Does Pilates Work? Millions Say Yes!
Does Pilates work, even if you’re terribly out of shape? Does it work if you’ve had an injury, or you have bad knees? Millions of people have discovered that Pilates seems to be good for whatever ails you. It may not be a miracle cure for every ailment, but ask anyone who’s been doing Pilates regularly, “Does Pilates work?” You’re bound to get a resounding, “Yes!”
Pilates stared out as an exercise only wealthy people could afford, because it was done on an expensive machine called a Reformer. Joseph Pilates designed the machine to be used for over a hundred different movements. Each movement uses your body’s weight as resistance, and offers equal intensity through both sides of each movement, to work opposing muscle groups equally.
Does Pilates work to help strengthen muscles? Yes, and it does so without building muscle bulk that body builders go for. Because the movements don’t have to be repeated many times for you reap the full benefits, there’s no bulky muscle building involved. Rather, Pilates lengthens and tones the muscles, which actually makes them smaller and denser.
Do the exercises work if you’ve had an injury? Pilates is renowned for helping prevent injury! And even those who’ve already suffered back, knee and joint injuries can find the slow and soothing movements of Pilates will help strengthen the muscles around those joints. It’s a low impact workout, so there’s no strain or pressure put on joints. This minimizes the risk of someone injuring themselves again.
Will it really help you improve your posture like you’ve heard? Because Pilates strengthens the core muscles of the abdomen and lower back, the entire body is better supported. This can help someone who’s been doing Pilates workouts walk taller and hold themselves straighter.
Does Pilates work to improve all the body’s systems? While this might seem to be a far-fetched claim, think about all that Pilates does. It strengthens the muscles while toning and trimming them. It strengthens the core muscles that support not only the spine but surrounds the body’s organs and holds them firm. So not only is posture improved, but because the entire abdominal wall is stronger, it offers more support for your internal organs.
People who do Pilates benefit from the deep breathing of the exercises and the controlled breathing and movement. So not only are your organs better supported, breathing is improved which helps put more oxygen into your bloodstream. It’s starting to get easier to see how Pilates can improve your overall health, isn’t it?
Does Pilates work if you’re really out of shape? Yes! The beauty of Pilates is that it doesn’t take long, grueling workout sessions to see benefits. A person who hasn’t exercised in a long time can start out doing just 5 or 10 minutes of Pilates movements at a time.
Because of the great strengthening benefits of Pilates, even a beginner can increase the time spent working out quite rapidly. Does Pilates work? Try it yourself, and you’ll be able to answer that much faster than you think!
