It was originally called Contrology, and developed by a man called Joseph Pilates, hence the capital P whenever we refer to the practice of Pilates. In his own words ‘’Contrology develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind and elevates the spirit’’. 

And to think there are folks who think it is just gentle stretching! 

Let’s break down what he meant. 

Pilates seeks to engage and develop all of the muscles in the body, the deep local ones and the global superficial ones. Thus we don’t overwork or overdevelop any one muscle group. Instead we seek balance and equilibrium throughout the body. My physio Amy talks about whisper, talk, and shout muscles. Whisper muscles are the ones we have to think about to engage, such as our TVA – transverse abdominus, the deep core one you’ll often hear Pilates instructors describing like a belt around your waist that you need to draw in a few notches. 

Mind body connection is very important in Pilates. 

We focus and concentrate to move our muscles with our mind. Which takes time to understand in a practical way. 

Through regular Pilates practice over time, we develop our proprioception, which is our awareness of our body in time and space. This is a type of kinesthetic intelligence, and allows us to deepen our mind-body connection. 

For example, we very often begin a movement from tabletop, which is lying supine with both legs raised, knees over hips, toes pointed and a 90 degree angle at our knees. It takes time for people to ‘sense’ the correct setup of this in their bodies, without having to look and check that they are in the right position. But once they have developed that proprioception, they can find that setup position with ease. 

Pilates improves posture. We focus, at the beginning and throughout a class, on working from a neutral spine. This is where we seek to align the natural curves of the spine for greatest stability and safety of movement. I have lordosis, meaning my pelvis arches forward, creating compression in my lumbar spine, tightness in my hip flexors and extension in my abdominals. But with greater awareness and much practice, I have vastly improved. Other postural conditions include kyphosis, flat back, and sway back. 

The modern world, our lived environments, our working patterns mean many of us are now turning into the corporate prawn meme, hunched over in our upper back. In Pilates we focus on thoracic extension movements aimed at counterbalancing this, opening across the chest and developing strength in the back muscles. 

Pilates is a full body workout. In a class you will move through a number of positions; lying supine on your back and working your core, lying prone on your belly and working the back chain of muscles, side lying for leg series work, seated for spine extension and rotation work, in plank for full body strength work. Pilates develops muscle strength and endurance, using our own body weight as resistance, and adding small equipment for extra intensity, focus and fun. Pilates develops flexibility in the muscles as we learn to lengthen them, and mobility in the joints, particularly our hip and shoulder joints. We develop highly tuned motor skills as we repeat movements, focusing every time on precision of set up. Our core is our powerhouse in Pilates, and practice properly for long enough and you will have a beautiful strong midsection. 

Pilates has been called intelligent movement as it is very much about seeking to engage and control muscles with the mind. In the beginning, people can feel frustrated by the amount of instruction given and things they have to think about. This is completely normal. There’s a lot going on and when it’s all new it can seem a bit much. But before long things start to make sense and it all gets a bit easier. You begin to love how small movements done with control can produce such big results. That’s the beauty of Pilates, it is low impact movement that really can profoundly improve strength, flexibility, mobility and posture. 

Next :

Why is it mainly women who attend Pilates classes? 

What’s the difference between Pilates and yoga?