If you are looking for a healthy body and physical fitness, then there are different ways to achieve the same. One of the popular forms of exercise which have picked up pace in the recent year is the pilates. It is a great way to tone the body and relax oneself.
What Is Meant By The Term ‘Pilates’?
Pilates is a set of exercises much similar to that of yoga exercises but is more centered on areas such as the abdomen, the obliques, the portion of the lower back, thighs, and butts. The wide range of exercises included in a pilates workout routine mainly focuses on the following criteria; muscular strength, flexibility and endurance, body and movement coordination and it also maintains overall balance and posture of one’s body.
How To Start A Pilates Workout?
Here is a small regime or warm-up of the what type of workout one has to go through when performing the Pilates routine.
- Start by lying down on the floor, spine in a neutral position, arms stretched up towards the sky, and knees bent at 90-degree angles.
- Start to exhale by letting your arms reach down the floor or mat, with palms planted over the floor, lift your head gently and roll it towards the abdomen. Keep your shoulder blades just above the mat.
- Maintain this position and then inhale deeply till 5 beats in a rhythm. Gently inhale through your chest muscles and then exhale through it. Letting the airflow through the lungs properly. After this, exhale in 5 beats too, use precursive exhalation for more effective results.
- By holding this position, complete a set by inhaling and exhaling for about 100 total beats.
This is just a warm-up or basic routine of pilates for beginners, intermediate or advanced levels of training involve a greater number of activities with different intensities and time intervals.
When it comes to performing a set of pilates exercises, it is often advised to know the benefits of the overall exercises that you perform. Below are some of the given benefits of doing pilates with respect to the effects it has on one’s body.
- Body awareness – It is known to bring calmness and peace in mind. Pilates generally involves deep breathing exercises, which help to control one’s mind and focus. All of this helps to improve body and mind coordination, build symmetry, and balance. All of these attributes ultimately focus on improving personal awareness; this awareness can be in the form of hygiene, health, posture and character build-up.
- Body control – Since a lot of focus is on controlled breathing, pilates also helps in controlling the body. We could maintain a good posture for a longer duration or achieve focus on work for a longer duration than before. One could build proper symmetry with their body parts and movements and sometimes achieve greater levels of performance than what one could have done before starting the Pilates exercises. So, we can say that pilates help in maintaining proper body posture.
- Stronger core and back muscles – Pilates exercises work wonders when it comes to working up the core. These exercises focus not only on flattening the belly or weight loss but also helps in strengthening the core muscles and provide overall abdominal strength. It also helps in building our back muscles to provide overall rigidity and support to our posture.
Conclusion
All the exercises involved in Clinical Pilates exercises are extremely important in treating every type of health condition. You can join a good pilates class to begin this form of exercise is easy and it also gives great results.
