Pilates is everywhere these days. You see it on your Instagram feed, you have many friends enrolling in pilates in Toowoomba and you hear celebrities and influencers rave about how pilates changed their lives.
But what exactly does practicing pilates do to your mind and body? Let’s find out:
It helps you discover and build your core strength.
Pilates was first developed by Joseph Pilates, a German physical trainer, to help injured soldiers heal and improve their functional movement. Since then, it has evolved into a fitness regimen that’s now being practised by millions worldwide. One of the reasons pilates is so popular is that it offers a completely different way to exercise, focusing more on building and increasing your core where all of your body’s movements stem from.
When you practice pilates, you’re challenging your body to movements that you won’t do on a regular basis. This helps to engage the entire muscle groups and ensure that you build your core strength, especially in your spine. Practising pilates also helps to improve your posture and create better body alignment. When you’re more aware of how your body is aligned, you can move more effectively and avoid injuries.
It promotes better joint health.
Have you been spending most of your time sitting on a chair in front of a computer? Do you hardly exercise or do sports these days? There’s a good chance that your joints may already be stiff and hard to move. Studies show that practicing pilates helps to promote better joint health by building strength in the tendons and ligaments through low-resistance but high-repetition movements. Pilates also don’t put a lot of stress to the muscles and joints while still challenging your strength and endurance.
It reduces back pain and prevents injuries.
If you’re constantly suffering from back pain due to a lack of physical activity, practicing pilates can help to relieve that pain and allow you to be more functional. Pilates movements target the back muscles to give you more stability and relieve lower back pain. It also helps to create a better balance in your muscles, so you can protect yourself against injuries.
It helps you manage stress better.
Aside from the physical benefits of practicing pilates, it’s really the mental health benefits that attract a lot of people to it. In fact, several research studies suggest that pilates has helped many people manage stress better. Unlike regular exercise where you have to move fast and exert a lot of effort, pilates is all about doing things slowly so you can really listen and feel each movement. You learn to be more aware of your body, and the slow and extended movements actually help to regulate your nervous system.
In the end, pilates is all about loving yourself more and paying attention to how you feel. In a world where we always hurry, it’s always good to pause, take a deep breath and just feel your body move. You’ll surely be amazed at how pilates can change your life for the better.
