918 due to their strong physical health.
In 1925, Joseph met his wife Clara on board the ocean liner that took him across to New York. Joseph and Clara opened a studio and began training and working with dancers recovering from injury, and two legends in the history of movement were born.
To me, pilates makes more sense than anything else I've ever tried. The main focus is on the core, but breath, stabilizing and mobilizing of both the muscles and the bones are also important. Its not about how many reps you do, but how well you do them.
Movements tend to be slow, which often makes pilates look "easy". And its anything but. It can take hours of training to learn how to properly engage the deeper core muscles. And a set of 10 pilates ab exercises, if properly executed, can bring on the burn. Which is why its important to take pilates from a certified instructor, either one on one, or in a small class where you can get some attention to make sure you're doing it right.
What I love most about pilates is that anybody can do it. Its so adaptable and adjustable. I think of it as helping you build strength to do the things you want to do, as efficiently as possible. Lets face it, a 60 year old recovering from knee surgery is going to want different strength and mobility out of her life than a 20 year old cyclist. Pilates will help each of them get the most of what resources (their bodies) they have available to them.
Pilates uses both mat-based and equipment-based exercises to achieve this. All in, there are approximately 600 exercises, and most can be modified to allow for a person's individual needs (limited mobility, height, flexibility).
One of the key benefits of Pilates is that the core work will help alleviate back pain. Most back pain is a result of the core not being used effectively and as a result the back muscles become over-worked and stressed.
As well as building strength, Pilates also focuses on alignment and correcting muscular imbalances. It helped me correct my own mild scoliosis (muscular, not structural) and I've helped many clients deal with everything from foot, knee and hip problems to frozen shoulder and neck issues.
Pretty much anybody can do Pilates. I've worked with iron man athletes to 75 year olds with double hip replacements. And they've all found pilates challenging and rewarding.
Pilates can improve posture, build strength, create longer, leaner muscles without bulk, correct muscular imbalance, improve endurance and make you feel good. What's stopping you from trying it?
(This article was originally published in May of 2011 for www.gengo.ca)