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What is Pilates?
Pilates is a low impact full-body workout that focuses on moving from your body’s center or “core”.
What does Pilates target?
All of the smaller muscles that run along your spine provide layers of support for you to sit, stand, walk, dance, play sports, and so on. There are many layers of muscle. Pilates targets the deep intrinsic layer of small muscles including semispinalis, multifidus, rotators and small muscles between the vertebrae.
What is your core?
Your body’s core is the central part of your body and its musculature, including pelvis, lower back, hips and stomach or “abs”. Strengthening this central area will improve balance, stability and flexibility.
What is the benefit of Pilates?
While you don’t need to know all the muscle names, what you do need to know is what these muscles do for you and why you should care. Pilates targets the layer of muscle that provides stability and support to those larger muscles that propel you through space. So the result of doing Pilates is a lengthening and strengthening of this support system, resulting in better posture, less pain, and an increase in efficiency of your ability to move no matter what you do. In other words, you do Pilates so you can do everything else.
What activities most benefit from Pilates?
Likely any activity you can do will benefit from Pilates, because of the underlying musculature strengthening described above, as well as a heightened level of awareness that you will bring to conscious movement learned with good Pilates instruction.
Popular activities that can benefit from Pilates:
- Strength Training
- Golf
- Tennis
- Rowing
- Swimming
If you’re interested in trying Pilates, contact the Pilates Loft in Mendota Heights, MN and set up your studio starter with a trainer. All the trainers at the Pilates Loft are STOTT PILATES® certified with years of experience in personal training and group fitness.