Pilates Exercises: Pilates for Weight Loss

Joseph Pilates created an innovative physical fitness system as early as in the earlier years of 20th century, and within 100 years today, Pilates exercises have become a major fitness system with the major emphasis on Pilates for weight loss throughout the world.

The system not only builds flexibility but also the muscle strength and endurance in the legs, arms, hips, abdomen and the back. Its philosophy is based on developing a strong core in the body that controls each single movement through aligning the spine with pelvis while doing so.

The core acts as the powerhouse and controls all the activities of the body and its movement. It raises the torso up and sets up the center of gravity at its highest and most effective position. The activation of the powerhouse core elongates the body bi-directionally to reduce weight in the upper body.

The six principles of Pilates are concentration, control, center, flow, precision, and breathing.

1. One must concentrate on one’s entire body for smooth movements in whatever one is doing at the moment. It requires an intense mental focus whenever Pilates exercises are being done.

2. Joseph called it “Contrology” and it basically meant muscle control. The more one focuses, the more one is able to control the muscle movements working to lift the body against gravity in the smoothest way.

3. The center refers to the core of the body which is also known as hara in Japanese and lies around two inches below the naval. It’s actually the central point of the muscle-group comprising abdomen, lower and upper back, hips, buttocks, and inner thighs.

4. Flow aims at the aesthetic of movement, creating smooth transitions from one movement to the other. It’s only possible when the movements of the limbs are being controlled by the core and they are not haphazard.

5. Precision is as important as flow is. In fact the two are complementary to each other. If one’s movement is precise, it is bound to be aesthetic and hence follows a certain flow of smoothness. The opposite holds good too.

6. Total inhalation and total exhalation is the key to correct breathing. Forced total exhalation automatically facilitates total inhalation without any effort required to do so. This is the pattern of breathing that requires to be maintained while making all the movements as well.

During our past 30 years of experience with Pilates exercises, we always found that Pilates for Weight Loss did real wonders as far as the speed and the permanence of losing weight was concerned. It’s not only an exercise, it’s rather a whole way of living from moment to moment in that every single movement tends to become an elegantly precise movement in aesthetic flow driven through the core aka the powerhouse of the body!

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Pilates Exercises: Pilates for Weight Loss