Pilates: IQ for the Belly Brain

Answering the question “what is Pilates?” is about as complex an answer as the one involving the relationship between ‘the birds and the bees.’ I have spent years as a teacher and studio owner in Manhattan trying to trim the answer – my ‘elevator pitch’, if you will – but can never seem to get phone inquiries down to less than 5 minutes. “It’s like yoga but with chains,” I would say for the yogi interested in converting. “It greatly improves your swing,” for the golfers seeking to score on their game. “The work focuses on the core abdominal muscles, lengthening and strengthening for a longer, leaner body,” for the majority of folks. And for the hard sell? “It’s been proven that Pilates enhances sexual function and response.” Sold! Pilates is all that and more!

It’s not just physical movement or the latest exercise trend. It requires the mind coordinated with breath to execute movement. And that movement, when done with focus and precision will have a lasting effect on your body shape, posture, spinal health, and mental well-being. The man behind the Method is Joseph Pilates.

Originally from Germany, Joseph Pilates first started applying his genius as an intern during World War II where he experimented on the injured interns. He attached springs to hospital beds so that those laid up for weeks at a time could nourish their muscles with weight-bearing resistance. The result was a quick turnaround to a renewed health and vigor. Shortly after, he immigrated to New York City in 1920 and opened up his studio that he furnished with specific spring apparatus* – some even resembling hospital beds. All walks of life including dancers, performers, boxers, and athletes came to “Uncle Joe” and committed to a practice that Pilates himself called “Contrology.” Whether it was the fact that he taught without a shirt while smoking a cigar and salvaged empty beer barrels to be used as apparatus, or the fact that bodies found unparalleled strength and harmony through his tutelage, word spread and Joseph Pilates and his Method forever changed the exercise landscape.

How does the Pilates Method bring about such change? Unlike traditional workout routines, Pilates stretches and strengthens muscles at the same time, while focusing mostly on the core or “powerhouse.” Throughout the process of attaining that strength from the inside out, breakthroughs will occur: slumped posture becomes more lifted; imbalances in the spine and back become realigned; chronic aches and pains in the back start to fade away; and, the once-tight jeans no longer require acrobatics to get over the hips.

The most accessible and economical way to experience the Pilates Method is by attending a group mat class.  All that is needed is a mat and your body’s own resistance. Pilates’ purists however would argue that the true inauguration occurs the minute you strap your feet into the leather straps of the reformer – one of about 12 pieces of specifically designed apparatus.  The price tag is steep, but the results are worth every dollar. So whether you have been doing The Hundred by the hundreds already with a committed Pilates practice or are curious what The Hundred is, Pilates is an addiction for anybody that straps in and takes off!

Michelle Fama is the co-founder of Core Pilates NYC, chapter leader of the NYC Pilates Collective and when not conducting teacher trainings in NYC and elsewhere, she resides and teaches in Venice, CA.