Weight Loss Spotlight

Pilates

Pilates & Weight Loss

This form of exercise is fairly new. Founded by Joseph H. Pilates, circa seventy years ago it has just recently gained new interest among chiropractics, physical therapists and anybody recovering from soft tissue injuries.

Pilates is a conditioning form of controlled movements that improves your strength and flexibility without building big muscles. Pilates is an excellent form of injury prevention exercises. Working on the mind body connection this is not only strengthening your muscles but also work almost like yoga movements incorporating the proper breathing technique. Because pilates emphasizes breathing technique it also helps pregnant women to strengthen their bodies as well as building a toned body after pregnancy.

Pilates can help you lose weight by toning your body and conditioning your muscles. It might not be recommended for large people but if you need to lose 5-20 lbs of weight, it might be a great alternative to regular conditioning classes at the fitness club.

There are two ways of performing pilates. You can do it on a mat on the floor or you can use the reformer machine. Both techniques requires trained pilates instructor to teach you individually or to lead the group in mat pilates.

This type of pilates exercise is excellent for elderly as well improving balance and flexibility and also great if you have arthritis or any other joint immobility problems.

In pilates exercises a totally new awareness is discovered while using the body mind connection to be able to perform the movement properly. The movements focus on strengthening the powerhouse muscle groups: your lower back, abdomen and buttocks and help you tone and lose weight in these areas as well.

The best part of all is that regardless of your current fitness level or your muscle strength, anybody can do pilates. That's how safe it is. The movements are based upon dance and yoga exercises and emphasizes body alignment as well as body awareness the same way dance exercises do.

To keep your muscles flexible is of great importance if you are overweight. The more lean muscle mass of your total body composition you have, the more fat mass you will burn 24 hours a day. If you don't have the discipline to workout by yourself and lift weights to keep your muscle mass from disappearing completely, pilates is a great alternative however a little more expensive.

If money is the option, a combination of both might be what would fit your wallet and your schedule to tone and shape your body effectively.

Pilates will give you longer muscles and is not for anybody who is trying to build size or increase muscle mass in any larger volume. Pilates is performed in hour-long sessions and usually in special studios equipped especially for this. Although some fitness centers offer pilates on their aerobic and group exercise schedules this is usually the mat version unless the health club has a separate room set up for individual pilates sessions with an instructor.