What the f*ck is Pilates? Former Pilates instructor and studio owner Inspired by questions, comments, inquiries and more from hundreds of clients met during my years as a Pilates student, instructor and studio owner. 1 Contents What the f*ck is Pilates? ............................................................................................................... 1 Preface............................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6 History........................................................................................................................................... 16 Benefits ......................................................................................................................................... 22 Anxiety and Rehabilitation ........................................................................................................... 28 Posture........................................................................................................................................... 35 Fitness and Training ...................................................................................................................... 56 Sports and Activities ..................................................................................................................... 71 Physical conditions ....................................................................................................................... 99 Muscles ....................................................................................................................................... 126 Where to do Pilates? ................................................................................................................... 137 References ................................................................................................................................... 145 Appendix I - Different styles of Pilates ...................................................................................... 146 Appendix II - Repertoire ............................................................................................................. 149 Essential Mat Repertoire ......................................................................................................... 149 Essential Reformer Repertoire ................................................................................................ 150 Intermediate Mat Repertoire ................................................................................................... 153 Intermediate Reformer Repertoire .......................................................................................... 154 Appendix III – Suggested routines ............................................................................................. 156 Foam roller .............................................................................................................................. 156 Ball .......................................................................................................................................... 157 Matwork .................................................................................................................................. 158 Abs and glutes ......................................................................................................................... 159 Flex band ................................................................................................................................. 160 Ring ......................................................................................................................................... 163 Toning balls ............................................................................................................................. 164 Abs & glutes ............................................................................................................................ 166 Intro Class (Reformer and basic principles) ............................................................................ 167 Jumpboard (basic routine) ....................................................................................................... 169 Mat Class (basic routine)......................................................................................................... 171 2 Appendix IV – Props used in Pilates .......................................................................................... 173 Appendix V – Equipment used in Pilates ................................................................................... 175 Appendix VI – Comments about Pilates ..................................................................................... 177 Index ........................................................................................................................................... 185 3 Preface What made you decide to write a book about Pilates? When I first decided to start a business and in particular a Pilates studio someone gave me the advice of writing a regular newsletter to send to clients and post online for people to read. It would also showcase me as an “expert” in this area, so I started writing a monthly newsletter with on average 4 articles a month. As the issues of the newsletter started accumulating, someone suggested I put them all together into a book and sell it online as an e-book. That was quite a while ago. I never got around to it then but now, after leaving the Pilates work, I have a little spare time and find it an interesting idea not only to put everything I wrote about Pilates into one document but to revisit an interesting chapter of life. What was your motivation? The motivation of another book on Pilates is because I have never seen a book about Pilates that talks about why do Pilates? What is it good for? Who can benefit from it? The majority of Pilates books are just about the exercises, how to do them, fitness and anatomy. I’m not an expert on any of that; I haven’t created a new style of Pilates, or some fitness guru or an anatomy expert. There are experts out there who can write about that and they have. What I have experience with is working with clients, real people, and helping meet their physical and indirectly their personal goals through Pilates. What is the purpose of this book? The purpose of this book is give the reader a feel for why Pilates is beneficial and why it’s good for them. What can the reader hope to learn from the book? I hope the reader learns a bit more about Pilates besides what they see and hear in the media. I hope by the end of the book the reader is a bit more knowledgeable about Pilates and if they want to learn more about it or even try it, they have a better idea where to start or where to look. What is the source for your book and what makes it unique? The sources for this book are from personal experience, speaking and working with hundreds of clients of thousands of hours. Each client and each of their experiences were unique and all full of great value and insight. Through helping these clients with Pilates, I learn more about how useful and powerful and form of movement and fitness Pilates really is. Are there any people you would like to acknowledge for this book? As much as I’d love to acknowledge every client and person who dropped by, called or even just emailed the studio inquiring about Pilates, but that would next to impossible. But all these people are to be acknowledged. How would you suggest someone read this book? I tried to make this book as novel as possible in that rather be encyclopedic, I wanted it to be interesting and not dependent on any other part of the book. I’ve tried to make the book like a conversation between someone inquiring about Pilates and an instructor or studio manager 4 answering the phone and answering this potential client’s questions. Each question is usually based on a different topic and the response to the question is one of the newsletter articles I wrote at some point. You can pretty much open the book to any page and start reading. It’s that easy. There are a few appendices with information that I never really wrote an article about but that I felt were necessary for the sake of completeness. Much of the information in the appendix was on the studio website. 5 Introduction There are lots of Pilates books out there, why write another one? Too many Pilates books are about the exercises Pilates has to offer. There is more to say about Pilates than what the exercises are, who’s doing it and what people look like who do it. When I had my studio someone suggested I write a newsletter, so I did, reluctantly, but I did. I decided to write about the benefits of Pilates. I tried to write articles about how Pilates compliments activities such as running, rowing, skiing and more. I tried to touch upon injuries that would come into the studio and speak to how Pilates was beneficial to the rehabilitation process. With many “injuries” it was due poor posture. Pilates is great for addressing postural issues and muscle imbalances. Everything in here has been inspired from the clients, inquiries, questions and comments from people during the years I had a Pilates studio. This book doesn’t have to be read in any kind of order. Choose a section or topic and start there. I will