Pilates Power Gym: Feature Article
Joseph Pilates developed the physical fitness system during the First World War. He developed it as a way to help veterans rehabilitate their muscles. Pilates believed that your mind was central to controlling the muscles and his program focuses on the core postural muscles that keep your body balanced. Many health clubs offer Pilates courses and teach their members how to actively engage your mind and breathing patterns to control your muscles.
The goal of Pilates is to combine your mind with your body so that your body will move according to the economy, grace, and balance. The end goal of the Pilates method is produce a smooth flowing motion of body and mind without using attention to control its behaviors. Joseph Pilates believed that you needed to awaken all the cells in your body to carry away the wastes that relate to fatigue. The only way to awaken the cells is to circulate the blood through proper breathing techniques. The cells need to be charged with oxygen that comes from proper breathing. The Pilates method needs to be done with concentration, control, and precision. Through proper breathing you will oxygenate the muscles and reduce additional tension in your upper neck and shoulders. Joseph Pilates firmly believed that in order for his method to work, you need to learn how to breath correctly. The Pilates breathing is describes as a posterior lateral breathing. This means you need to inhale air deep into the sides of your rib cage and deep into the back. When you exhale, you need to push all the air out of your rib cage so that your abdominal muscles and pelvic muscles squeeze together.
|
|
The core muscles in your body all encompass the abdomen, lower back, hips and buttocks. Joseph Pilates called this the "powerhouse". He stated that all the physical energy you get should come from the powerhouse and it should coordinate all the movement to your arms, neck, legs, and head. In order to have a healthy body, you need to build a strong powerhouse.
Helpful Resources: Amazon: Pilates Power Gym Amazon.com is a great place to purchase the Pilates Power Gym. You can buy the Pilates Power Gym from this site and even read reviews for current owners of the Pilates Power Gym. Reviews of the Pilates Power Gym Purchasing the Pilates Power Gym Wikipedia: Pilates Wed MD: Pilates Pilates and Your Body Benefits of Pilates Popularity of Pilates |
Similar to yoga, Pilates demands you focus intensely on the exercises and breathing. If you are a beginner, you are instructed to pay close attention to your body and begin building upon small movements that will help you move toward becoming a Pilate's expert. Joseph Pilates believed that you need to have complete muscle control, meaning you should never have uncontrolled movement. A Pilates user should perform each exercise with intense focus and complete control of the muscles.
Each movement in the Pilates method has a purpose. It is important to control your breathing and consider each movement important to the overall success of the program. If you leave out any detail, you are forsaking the value of the exercise. The goal is to make the movements become second nature to your body. The movements should control the way you move in your day to day activities and help you look graceful. Your movements must be kept continuous between exercises using proper transition techniques. The goal of Pilates is to ultimately improve your strength and stamina.
The Pilates Power Gym
A great piece of exercise equipment is the Pilates Power Gym. The Pilates Power Gym is a total body exercise machine that sculpts and tones your body. It is built with a carbon steel frame that can hold up to 300 pounds and boasts that it includes 18 weight machines in one. The Pilates Power Gym costs roughly $350 and comes with a Strength Training Workout DVD, Pilates Power Workout DVD, eating plan, leg extension attachments, and more. It does come fully assembled and has padded handles for comfort as well as adjustable foot straps. The Pilates Power Gym comes with a 90-day warranty and weighs 61 pounds.
The Pilates Power Gym is half the size of a normal Pilates machine and can easily be moved from room to room. Many people like the Pilates power gym because it combines the movements and benefits of Pilates with strength training. The Pilates Power Gym will use slow, controlled movements to tone up your entire body.
How Pilates Helps
Pilates provides deep relaxation to your mind a body through proper breathing techniques, but it also helps low back pain arthritis. Pilates is a muscle strengthening exercise that can improve your body's posture through a series of exercises. Pilates improves your overall range of motion, flexibility, circulation, and abdominal strength. Many people even experience decreases in neck, back, and joint pain.
Many celebrities have caught onto the Pilates bandwagon and have made the program more popular than ever. Pilates teaches not only personal awareness but proper breathing patterns that will reduce fatigue. It teaches you how to sit properly so you can avoid the bad habits you have picked up from slumping in a chair at a computer screen in your office. Most users of Pilates have a weakness in their postural muscles that come from daily lifestyle habits.
Pilates likens the core strengthening to becoming like a tree. In order for a tree to become big and strong, it needs a strong core. Pilates likens that to the human body. Your core muscles (abdominals, back muscles, and hips) need to be strong and support the rest of your body. Many people make the mistake of thinking that Pilates will give them a washboard stomach. Everyone's body is built differently and while some people may achieve a flat stomach with Pilates, other will simply build the muscles to be strong enough to support your back and the rest of your body. If you perform the exercise correctly you will achieve a flatter stomach. Pilates will shift your shape and cause you to stand straighter, and gain flexibility. It is important to make your abdominal muscles flexible instead of just hard. Flexible muscles are stronger than hard muscles. A hard muscle will give you a nice look, but it won't provide the balance and flexibility your body needs.
Pilates teaches you how to move and achieve complete body symmetry. Pilates works your entire body in complete symmetry versus working a targeted group of muscles at one time. Joseph Pilates was actually quite sick as a child as he was plagued with rickets and asthma. Joseph Pilates studied the methods of the ancient Greeks and combined their discipline with the meditative strength of the East. When he combined the two, he developed an intense system of concentration and breathing techniques. As a testament to his core physical strength, Joseph Pilates was a swimmer, boxer, diver, skier, gymnast, and yoga enthusiast.
The Pilates Power Gym builds upon the first Pilates Gym made by Joseph Pilates during the First World War. Joseph Pilates actually used springs from hospital beds to assist wounded soldiers as they learned his exercise techniques. He later developed the Cadillac, Wunda chair, ladder barrel, reformer, and spine corrector based on this early Pilates Gym.
The Pilates Equipment provided by the Pilates Power Gym will offer more variety as compared to doing the exercises on your own with a mat. The Pilates Power Gym is a great place to start for a beginner or for an individual who is rehabilitating a muscle. It is designed to help someone who cannot do the mat work and helps to support your body as you do the exercises. Since Pilates focuses on the stability of muscles that support your spine, you will reduce your risk of getting chronic back pain as you age. It won't necessarily reduce your back pain, but it will certainly help relieve the pressure on the muscles in your back. Pilates is a movement training program that is designed to help manage pain, not remove it. It can help individuals who have back pain, or it can actually hurt someone who has chronic back pain. You should always seek the advice of your physician before you begin a workout regime.
Pilates is not about how fast you can do the movement, but how well you can control your movements. Slow movements are actually recommended over fast, repetitious movements as they help you achieve greater results and avoid injuring yourself. The benefit of Pilates is that it is designed to help everyone, not just younger individuals. Joseph Pilates actually was doing his movements up until he died. If you have poor posture, you are vulnerable to numerous problems. Pilates is a safe, effective way to improve the way your body looks and feels. It is a safe, low impact method of exercising your body to transform it into a new body.
Pilates is a workout that will strengthen your core postural muscles and it will develop your body's alignment. It doesn't focus on creating bulk muscle mass instead it works to develop a complete core muscle that will support your entire body. If you practice Pilates on a daily basis, you will have control over your entire body. The slower movements you do, the better chances you at toning and strengthening your entire body.
