Why pilates training?
A wrong body posture can cause pain, weak health and a body language that expresses shyness or lack of confidence.
A correct body posture is the key. Since our childhood we are told: 'Sit up straight! Stand upright!' but few of us wondered why it was so important and we thought it was hard to sit or stand the way they wanted us to. Even as an adult it remains difficult to sit or stand correctly. However we do realize that a wrong body posture may be the cause for pain, weak health and a body language that expresses shyness or a lack of confidence.
Body carriage or posture stands for how the body stands up straight. How straight up and how long someone is able to stand is determined by the strength and suppleness of the muscles and the balance between the different muscle groups. Muscles not only give us the strength we need to lift objects, to walk, to run, to move from one place to an other. They also provide us with the necessary power to carry our body size and weight. As our legs carry the biggest part of our body weight it is very important to make sure that the muscles around and above our hip have been developed correctly. On average our head weighs 5 kilos. Each arm weighs 5% of our body weight and each leg 10%. Our torso carries the rest of our body weight. This means that 80% of our total body weight is situated above our legs and the development of this body part is the key to obtain a correct posture.
One-sided activities or those that have a certain impact on the body, especially in our growing phase while we are in full development, can cause imbalances and/or changes in the body posture. e.g. hitting a ball with a racket might possibly/maybe seem rather harmless but in term it can lead up to a range of complaints among which scoliosis is the most common one. Any type of repeated movements to one side of the body creates an imbalance in the musculature development by which muscles on one side overdevelop and those on the other side underdeveloped. Overdeveloped muscles are heavier than underdeveloped ones which results in an imbalance in the posture and a displacement in the spinal column.
Since Hippocrates the need for functional training programmes has been part of our body culture. The more we practise a sport in a competitive way the more the impact and stress we put our body in increases. Specific training pogrammes to body posture such as Pilates are not only necessary as a counterweight against the structural stress which affects our body by our hectic way of life but Pilates helps to neutralize the consequences of such a way of life.
By putting more attention to a correct body posture we not only feel better in our body but our body will look better. The way we look well and how well we feel in our body depends on the efforts we put into it.
Joseph Pilates stated:
"After ten practise sessions you will feel the change in your body.
After twenty sessions people around you will see the change.
After thirty sessions you will have a different body."