Pilates
Abbey Ballroom and Pilates Center offers complete Pilates equipment and instruction.
Pilates is a physical training method that improves overall fitness. It provides
a whole-body workout that develops long, lean, toned muscles and full range of
motion.
 Click the links below for details.
What
is Pilates?
Pilates is a physical training method that improves overall fitness. It provides
a whole-body workout that develops long, lean, toned muscles and full range
of motion.
Pilates has long been used dancers to produce lithe and lean physiques and
by professional athletes to refine strength, balance, and coordination. Pilates
is also often used for posture improvement and rehabilitation following injury.
In addition, the strength, flexibility, alignment, muscle balance, and physical
awareness that results from Pilates training can help students avoid injury
while performing other types of physical activities.
Joseph
Pilates began developing this technique during World War 1,
working with fellow prisoners of war and later with disabled
wartime victims by using hospital bed springs for resistance.
Joseph immigrated to America in 1926 and established the first
Pilates studio in New York City. His studio caught the attention
of such dance legends as George Ballanchine, Hanya Holm, and
Martha Graham, who sent their students to Joseph to repair
knees, backs, joints, and muscle pulls. It is now used for
people in all walks of life.
What
are the benefits of Pilates?
- Increases
strength, flexibility, and endurance
- Develops
long, lean muscles
- Enhances
mental focus
- Improves
posture, balance, and alignment
- Helps
heal and prevent injuries
- Counters
the effects of stress, overuse, and aging
- Relieves
back and joint pain
- Improves
physical performance
- Increases
core strength and stability
What
sets Pilates apart as a fitness regime?
- The
goal of Pilates is to allow students to accomplish everyday
tasks with ease and mobility, producing functional movement
rather than developing strength for its own sake. Pilates
gently moves bones to their anatomically correct and most
efficient position while retraining and rebalancing muscles
to maintain this new posture.
- Unlike
forms of exercise, such as weight lifting, that produce bulky
muscles, Pilates lengthens muscles while strengthening them
through eccentric muscle contractions.
- Unlike
weight lifting, instead of increasing the load and/or repetitions
as the body adapts, Pilates changes the “stress” on
the body by adding new exercises that require more sophisticated
use of the muscles and a greater range of motion.
- Unlike
weight lifting, which isolates and works muscles individually,
Pilates works whole muscle systems by counterbalancing the
muscle systems against one another. The exercises require
the stabilization of some muscles while other muscles are
moving bones.
- Although
Pilates is similar to yoga in its emphasis on breathing,
while yoga holds poses, Pilates always works through movement.
- Pilates
focuses on good posture, joint release, flexibility, and
strength. Generally speaking, there are exercise methods
and then there are rehabilitation techniques. Pilates can
be used for strength and flexibility training, as well as
for rehabilitation and injury prevention.
 How
do I get started?
Rob Sutherland is a certified Pilates instructor.
For information about Pilates instruction,
call Rob at 253-572-5424.
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