The author runs a prominent Pilates studio in Manhattan and trained with one of Joseph Pilates’ original students. Yet despite that background, this book is less an encyclopedia of authentic Pilates exercises and instead a good opportunity to help everyday people (especially women) apply Pilates in real life.
His point is that he has seen too many students get it right for an hour while being taught or exercised, but then forget about Pilates when they leave the studio. They walk slumped, hunched over, etc.
She wants everyone to use Pilates when they’re supposed to, all the time. She can’t do the exercises continuously, but she can and should keep her posture straight, her weight evenly distributed, her spine in line with her muscles.
Practicing the right moves three to five hours a week isn’t good for your health, but you fall back into your unhealthy habits the rest of the time.
It begins with basic training in Pilates and its principles, and in Pilates movement concepts: stability/mobility, resistance/operation, leverage, articulation, and balance.
She reviews the benefits of good posture and Pilates-style breathing, as well as tips on how to sit and stand with good posture, so you don’t stress your joints.
It then includes an unusual section: How to apply Pilates principles to exercise on various exercise equipment: treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bikes, stair climbers, and rowing machines. He gives four variations of the usual way of using these machines and advises spending two minutes on each (the usual way plus four variations equals five), for a total of ten.
His advice here is to use each machine for ten minutes total, then move on to the next, for a workout that lasts nearly an hour. This is a cardio circuit.
He then gives a series of exercises and variations that you can do at home and on the mat. Weight lifting, jumping jacks, use of flexible bands, jumping rope, rolling up, rolling like a ball, single leg stretch, double leg stretch, single straight leg stretch, double straight leg stretch, criss-cross, forward spinal stretch, split leg swing, double leg kicks, and lower back stretch.
It also includes information on correct posture for common everyday activities: sitting, standing, carrying shopping bags, holding babies, sitting at your computer, using a copier, and driving.
Another chapter covers the application of Pilates to various sports such as golf (according to the author, Tiger Woods did it), skiing, snowboarding, and tennis.
This is a great book for beginners that reminds them to take their Pilates success from the studio into their daily lives. I doubt that many people can do it on their own unless they are too young to have developed many bad habits.
But if you’re already in Pilates classes, and therefore already strengthening your core, learning how to align your spine, exercising your muscles in a balanced way, and increasing your flexibility, this is a great guide for bringing Pilates into your daily life. for further progress and better health.
