Joseph Pilates came to believe that the "modern" life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the core of poor health. The Pilates exercises were built to improve flexibility, strength and stamina.
Pilates studios are female dominated now but the system was put together by a man who earned a living as a professional boxer, a circus-performer, and a self-defence trainer. With this in mind Pilates attention is on the core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine.
Everyman should do Pilates! Once a man has taken a Pilates class they feel the difference and become loyal Pilates followers. Andy Murray and David Beckham do Pilates as part of their training, men doing Pilates is beginning to rise and the benefits are huge, these include:
Improve flexibility - Pilates focus is on lengthening, this helps prevent injuries and muscle strains, and increases range of motion. Lengthen tight muscles and improve the movement in your joints.
Strengthen muscle groups - Some muscles dominate your daily movements, Pilates works the smaller muscles to help support the larger muscles.
Build core strength - Pilates exercise focuses on using your core to move your limbs and control the movement. The core supports your daily movements, helps your posture and will reduce your risk of injury.
Increase body awareness - Pilates makes you more body aware and how you are moving in space (proprioception), this will help with your balance and coordination.
Help relieve back pain - Pilates movements help lengthen the spine, gaining space in-between each vertebrae will help take away any friction you have that is causing pain.
Reduced stress – You need full concentration in a class so there’s no time to think about what stressing you out in life. The breathing patterns and steady, structured pace of a class means you have to think about what you are doing to achieve good movement. After a Pilates session, you’ll feel refreshed and relaxed, which can even carry over into the next day.
Better at sports - Increase your range of movement to perform better at sports, your bat swing or running will improve!
There's plenty of options available to give Pilates a go. If you are not comfortable to go to a studio you can go online and start in your home with no equipment needed.
Kajoma Studio has an on-demand service with over 90 classes to chose from that vary in duration and ability. There's lots of Beginners and Pre-Pilates classes to start right at the basics and work up.
With Father's Day around the corner Kajoma Studio also offers Pilates gift boxes. The starter gift box would be a great gift to introduce your father to Pilates. Each gift box has a voucher to access the on-demand online video classes.
If your dad complains of aches and stiffness, back pain or you can see his shoulders roll too far forward then Pilates can and will help! Take a look at our pilates gift boxes www.pilatesgift.co.uk