Swimming is a whole-body exercise with a lower incidence of serious injuries. When problems do arise it is often due to over-stress of muscles during training or competition. Most injuries occur in the back, knees or shoulders. Pilates can help swimmers by using appropriate breathing patterns. Areas Pilates can help swimmers Breathing: Appropriate breathing patterns…
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Pilates can help your rowing If we take at the list of all the muscles being used when rowing, we have pretty much the entire body working. From muscles that allow you to plantar flex your ankles (point your toes) to the muscles along your spine to help extend your spine. Small, deep stabilizing muscles…
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Brisk walking can be almost as challenging as jogging. Why? When walking at speeds faster than 3.1 miles/hour, stride length naturally increases. As we know, a longer stride length is less efficient, requiring more energy to move your legs. This in turn requires more arm and torso movement, leading to increased torso and hip rotation….
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How can Pilates help golf? Spring is just around the corner and the golf season is not far behind. It may not seem like Pilates would help, but the benefits of Pilates for golf are huge. Just working on balancing out muscular imbalances due to swinging on one side, came a make difference in your…
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There seems to be a Pilates class that can help with every sport and activity out there. It almost seems too good to be true that one form of exercises can affect the body’s performance so positively in so many activities. Running is yet another activity that Pilates positively influences. “Pilates benefits runners?” you…
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The majority of people who have heard of Pilates associate Pilates with “core” exercises, exercises done on the floor on a mat. Many of us have bought a DVD or video, lying on the floor in front of the TV enthusiastically following the exercises presented by Mari Winsor, one of the many Stott dvds or…
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Pilates does provide a lot of muscular endurance training. Pilates also provides plyometric training. But in terms of conditioning for cardiovascular health to the extent running, an aerobics class or any other traditional cardio workout would provide, this is not Pilates’ forte. This doesn’t mean your heart rate won’t be increased or that you won’t…
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Perhaps you have noticed some who have a rounded, stooped like posture. Maybe you see them at a desk huddled over their work or computer. Or perhaps it’s someone leaning over a walker, cart or cane. Perhaps it’s just someone walking down the street. This person may have a slightly kyphotic posture. What kyphotic means is that the mid and upper thoracic part of the vertebrae (upper and mid spinal region) are flexed more than what is normal. This gives the stooped look. The scapula (shoulder blades) are protracted (separated) giving a rounded shoulder look.
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Your skeleton is to your body, as a foundation is to a house. There are good and bad foundation practices for homes. There are also good vs bad posture practices.
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What is your posture type or do you know? Did your teacher or mother constantly tell you to sit up straight? Were you ever called lazy bones? Do you see people out there who look like they’re in the military? Maybe you know people who look a little like a bass drum but are too polite to say anything. You live in your body 24/7. Your posture is like your home.
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