Benefits of Pilates

The many benefits of pilates have helped to make this extremely popular with a whole range of people, irrespective of age, fitness levels, and health. In fact, one of the wonderful things about pilates is that it can be used by people with weak backs and other health problems.

Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates (it's a good thing his surname wasn't Greenfellow!). He was inspired by yoga, sen meditation, martial arts, and a few other fitness techniques to create a system, in the 1920's, that utilized both the body and the mind. Pilates became popular with dancers, and in fact, pilates is a great way to get that lithe 'dancer's body'.

Physically, some of the benefits of pilates include:

• stretching, strengthening, and toning muscles
• improvements to posture
• improvements in balance
• increased range of motion
• strengthening the spine
• improved flexibility

Using pilates is a great way to recover from injuries. It is a low impact form of exercise that strengthens the core, deep, abdominal muscles. There is no need to exercise at 'full throttle' to gain the benefits of pilates. It's a workout that doesn't leave you exhausted and sore.

Pilates helps to:

• increase energy levels
• reduce tension and stress
• improve circulation

If you like a more challenging form of exercise, however, there are even pilates workouts for athletes.

Exercise has many benefits, not least the release of the 'feel good' chemicals, the endorphins. Pilates makes exercise accessible to those whol don't like many other types of exercise, and has more in common with yoga than aerobics.

As Joseph Pilates said: "In ten sessions you will feel the difference, and in thirty you’ll have a whole new body".