The reason why Pilates is so good for your wellness is that it focuses on using both your body and your mind to get the most out of your performance. This is a crucial part of Pilates, as it trains your mind to maintain a constant level of awareness of the way your body moves, and this, in turn, leads to a greater control of motion and vastly improved technique. So what benefits can Pilates provide to your fitness regime?
1. Core Stability and Postural Alignment. In all positions and during movement, Pilates teaches you to consciously maintain your optimum anatomical alignment. This reduces your chances of injury.
2. Muscle Tone and Strength. While you may need to add a little cardio to get the most out of Pilates muscle-toning ability, nevertheless it’s a great way to sculpt those buns.
3. Improved Body Awareness. This is particularly important as you age, as many older people forget how to use certain muscles, and their reaction times slow down.
4. Injury Rehabilitation. The inventor of the exercise, Joseph Pilates, used his system to rehabilitate injured soldiers. Pilates is widely recognised for rebuilding strength and function following injuries
5. Weight Loss. The more muscle tone you have, the more calories you will burn and Pilates increases muscle tone. Plus, it increases your self esteem, which is an important factor in weight loss.
6. Stress Reduction. Not only does Pilates teach you to breathe properly, which is a recognised stress reduction technique, but it also trains you to stay focused on your movements, and so ignore the nagging little worries in your head.
The list of celebrity fans for this fitness technique is as long as your arm, ranging from singers like Madonna, to cricketers such as Andrew Flintoff and Mike Atherton, who used Pilates to aid his recovery from back problems. Actresses who improve their well-being with Pilates include Sigourney Weaver, Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston, and even the Olympiads have hailed the benefits of Pilates. Team GB trampoline athlete Claire Wright does Pilates as a part of her five-hour daily routine, and Matthew Pinsent (Great Britain Rower and Olympic Gold Medalist) and Natalie Coughlin (Olympic US swimmer who won five medals in the Athens Olympics) are also big fans.