Pilates is all about full body and not just abs!
Pilates is great for your abdominals. Pilates is great for your core. Pilates will make you more flexible. Many people think this is what Pilates is all about. Many people will talk about using your abs for this, find your core, this will make you more flexible. Is that truly what Pilates is? Many people still ask “what is Pilates?” “is that like Yoga?”.
For many new Pilates teachers, that question is a very hard one to answer. Pilates has so much in terms of what it is doing for your mind and body, so many different Pilates apparatus to use for that workout. What if we went and said Pilates is all about the full body! Every single move is full body! Imagine Pilates is a workout that hits your entire body with every single move? To me and those Pilates clients and Pilates teachers who work with me, this is how we approach every Pilates session! Full Body!
Pilates was created by Joseph Pilates and his Pilates method is based on full-body movement. He wanted everybody to do Pilates so, each exercise is to that individual person’s ability in mobility and strength. His Mat work and the exercises on the Reformer are in a specific order to get the body warmed up, finding connections and movement to build to the next or to what is coming further down the work. The springs are used to give support and feedback to the full body! Imagine a workout that each move the entire body is engaged in some way!
Joseph Pilates also designed and created many different apparatus that use springs to speak to the body. To tell the body what may need to happen and “how” to make it happen in the best way for that individual body. The spring may tell the muscles to “fire” to push, pull, and how to make that happen. The spring may also tell the body what muscles need to fire and engage to create some stability somewhere so the rest of the body can move safely and to its full range of motion!
Those that practice Pilates know that it is not like any other workout. It takes focus and practice to figure all of the moves, connections and to build things in the session. In the gym you can pick up those weights and do a bicep curl and still be chatting with a friend, thinking of what you will be doing after your workout, your grocery list, or what’s for dinner.
Not in Pilates! The moment you hit the mat and then have to curl into that Hundred position? The mind is telling the body already how to reach those legs and lift them and hold them and pump those arms and breathe in and out, to keep this stable as those arms pump and it is a full brain to the body as gravity starts to pull and drag at you. You also have to keep thinking about what is getting lost? How do I keep this? Am I still curled up? What is going on?
This is what I love about teaching Pilates. The progress of the Pilates client as they start to figure these things out. Truly listening to their body and feeling it for themselves. Realizing what they need to do to make that leg reach as far as the other, to keep those arms engaged into the back, to find their own range of movement and challenge.
Joseph Pilates created his work not only for the full-body but, to keep the work growing and changing with the Pilates practitioner. As we age, have injuries, struggle with things at work or at home, whatever life throws at us Pilates is able to adjust with that body. The building blocks continue and grow as the client gets stronger or needs a different focus.
Don’t get me wrong Pilates is working those abs! How can it not? The full body is engaged and to sit up, be stable, stand, roll up and down, be on your side, lying on your stomach and lifting? Those abs are in the mix and doing what they need to do! How can they not? Yet, so much more is going on.
Pilates is a workout-like life. When we wake up and get out of bed our body knows what to do. We have done it since we were little kids. Walking to the car, picking up bags, or walking the dogs. Pilates helps in making all these things safer, easier and our body and mind feeling what needs to happen. Creating muscle memory for life!
Joseph Pilates wanted everyone to do his work. He called it Contrology and believed it would keep everyone to be able to do what they loved in the outside world and stay injury-free. It was all about being mobile and being able to move to the best of your ability. This is what I try to convey to every Pilates client who enters my studio.
Let’s see what happens. Let’s explore this movement. Pilates is a practice and the more you do it the better you get. Stronger, more mobile, and you can feel the effects of having to really focus on your workout. Leaving feeling less stressed and much better than when you started your Pilates session.
Pilates is like no other workout. I have had clients doing Pilates with me for over 25 years. It is full body and the fact that it changes with you keeps it from becoming just another workout. There is no thinking of your grocery list or what is waiting for you at work. It is being in the studio, with your teacher and listening to your body, and being guided to your needs and goals.
Pilates is all about full body and YOU doing the work. No one else. YOU!
To quote Mr. Pilates and in fact, it is my favorite quote “Everyone is the architect of their own happiness.”
In life and teaching Pilates I truly believe that everyone has control of their own happiness and how to “build” or “get it”. No one else can make us happy and no one else can make our body happy and fit. That is up to each person. It is up to us.
Remember that our body and our movement are like a beautiful orchestra! Hear all the instruments and get them to play effortlessly together and in tune. Isn’t that how we want our bodies to move?
So next time you think I want to work those abs, that core…think do I just want to hear one instrument? Or do I want the full orchestra? I say full orchestra..FULL BODY!