You’ve probably heard of another form of exercising called ‘pilates’. Pilates is a lot like yoga, but much harder because its aim is to push your core to its limits. This means that you would be stretching and strengthening your obliques, back, abdomen, butt, and glutes.
Not until the past few years did pilates become mainstream. Now you can take pilates sessions in almost any fitness center. If you want to know more about it, you can visit your trusted Pilates clinic and see how this fitness regimen can help you achieve the ideal weight at the same time improve your health.
Pilates and Flexibility
Flexibility is an important ability of the body. It enables you to move freely because your body parts are able to move up to their limit. If you are unable to flex your body parts normally, due to pain or injury, it would be difficult to go through your daily routine and also perform pilates at the.
Flexibility weakens over age similar to a lot of other things. As you grow old, your body becomes weaker, and your bones and muscles become stiffer. The only way to prevent this from happening is by regularly exercising no matter what your age.
Pilates can help you with that. However, pilates is not recommended for elderly individuals unless consulted and supervised by a specialist. Since it focuses on working on your core and your flexibility (like yoga), it can be of great help if you want to improve on your flexibility.
Regularly doing pilates can improve the motion of your body. The most evident change is when you can actually stretch your limbs far enough, like touching your toes with the tips of your fingers without hurting your hamstring.
Pilates and Bodybuilding
The link between pilates and bodybuilding started when pilates itself was born. Joseph Hubertus Pilates, the inventor of pilates, was a bodybuilder himself. He started his early career by becoming a professional boxer. When World War I started, he was a hired as a self-defense trainer in Scotland Yard. There, he taught soldiers how to fight and trained them to become stronger.
During this time, he was also developing the concept of using less equipment and working on the connection between mind and body in exercise. He was a believer in the power of the core and how harnessing will make you much stronger. Since then, pilates became a popular fitness program up to this present era.
Flexibility, Pilates, and Bodybuilding
Tying it all together, the improved flexibility you’ll get from taking Pilates classes will help repair your muscles faster. Since bodybuilding is concerned with strengthening the muscles, the chances of ripping or damaging the muscles are high. Doing pilates can help your muscles be more resistant to damage and if ever damage occurs, it can reduce the soreness you will feel.
Another benefit of Pilates is that bodybuilders are given better posture for training and competing. This doesn’t mean they become more graceful and poised. Instead, they become more attuned to the other parts of their body that contribute to their overall strength. They will be more “centered” as their core will also be helping more when they have tapped into it in pilates sessions.
Lastly, pilates will improve your balance. Bodybuilding always involves an outside weight that will test the endurance and strength of your muscles. Because of this, your posture will always tend to move towards the heavier object. Over time, your posture would change because of the exercises and training for bodybuilding. When you complement pilates with bodybuilding, there would be symmetry in the body and proper posture can be maintained.
Melanie is a graduate of Physiotherapy from the University of Melbourne. She obtained clinical experience throughout the public and private systems. She is also trained to perform Pre-Pointe, Pilates and running assessment. Visit https://www.capitalphysiotherapy.com.au/ to learn more about Pilates.
