The History of Pilates ? It All Began With One Sickly Child
A look into the history of Pilates helps you understand the tremendous power that this form of exercise has to help strengthen and transform your body. Unlike yoga, which has a tradition that goes back thousands of years, one individual developed the Pilates Method at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1880 in Dusseldorf, Germany, a sickly baby named Joseph Pilates was born. As a young child he watched as his friends ran, jumped and played games ?activities that he could not do because of his frail, weak body. That is when the Pilates Method really began. Pilates was determined to find a way to improve his health and physical strength and stamina. He set off on a lifelong quest for fitness and exercise. Pilates not only overcame his physical frailties ? he mastered them. He became an accomplished yogi, boxer, gymnast, and skier. During World War I, Pilates was interned in England where he worked as a nurse with injured war victims. Pilates was convinced that exercise could help rehabilitate their badly damaged bodies. Many of these patients were not able to move, but that did nothing to deter Pilates' determination to help them gain strength and mobility. He rigged up their hospital beds with straps and springs and created a series of exercises to help move their joints through a greater range of motion. The exercises also helped his patients develop muscle strength, flexibility and endurance. Eventually, many of these people were able to get up and move around by themselves. In 1923, Joseph Pilates and his wife moved to New York City where they opened up a studio and began working to rehabilitate injured dancers. Some of the most famous dancers that they worked with were George Balanchine and Martha Graham. Word of the dramatic results that came from using the Pilates method spread, and soon it became the exercise of choice for not only dancers, but also entertainment stars and professional athletes. For a long time, this unique form of exercise was limited to this elite community. That has all changed. Now millions of people are familiar with the Pilates method of exercise. They have discovered for themselves that Pilates can help them gain the strength, flexibility, and balance of a professional dancer, without having to spend hours at the gym. They spend less time to achieve better results. No wonder it has become one of the hottest fitness trends to come along in years. Now that you know the background of Pilates and why it was developed, you can realize how this powerful form of exercise can help you gain strength, flexibility, endurance, and the body of that you've always wanted. Della Menechella is a yoga and fitness enthusiast who has been involved in fitness for over thirty years. Her website http://www.beauty-fitness-yoga-source.com/ is filled with practical information about how you can make yoga and fitness a positive part of your life. Visit the site and get your free meditation e-book.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Different Exercises Schedule to Combat Hypertension, Obesity, and Asthma!
Different Health Problems generally do not allow us to do traditional exercises. Above all, one type of exercise cant be effective to each group facing different challenges. But despite all these different challenges, the general rule applies to all: Extra Effort and Persistence.
Rotator Cuff: Exercises and Strategies to Prevent Injury
Have you ever experienced a dull ache or sharp pain in your shoulder or upper arm? Maybe you are unable to sleep on one side because your shoulder wakes you up at night. Perhaps, you have discomfort reaching behind your back to tuck in your shirt or grab your wallet. If so, you may be suffering from a rotator cuff injury.
Athletics and Winning
Athletics are pretty cut and dry in one regard; the goal to win. Having been in competitive athletics in a prior life I can certainly attest to that. Often however I see something that does not make a lot of sense, the need for society to treat everyone equal and to somehow over do or condemn the competitive aspect. For instance; I question an article I read in Sports Illustrated Women in February of this year about the "Agony of Defeat". The article discussed public humiliation, financial disappointment, and long-term psychological trauma? That is utter bull.
Mixing Things Up
To say that the human body is an amazing machine is an understatement, especially when it comes to diet and exercise. Our bodies are constantly trying to achieve a state of homeostasis. The human body over time will make adjustments to try and adapt to its current environment.
The History of Pilates ? It All Began With One Sickly Child
A look into the history of Pilates helps you understand the tremendous power that this form of exercise has to help strengthen and transform your body. Unlike yoga, which has a tradition that goes back thousands of years, one individual developed the Pilates Method at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Try Different Forms of Exercise for Success
If you have always used free weights, then switch it up and try training with machines like "Hammer Strength" or "Nautilus". These are excellent weight resistance machines and they will really work your muscles from different angles and different intensities. You should always strive to find new and exciting ways to workout your body. Try doing all body-weight movements, which are a really great way to build quality strength. The military uses mainly body-weight movements during their training. These include pushups, situps and pullups. The three main body-weight movements will really give you a great overall body workout!
Recognize Your Motivation to Exercise
The positive effects of exercise have been documented and reported through every media outlet available. You can probably walk up to anyone on the street and ask them the positive benefits of exercise and they can most likely list them. If everyone knows why we need to exercise, why aren't we? The answers are most likely more complex than we think.
Integrating Core Stabilization into Your Workouts
Stabilization is a hot topic in the fitness industry over the past few years. But what is stabilization? Stabilization can be defined as the body's muscular systems ability to support (stabilize) the body during movement.
What is the Right Home Exercise Program for You?
What do you want to get out of the exercise program?
Fitness Focus: Overcoming Obstacles
If you're like me, the quest to be in shape, manage weight and overall well-being, at times, feels overwhelming. And, as if the quest to be fit isn't hard enough, there's often other obstacles to overcome: health issues, time management, mustering up courage or energy. Even if you've been exercising for a long time, there's always new barriers to be broken. So, how to put all of this into perspective? According to Tom Turner, executive liaison for the Spina Bifida Association that's exactly it: Perspective. And also, according to him, there's no mountain too high to climb. Tom would know. Paralyzed from the waist down since birth he's now 33 and trains about three times a week. In fact, he tells me, he just couldn't get along without exercise.
Super Secret Exercise Tips for People with Arthritis
People with arthritis should exercise ? but they need to keep some valuable information in mind. Here are some important tips to follow:
Professional Triathlon Training Taking You To Your Best
There are hundreds of different programs for professional triathlon training that will work for you. There are even more that won't. For anyone who is looking for some great plans to get them going, think about your needs and your desired outcome.
The Lactate Threshold ? Reality or Fallacy?
For many years exercise science has perpetuated the concept of a lactate threshold - a point during exercise where a sudden, sharp increase is noted in the concentration of lactate in the blood. This phenomenon is supposedly noticed when blood samples are taken from subjects performing incremental to max exercise tests much the same as a VO2 max test. Traditionally, it has been noted that when concentration of lactate is plotted against running speed (or %VO2 max) on a graph, as the individual runs faster the quantity of lactate in the blood remains constant up to a certain speed, after which a sudden inflection in the gradient occurs. This inflection point has been dubbed the lactate threshold - the point during intense exercise where the muscles become increasingly anaerobic, generating vast quantities of lactate. Therefore, this phenomenon has also become known as the anaerobic or ventilation threshold.
The Importance of The Fibonacci Numbers in Fitness Training
"Things do not change; we change." ?Henry David Thoreau
10 Workout Mistakes Cheaters Make
"When I'm lifting free weights, I tend to go pretty fast on the downward motion when I'm supposed to be using more control," says Beth Pekol, who works in banking in Chicago.
Anywhere and Anytime Exercises
These type of Exercises generally makes your body strong and firm. No matter, you are Exercising or Muscle Building or Body Building, these exercises are quite handy and help a lot.
Who Else Wants To Get In Shape in 35 Minutes?
Most of the physical fitness trainers, and coaches agree that
doing some sort of resistance training, and cardio training, sets
up a good foundation for all around fitness. What most people
like to do is alternate days. M-W-F do resistance training and on
Tues-thurs-sat do aerobic training or some other variation.Now
this is not a bad thing but it can be very time consuming and for
people who have real busy lives it might be hard to make this
kind of commitment.
How To Overcome Workout Plateaus
Humans are habitual. They strive on routine and rituals. While it's true that routine can provide a sense of ease and security, I think we'd all agree that the same old, same old can also turn to boredom. And when it comes to working out, routine can be downright toxic.
Invest in Your Health
What if a trusted friend were to tell you about an investment where you could not possibly go wrong...what would be your reaction? And what if there was a virtual mountain of credible information that supported the investment claims...wouldn't you be inclined to take advantage of the opportunity and not miss out on the rewards? Although the answer to these questions seems apparent, when it comes to investing in our health and quality of life we often choose to ignore what obviously works. Take for example, exercise...
Sweating Vacation
It seems like everyone is concerned about putting on the pounds over the annual holiday season, but what about summer vacations? We spend the greater part of the new year trying to shed the weight gained from an over-indulgence of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies and various other sweets in order to slip into that new bikini or eliminate the gut before shedding the shirt at the beach. What happens when you reach your destination of summer frolicking? Toss your diet out the window and reward yourself with excess? Stay loyal to your eating and exercise plan? Somehow manage to find a happy medium? I was faced with these questions when I embarked on a weeklong excursion of bliss to Kona Village on the Big Island of Hawaii.
|
