*Featured image is a photo taken at a Pilates studio I attended in the neighbourhood of Castro in California.
I get asked a lot “What is Pilates? Is it just like yoga?” type of questions. Sometimes when on this topic, my friends (not just the naughty kind 😉 would say “oh I do make sure I do plenty of stretching…” So how does one define Pilates and differentiate it from yoga and stretching?
At the beginning of my Pilates journey, I thought it as a system of rules, cues (both verbal and hands-on), a prescribed set of movement sequence and poses, various apparatus and the most important of all, washboard abs. There isn’t anything wrong with this thinking of course. Pilates, as intended by its founder, Joseph Pilates, is an amalgamation of ideas from gymnastics, ballet and martial arts etc, designed to improve posture and promote fitness.
The message as I have interpreted it through training and instructing is to strengthen the core (think it as a cylinder of muscles wrapped around the front, sides and back). As the core gets stronger, injury is less likely to occur as a result of everyday movement, as insignificant as jogging, bending over to pick up grocery, gardening through to running, gym training and weight lifting. Why? Human body is both smart and lazy. It seeks the path of least resistance when presented with a task. Say you are lifting a pot plant. If the core and glutes that should be powering this movement aren’t flexing, quite literally, because they are weak, then your back and shoulders automatically kick in to pick up the slack. Repeatedly, this creates inefficiency and imbalance in the body as powerhouse muscles are habitually underused and accessory muscles overused. Small, accessory muscles aren’t as strong and stable as core muscles and once over-burdened, injuries tend to occur. Think common ailments such as lower back and shoulder pain. Conversely, when we strengthen our core through Pilates, we are reawakening and training our body to recruit those bigger, stronger muscles through movement. This not only makes movement more efficient as core muscles stabilise and anchor the frame of body throughout a task, but effectively prevents injuries by lessening the burden previously taken on by small, less stable muscle groups.
Pilates is far from the only discipline that strengths the core. My favourite instructor quote is “every exercise is a core exercise.” You would be hard pressed to find an exercise that doesn’t directly involve strengthening the core – planks, curl-ups, any back and flutes exercises, or using the core to stabilise, think any exercise that isolates and trains smaller muscle groups such as bicep curls and bench press. So apart from stretching (I know, you wish), yoga, or any training regime, all work the core. That’s where Pilates and other disciplines overlap.
With regard to Pilates and yoga, I would say yoga caters to more flexible folks and those with more body awareness (where your limbs are in space). Yoga also has a spiritual and meditation component to it. Pilates movement is more guided and controlled, with less flow, and a stronger focus on, you guessed it, strengthening the core. In short, Pilates gives you a solid core so you can better tackle yoga and other movement discipline.
Outside regular classes and teaching, I also think Pilates as a way of living, beyond its obvious physical benefits.
Take the reformer, a most popular Pilates apparatus in group classes for example. If you have ever taken a class on one, you would know the endless array of exercises reformer springs offer. Light springs in particular, challenges balance and stability. The notion of doing as much as needed, but as little as necessary really rings true when you are trying to stay steady on a moving platform, while moving your limbs about. Your core is working hard to keep you stable (every exercise is a core exercise, remember?), but in a subtle way. Over clenching those abs would risk taking the much required focus off of not falling off the reformer. Similarly, either hands or feet are controlled by the light spring, moving about in space. You want to work suitably hard, but not too hard, as doing so might just throw you off balance.
So there you have it, wisely allocating mental and physical energy is an ongoing lesson as I tick off each class. Doesn’t this ring true in life – pursuing goals but knowing boundaries and when to say no and smartly back off. Breathing in, breathing out, always prioritising mental and physical health and looking after Number One.
I think my other hobby, practising piano, as a form of Pilates, for finger dexterity. In order to play more fluently and up to speed with pieces from Carl Czerny, one of my favourite classical composers, my fingers need to be on point and not tire out so easily. That’s where I must engage bigger stabilising joints such as wrists and forearms to move hands efficiently across keys and scales and not just relying on fingers to overcome the distance on the keyboard. This is very similar to Pilates principle that advocates strengthening the core and let the core fire up first and take up the grunt of work, albeit the “core” here is not the six pack, but forearm through to wrist.
As equating Pilates with stretching, as long as you stretch vigorously enough with core strengthening in mind, I might just agree that’s Pilates too ;-).
finally, while we are at it, happy pie-latte-ing!