Recently, I came across so many individuals that are crazy about Pilates. They consider it the best exercise ever, and especially women love it. Hhhhhmmm.........is Pilates a complete training philosophy for you? What is Pilates ?...do you really know or you just join cause you want to look cool.
Personally, people's ignorance on the topic is one thing that drives me nuts. Here are my pros and cons on Pilates philosophy.
Pros:
- It's a form of a less strenuous activity...which is great....targeting mainly the core.
On the other hand, the Cons:
- Gooofyyy Instructors. These are people that do a 2 weeks certification and they think they are the experts on the topic. They literally do not know anything else. They just know few exercises. They do not have a justification for what is going on and they are the ones that most of the people out there, especially in Cyprus that trust and they consider it as 'value for money'.
- No specificity what so ever. Is there a connection between Pilates and a sport or an activity that you are part of? If you have a back pain...maybe is the right form of exercise for you, but does the trainer understands exactly what is the problem and what he can do to help.
- Forgotten other important elements of training such as power, cardiovascular endurance, and joint stability and mobility.
- Not such a variety of equipment used. Challenging the body with different equipment can keep the workouts more fun and surely more beneficial towards your fitness goals.
- Not much resistance used. The resistance that is use is not that much sooooooooo that equals with a lower metabolism and not an effective method if you are goal is to loss excess fat. This goes out to all the women out there who think that weights are bad for them.
- Low intensity. Have you ever seen someone doing a pilates class and be out of breath or depict that pilates is a tough training regime? Easy workouts are not very beneficial for you health, performance and great results, so accept it and move on. Of course you need easy workouts, but in the long run tough workouts to the point of your goals are crucial.
Finally , I believe that there are some great Pilates instructors out there that know really the WHY of everything. If you want to experience a more complete training philosophy just come by the 3 D studio anytime. The question remains...Why do you use Pilates for? I'm out......
3 comments:
Hello Andreas,
Great blog, I read it quite often. I have a question for you: I have a ruptured disk and one of the doctors I saw suggested I try pilates to strengthen my core. I've been warned to stay away from weights and anything that adds compression to my spine. Your thoughts?
btw, I damaged my back in Bikram Yoga because I stretched too hard after I was already completely in a position.. outch :(
One more thing, I miss you :)
Narges
Hey Narge,
Nice to hear from you. Thanks for the great comments on the blog.
Regarding your situation, pilates can help you strengthening your core and maintain a good back health, but it all comes down to who is the pilates instructor. Is she/ he qualified and know what they are doing ?
As you experience, the Bikram Yoga instructor was a failure since he/she let you injured yourself.
On the other hand, there are qualified individuals out there that do not know what they are doing.
The best for you is to ask your doctor to recommend someone. That person should contact your doctor for specifics regarding your situation.
Where do you live at the moment?
This is Elizabethe's response that she send to me through email:
"Have you tried Pilates? It's hard! Though you must use the apparatus the Reformer, matt classes are worthless. I was out of breath, sore the next day, was stretched in directions I didn't know my body could stretch and the only reason I didn't continue was its too pricey. It was developed for ballerinas I heard, many years ago. I agree the instructors need more training though I think in the states the training is more rigorous."
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