What is Pilates?
Pilates is a body conditioning method that works in a different way to any other fitness technique.
Developed by Joseph Pilates (1880-1967), it targets deep postural muscles, building strength from the inside out. By using a set of principles designed to improve the quality of movement, Pilates can help with prevention and recovery of a variety of sports injuries.
Pilates helps rectify muscle imbalance and flexibility. Pilates builds on the body’s core stability and balance. The perfect balance between strength and flexibility.
Body Control Pilates is renowned as a world-leading education provider for Pilates teaching. Our education curriculum is internationally renowned and our membership body for Body Control Pilates teachers is the largest professional Pilates organisation outside the USA. Body Control Pilates offers a comprehensive programme of exercises for both mat and machine work. They are adapted from the ‘classical’ exercises developed by Joseph Pilates. We believe that many of these classical exercises are often not suitable for the average person and the average body. In order for someone to work safely and effectively and to gain the full benefits of Pilates, these classical exercises should be broken down to establish good movement skills thus building the best possible foundation upon which to progress towards the classical, more advanced work. This is the essence of the Body Control Pilates Method.
Body Control Pilates is remarkably effective – and medically-approved. It is of an holistic nature, being based upon a well-constructed philosophical foundation. Central to the Method is ‘awareness of your own body’ and each and every exercise is built around its eight basic principles:
Relaxation
Concentration
Co-Ordination
Centring
Alignment
Breathing
Stamina
Flowing Movements
Your body awareness is heightened by bringing together mind and body – Body Control Pilates literally teaches you to be in control of your body, allowing you to handle stress more effectively and achieve relaxation more easily. By working on the deep architectural structure of the body, ‘core stability’ is achieved, and then maintained, through increasingly complex movement sequences. Specific problem-areas can be targeted by an exercise, but always in relation to the rest of one’s body.
The Body Control Pilates Method can work for everyone, regardless of fitness level! Exercises can be mat or machine-based, but matwork exercises have a great attraction in that they need no special equipment, and are particularly safe for those with back problems (and don’t forget that 95% of the UK population has, or has had, backache). Its consistent success rate in solving such problems has brought it to the attention of osteopaths, chiropractors, physiotherapists and homeopathic doctors, many of whom have either set up Pilates studios as part of their practices or established a close working partnership with their local Body Control Pilates teachers.