Pilates anyone?

[dirtysole]

because i have no idea what i am talking about. i have a friend who is wanting to get into pilates and wanting me to do it with her. she and i both have some serious past physical injuries making it hard to exercise out of the water. she says pilates are virtually no-impact. since i have no idea what she is talking about other than "trendy exercise, must run away" i am asking. what exactly does pilates consist of? what is the impact level? thanks! :up:

[Jeffer]

because i have no idea what i am talking about. i have a friend who is wanting to get into pilates and wanting me to do it with her. she and i both have some serious past physical injuries making it hard to exercise out of the water. she says pilates are virtually no-impact. since i have no idea what she is talking about other than "trendy exercise, must run away" i am asking. what exactly does pilates consist of? what is the impact level? thanks! :up:

Probably someone like Zoebird should answer this but what the heck.
I've been doing it for about two years now. I was interested in it before that but it took a knee injury playing basketball to get me to really want to try it because at that point I couldn't do all the high impact stuff that I was use to, running, jumping, etc,.
In pilates you make your own resistance and you can make it as easy or as difficult as you like. It works on increasing your core strength, improving your balance, posture, etc, etc,. This is probably a wrong statement because I don't know a thing about yoga but I refer to it as power yoga. Lots of stretching but with resistance.
I'd recommend it but make sure you get an instructor. It is only beneficial if you approach it the proper way and it's very easy to cheat with no benefit.
It helped my knee too as I'm back at the basketball except that my flexability and strength has increased big time.

Jeffer

[zoebird]

mat pilates will probably work for you both, because it's done on the floor. it doesn't require a lot of impact, or any impact at all. some schools of pilates use balls, machines, and various apparatus--these are also low impact.

You often need private classes or small classes at a small studio to learn pilates. while mat pilates classes are often taught in gyms, not all teachers are certified in pilates. as with yoga, it's important to learn pilatse from an individual who is trained/certified in a particular school. Ask about the instructor's training. He or she should mention a 1 to 2 yr training period and describe numerous hours of observation and practicum.

yoga is another choice. it is also low or no impact and works the same way. you also have to look for an appropriate teacher in yoga so that your special needs can be met. Be sure to ask either kind of instructor if they can work with your needs.

well, jeffer, you do have it somewhat right. a lot of pilates is taken from yoga, because Joseph Pilates, founder and developer of pilates, studied yoga and western traditions to develop his system, which focuses on core strenth and then works outward using resistance in extention and flexion (sp?). it promotes muscle balance with strength and flexability.

[dirtysole]

thanks! :D

[vegbunny83]

question: my co-worker said that she got one of those pilates video systems- would you say that they are as effective as going to an actual instructor if followed correctly? she said she lost weight and gained muscle tone very quickly, and this is after having 2 kids.

thanks!

[zoebird]

if followed correctly, they are as effective. But, the real issue is, how do you know if you're following it correctly?

when you're in a yoga class, for instance, you may say "i've been doing a yoga video for the past month, i know warrior II" but when i look at you, i can tell that you have no clue what you're doing. The reason is, there are so many details that it's hard to get them all from a video. A video should support your work with a teacher, not replace it.

the only times i recommend a video as your only source of instruction is when a teacher is not near by. For instance, if you live in rural nebraska where the nearest yoga studio is more than an hour away, then you should work from the video. BUT, you should also take the time to go to the studio once a month or once every six weeks to support your home practice.

The alignment in pilates is precise and difficult. I've been doing yoga for years and took some pilates classes from a great teacher. pilates has a lot of details (very different from yoga) that are hard to get ahold of without someone looking for those details in your body and demonstrating them directly to you.

A person can get benefit from videos, but i recommend using them in tandem with a good teacher, rather than as your only source of instruction.