 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Missy Cohen, who teaches Pilates at Bird's Nest Dance Studio in Jericho, Vermont, says, "Pilates strengthens and tones the muscles while increasing flexibility, promoting balance and creating a more streamlined shape." Cohen has taught ballet and other forms of dance at local studios for 25 years and added Pilates to her course offering two years ago. "Pilates was frail and plagued by ill health as a child. He was driven to strengthen his own body through muscle control and he used his mind to master the muscles," says Cohen, who also adopted Pilates for selfhealing after a serious dance injury five years ago. By employing exercises he developed after studying a cast-off anatomy book given to him by his family doctor, Pilates transformed himself from a sickly child to a skier, gymnast and even a model for fitness charts. Pilates later used his techniques as a nurse in World War I. "He used his approach on patients who were bedridden," Cohen explains. "He attached springs to their beds and then exercised their arms and legs. Doctors soon realized that patients regained mobility much sooner after Pilates' help. Out of this experience, the Pilates regimen was born." Pilates called his program "Contrology," but in modern practice, most refer to it just as "Pilates," pronounced pi-lah-teez. While Pilates eventually created machines to help practitioners and therapists create just the right resistance for maximum effect, you don’t need special equipment to practice Pilates. "The core of the system is the mat work, which can be done virtually anytime, anywhere," Cohen states. "It's a series of leg, arm and upper body exercises, with the emphasis on working from the muscles of the "powerhouse" —the abdominals, lower back, hips and buttocks. "The exercises are done in repetitions, with a fluid transition between each one, the emphasis being on concentration, precision and correct use of breathing," she adds. In a sense, Pilates practitioners use their own bodies as weights for strength training. Rather than doing many repetitions of the same exercise, they vary the exercises used and do fewer repetitions, giving great attention to each one and the muscles necessary to complete it. Who can benefit from Pilates? Anyone, Cohen says. While she herself has been dancing since age three and finds many similarities to classical ballet training in Pilates' lengthening and strengthening techniques, she notes that the students in her classes vary from teenagers who want to train for sports or dance to homemakers and businesspeople who just want to get buff. "Pilates is a great way for any athlete to enhance his or her training, be it dancer, runner, skier, or basketball player," she stresses. "It is also a great way for a nonexerciser to start a healthy strengthening and muscle lengthening regimen." |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|