Principles

The Pilates technique is divided into matwork and machine work, both can be taught with relaxation and strength training.

Pilates focuses on training the local muscles before training the global muscles, this adds intensity with strength work.

The principles of the pilates technique

Concentration- Connecting mind and body. When focusing on what you are doing, you will feel yourself working harder and concentrating more.

Breathing- To clense the body of stale air and energise the system with new air. It is the hardest to perfect and the most important as breathing helps to control the movement. Breathing out on the greatest effort and in on the return. We breath into the ribcage, lateral thoracic breathing (out to the sids), this allows us to not loose conection with our core muscles.

Centering- Every excercise is controlled by our Core muscles (pelvic floor and transversus abdominal muscles and lower back). These muscles help to protect us and all our muscles work together, so if our core is week, we will suffer in other areas.

Control- Muscle control which helps avoid injury. If we rush an exercise it will not be done correctly. Slower and more controlled the exercise is, the more strength we gain.

Precision- Making sure that each movement is done perfectly and precise is difficult to begin with but after time it will become second nature.

Flow- This allows the body to be trained in an eccentric and concentric phase resulting in balanced functional training. The movement wan't to flow with grace and without jerky movements.

Isolation- We all have different strengths and weaknesses, each movement can challenge us all differently. By learning more about the technique and how to balance our bodies enables us to control each muscle group and isolate.

Routine- By keeping a routine with repetition and frequency allows our skill level to increase. The method is designed to inhance our other excercises not to replace, to strengthen your body for every day life.