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BUT WHAT IS PILATES?

What is Pilates?

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Pilates, named for its creator, Joseph Pilates, is a system of controlled flowing exercises focused on improving flexibility, strength, and endurance. Control is so essential to the method Mr.Pilates originally deemed it Contrology, the art of control.

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"The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body and not at its mercy..."

-Joseph Pilates

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Pilates is a full body workout with extra emphasis on strengthening the core. A strong core makes the body more connected, stable and powerful. The Pilates system ensures no muscle is overdeveloped or underdeveloped. This includes strengthening deeper muscles often over looked in favor of bigger more superficial muscles. Muscle imbalances leaves the body vulnerable to injury. The Pilates method provides numerous additional benefits. Attention to breath increases circulation and respiratory health. The combination of spinal flexibility and core strength helps reduce back pain. Heightened body awareness improves posture, balance, and coordination.  

 

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BENEFITS
of Pilates
  • Heightens Body Awareness

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  • Improves Posture 

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  • Enhances Flexibility and Mobility 

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  • Increases Strength and Muscle Tone

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  • Promotes Body Control and Balance 

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  • Develops Core Strength 

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  • Reduces Risk of Injury

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  • For All Bodies and Fitness Levels 

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"Pilates develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit."

                                     -Joseph Pilates

Who is Pilates?

Joseph Pilates, born 1883 in Germany was a visionary ahead of his time.  Pilates devoted his life to studying body conditioning. In his younger years he studied anatomy and many different forms of exercise. At the outbreak of WWI he was already an accomplished gymnast, skier, diver and boxer living in England.

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Joseph Pilates was placed under forced internment alongside other Germans. Here he taught fellow camp members his concepts and exercises as he began to formalize his method. Pilates was transferred to another camp where he became a caretaker to those with wartime disease and injury. He began constructing equipment, attaching springs to hospital beds to help strengthen and rehabilitate the internees. Pilates continued refining his method and apparatus until he traveled to New York City where he opened his Contrology studio in 1926.

 

He hoped to see all people use his method to live life more fully, and achieve a state of health that he saw as an inherent birthright. 

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