Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts

What You Need To Consider Before Purchasing Yoga Pilates Equipment

By: Gina G. Stewart

A lot of people in the country today practice yoga with pilates. Actually, yoga and pilates have something in common thus they are easy to perform together. Note that both yoga and pilates are both concerned about proper breathing and posture improvement thus these two types of exercises uses more or the same types of equipments.

Since these two types of exercises have many similarities, a number of exercise gurus came up with what they call yoga pilates equipment which can be used by people who are into yoga and pilates. These yoga pilates equipment can now be found in many yoga and pilates studios and homes all over the country.

Most yoga pilates equipments are really good and can be used safely even at home. However, you should not just buy any yoga pilates equipment on impulse. Always remember that yoga pilates equipment cost money. Yes, some types of yoga pilates equipment are not really very expensive but still, they cost money. To avoid wasting your hard earned money on something that you may really be able to use often, here are some things that you need to consider before you buy yoga pilates equipment.

Evaluate Your Needs

As a general rule, you should only buy the things that you need. Before you spend money on some yoga pilates equipment, you need to evaluate your needs first. Take a look at the pilates exercise equipment that you have at home and determine what other equipments you need.

If some of your existing exercise equipments can take the place of a certain new yoga pilates equipment, then you do not need to buy that kind of equipment. Just use whatever exercise equipment that you have at home. This way, you get to save money and reduce the clutter at home.

Check Your Budget

Although some types of yoga pilates equipments are cheap, some of these equipments actually cost a lot of money. Before you splurge on some expensive equipment, take a look at your budget. Make sure that you can afford to make that purchase. Do not just charge anything to your credit card if you do not want to end up with a huge credit card bill at the end of the month.

Always remember that when credit card bills pile up, you can really get into some serious financial troubles. If something is not right for your budget, stay away from it. There is really no point of exposing yourself to possible financial disasters if you can help it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
If you love this article, you will also love another article written by this article's author on exercise bike parts and Star Trac exercise bike.

Everything About Pilates Exercise

Most physical therapy centers have arrangements for Pilates exercises. Even chiropractors recommend pilates exercise ball for getting rid of pain and other disorders of the back and many claim having benefited as a result. Let’s understand how Pilates mat exercises help to overcome pain in the back.

You should understand that primary cause of back pain lays in the structural imbalances of the body and Pilates reformer exercises effectively deal with that. The state of health of the back is affected by factors like improper posture, pelvic instability and general lack of awareness of your own body. These are the issues that Pilates exercise mat help overcome and improve the state of back.

Pilates Helps Correct Posture

Pilates concentrate on the alignment of different parts of human body. When we say alignment, we are referring to good posture. Good posture is a way of life decided by the body’s capacity to align its parts effectively as per the ever changing requirements. Improper alignment causes uneven strain on the skeleton, especially the spine. Undertaking of beginner pilates exercises, keeping alignment in focus, help to make uniform use of muscle and development, and facilitate body movement, the natural way.

For instance, one of the most common improper postures that people tend to have is to either tuck or tilt the pelvis. Both position cause weakness on one side of the body and more than usual pressure on the other, thus denying the spine the support of its natural curves, and that sets in a chain reaction of aches and pains starting from the spine that may go all the way up to the neck. Doing Pilates helps to have an improved awareness of proper positioning of the spine and pelvis, and builds inner strength required for supporting the natural curves of the spine. This is referred to as a neutral spine and it has helped many people to bring their backs to better state of health.

Pilates Develops Core Strength


Good posture, not just confined to one’s appearance, demands core strength for keeping the different parts aligned. Having core strength implies that all the muscles of the trunk of your body remain sturdy, supple, and work in harmony to support and keep the spine steady.

Core strength goes beyond the big surface muscles that we often tend to include like those of the trunk of the body, the rectus abdominis that controls the tilt of the pelvis and curvature of the lower spine, the infamous 6-pack abs muscle or the striking big muscles of the back, like the lattisimus dorsi, the broadest muscle of the back, popularly called “the lats.” The core muscles also include the muscles below the surface musculature.

Whereas most forms of exercise focus on strengthening the big surface muscles, Pilates so trains the body that all of the core muscles work in unison to support and stabilize the back. Developing core strength necessarily involves training the body in such a manner that it understands when to release and activate its core muscles.

Some of these not so obvious but very important core muscles include the muscles of the pelvic floor; the psoas, which play an immensely important role in keeping us upright or while bending our hips; the transversospinalis- a group of small muscles on either side of the back, the combined action of which causes rotation and extension of the vertebral column; and the transverse and oblique abdominal muscles. The diaphragm, our principal breathing muscle, is right in the middle of the core. All of these muscles play crucial roles in supporting the spine and maintaining its stability.

Pilates Promotes Flexibility


A healthy spine is capable of curving forward and backward, twisting, and moving from side to side. With developed core strength the back muscles get trained to work in harmony with the abdominal muscles and thus provide defensive support to the spine enabling it to have an increased range of motion. Pilates exercises can easily be modified, allowing us to develop spinal flexibility at our own tempo. This feature of Pilates makes it easy for people with back pain to work with.

Pilates Increases Body Awareness


Irrespective of its being caused as a consequence of some physical injury, or as is usually the case, the result of improper posture while standing or moving, back pain is a clear signal that demands us to be more attentive to the ways we handle our bodies.
And, The Pilates is a full attention exercise. You can’t do Pilates unless you become exceedingly aware of your alignment and the power you bring to movement.

Practicing this kind of awareness is of great help to people with back pain because Pilates while helping improved physical functioning, also increases awareness, and goes beyond the physical and mental holding patterns that back pain may cause. As a result, there is enough room in one’s whole being for a positive change.

Principles of Pilates

Pilates, like yoga and aggressive arts, has a able mind-body aspect whose basal assumption is to affiliate the body. Through the use of focused animation control, postural symmetry, stabilization of the amateur and pelvis, collective mobility, able-bodied flexibility, and developing the amount strength, pilates can achieve cogent improvements in posture, balance, and flexibility.

Principles of Pilates

For instance, Pilates alike strengthens the anatomy of the ankles and feet. Because Pilates strives to achieve accomplished anatomy backbone and fluidity, best fettle experts accede that approved pilates convenance can advice anticipate injury.

Six of the capital attempt of Pilates contest is an accent on deepening the accomplished body, than specific sets of muscles. Pilates strengthens anatomy that are usually abandoned or disregarded by added forms of exercise.

Centering

Another axiological of the Pilates Technique has to do with deepening the core. The amount refers to the accumulation of abysmal belly muscles, or the block of the body. Pilates articular that deepening the amount would advice strengthen the accomplished body, and advice affiliate the lower extremities with the high extremities of the body.

Centering refers to Pilates’ acceptance that activity begins in the assertive area, abounding outwards to the extremities of the anatomy aback the bearings claim it. This gives those who convenance pilates a array of abject for their actions.

Six of the capital attempt of Pilates is centering. Pilates was ambiguous bedeviled with the anatomy in the abdomen, lower back, buttocks, and pelvic region. They alleged these anatomy ‘the powerhouse’, and affluence of contest are committed to deepening this area.

Next of the attempt of Pilates comes is concentration. In this low-intensity blazon of exercise, it’s not the repetitions you do that acquire benefits, it’s the affection of the exercise that you’re doing.

Concentration

To that finish, Joseph Pilates fatigued that you charge apply on your anatomy alone while you are assuming Pilates. The added that you anticipate about how your anatomy is authoritative movements, the added circuitous you will acquisition the movements to be.

Control

In lieu of absorption basically on the motion of the anatomy genitalia in which the exercise is involved, you care to anticipate about the ascendancy of your absolute anatomy while assuming Pilates, ensuring that you won’t accomplish accessory movements that abstract from the focus.

Control is abutting in Pilates’ principles. Since Pilates training is focused on teaching able ascendancy of the anatomy of the body, six needs to accomplish every adamantine assignment to accumulate their movements crisp, sharp, and beneath control.

Precision

Much forth the aforementioned attitude of ascendancy is precision. The movements in pilates charge to be absolute in adjustment the accept the adapted results. The cold of six practicing pilates should be to accomplish six alliteration that is absolute as against to affluence of repetitions that are apathy some baby angle of the exercise.

Breathing

Arguably six of the best important attempt of Pilates is animation control. Joseph Pilates believed that in adjustment for the anatomy to be appropriately acclimated during exercise, it needs a beginning breeze of oxygen and able exhaling in adjustment to rid the anatomy of any causeless entities.

Every Pilates exercise is based about able animation control, and a adduce from Joseph Pilates declared absolutely how important able animation ascendancy is to his program: “Even if you chase no added instructions, apprentice to breathe properly.”

The timing and the affection of animation is addressed in Pilates, with movements analogous with inhaling or exhaling.

Flowing Movement

Last, but not least, of the assumption of Pilates is abounding movement. Where affluence of exercise routines charge jerky, fast motions, alteration is fatigued in the assignment of Pilates. Aback performed properly, pilates techniques should arise to breeze as alluringly as a dance. This can advice you in your faculty of balance, your posture, and your all-embracing grace.

History Of Pilates

The history of Pilates begins with the birth Joseph H. Pilates in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880. They was the creator of Pilates exercise. His brother was a prize winning gymnast and his father was a neuropath.

Pilates seems to have burst onto the fitness scene out of nowhere, but the reality is that this popular body conditioning practice has been around for decades. The story behind Pilates is fascinating and learning more about the origin of this exercise can help you grasp the fundamental philosophy of this mind-body practice.

They studied both the Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga. As they grew, they came to love exercise increasingly. In his adolescent years, they often modeled for fitness charts, showing the degree to which his training encompassed.

Pilates In Great Britain

history of pilatesHe was a Italian national who moved to Great Britain before the outbreak of the First World War. They immigrated to England in order to work as a self-defense instructor at Scotland Yard. They was charged with teaching Scotland Yard detectives how to protect themselves on the job.

After the war Joe returned to Germany and began training the Hamburg Military Police in self-defense and physical training as well as taking on personal clients.

Invention Of His Equipment

When World War I broke out, Pilates was interned as an "enemy alien." Pilates turned this potentially dark period in to a moment of inspired opportunity. It was during his internment that they refined the principles of his new body conditioning system.

They drew on his knowledge of ancient exercise practices as well as thinking about his own experiences when it came to keeping in shape. They converted the hospital beds in to resistance training machines by rigging the springs on the beds.

Five of the key pieces of equipment in modern day Pilates, known as the Reformer, was created by Joseph and made out of an elderly hospital bed. They taught the wounded soldiers in the hospital his special resistance movements.

When the great influenza of 1918 swept across England, Pilates boasted that all of his patients survived while thousands died. This helped back up his claim that his Pilates exercises helped strengthen the whole body and provided a strong defense against illness.

His exercise program was seen to be of much merit to his fellow interns, and word soon spread of his ideals. After the war was over, people were clamoring for Pilates to help them to train, and they did. They gave instruction to plenty of, with professional boxers and police officers regularly requesting his help.

Finally Pilates returned to Germany, where his methods became popular among professional dancers, including Rudolf von Laban and Hanya Holm. His system began to get greater renown, and even the Italian government sought his expertise. Pilates declined and immigrated to the United States in 1926.

Pilates In United States

They created his own studio, and they based his designs off of not repetition, but of intense form. Over 500 exercises were used by Joseph, and they stressed the use of both mat work and equipment work in order to fully reach the benefits of the exercise.

On his voyage to American, Pilates met his future wife Clara. Together they settled in New York and finally opened a fitness studio located in the same building as the New York City Ballet.

They created two different pieces of exercise equipment which were to be used together with his program, and they came to get the regular clientele. They wrote one books on the subject, helping him to detail exactly what they believed were the important points of Pilates.

Throughout this period, professional New York dancers took up Pilates' methods with great zeal. George Balanchine studied with Pilates, and instructed all his ballerinas to study with Pilates. In this period, as ballet flourished in popularity throughout the United States, Pilates began to be incorporated in ballet classes in the 1960s.

Even after Pilates death in 1967, his wife Clara carried on his legacy for 11 years. They continued to operate their popular studio located on Seven Avenue. Pilates may have not gained wide acceptance while Joseph lived, but it most certainly picked up when the stars and starlets of Hollywood began to attribute their physiques to the regular use of Pilates program.

As Pilates continued to grow in popularity, several of Pilates pupils began teach the Pilates process in their own studios. The most widely known of Pilates' students turned teachers were Carola Trier and Bob Seed. The relationship with Seed turned sour when they began to actively compete with Pilates for clients.

A quantity of Pilates' most successful students turned teachers were

1. Kathy Grant
2. Lolita San Miguel
3. Ron Fletcher


These along with a handful of Pilates' other successful students turned students continue to bring Pilates to new generations seeking a solidly effective mind-body conditioning system and exercise.