Why You Shouldn’t Do Classical Pilates?
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Why You Shouldn’t Do Classical Pilates?
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Transcript of Why You Shouldn’t Do Classical Pilates?
Why You Shouldn’t Do Classical Pilates?
Today, however, our spinal issues have changed. Most people are already rounded from looking at their computers, cell phones and sitting in their cars. Sure most people need to strengthen their abdominal, but they also need to STRETCH the front of their bodies and strengthen the back side of the body in order balance their spine back into alignment.
Joe’s repertoire has exercises that do this: “Rocking”, “Swan Dive”, “Single Leg Kick”, “Double Leg Kick”, are all exercises that work the back muscles and open up the front.
The issue with most average (low cost, high volume) Pilates studios these day is that they do the opposite of this.
You hear it everywhere… “Pilates is so good for your neck issues” or “Use Pilates to make your abs stronger and fix your back pain.” Of course Pilates has helped a lot of people, but we are here to tell you that not ALL Pilates is good for all people. Before we tell you why, let’s give you a little history of Pilates.
Pilates was created by a German man named Joseph Pilates, or “Joe” as we call him affectionately. He was born in 1883 and died in 1967, and the bulk of the Pilates repertoire was created in the 1920’s to 1960’s. At that time, we didn’t have computers, fast cards, long highways, cell phones or tablets.
When Joe became well known in NYC, the dance community found him (since he taught in a studio near their dance studio) and dancers would go to Joe to “get fixed” from their injuries.
What Joe did was unique- he used resistance springs to strengthen the whole body including the core. He emphasized the breath. A majority of the work he taught was performed in a “round back” position where the mid and lower back areas are rounded to engage the abdominals optimally.
Today we would call a lot of these positions a “crunch”. Joe called them the “Hundreds”, “Single Leg Stretch”, “Hamstring Pull” and a myriad of other variations of a similar position.
Some instructors are so focused on getting the “core burn” their clients’ want that they focus on the “crunch” movements and other challenging front working activities.
We don’t remember the last time we entered a studio (other than our own) and had an instructor spend more than half the class working the “back” or doing any of the mentioned exercises above. We believe it’s important to work the back, glutes, hamstrings and other muscles groups that get underutilized from our lifestyle.
So why not Classical Pilates you ask? Because the classical work was designed in the days where our bodies and postures were not the same. Instead, take out some of the excessive “rounding” exercises. We are not saying ALL, just some. Emphasize the exercises that will not only change your silloutte and make you leaner, but also be better for you neck, back and spine.
Or pick up a copy of Sculpt and Shape: The Pilates Way… which will exactly tell you which exercises you SHOULD be doing for your posture and alignment.
