3 Reasons to Start Pilates

24 Apr 3 Reasons to Start Pilates

Our Pilates classes are the best way to get stronger, improve your balance, and support your gym and sporting goals this year.  Don’t believe us?  Read on to discover why you MUST incorporate them into your wellness plan:

1. Activate the RIGHT muscles
   
   We have two types of muscles – superficial muscles that take care of the big movements like walking or carrying your shopping, and deep stabilise muscles that support and protect your joints.  Ideally, these muscles should work together as a team to keep you pain-free and moving well.
   
   However, our lifestyle (extended sitting, driving, and generally not moving enough) can cause the stabilising muscles to become lazy.  This occurs because the brain / muscle connection becomes weak, meaning that you cannot switch those muscles on anymore!  If you have had a previous injury or surgery, this can make it even harder to wake up those muscles – resulting in overload and pain.
   
   Thankfully, our classes are specifically designed to wake up those deep muscles and establish a strong brain / muscle connection.  Once you can switch those muscles on again, you can strengthen them.  
   
   These deep muscles are the foundation of your body.  You wouldn’t build a house without putting down a strong concrete slab – yet many of us try lifting heavy weights at the gym before we have a strong foundation of stabilising muscles.  This leads to injury and pain – don’t let it happen to you!
2. Movement Patterns can Make or Break you
   
   When was the last time you thought about walking?  About how to move your legs, place your foot on the floor, hold your back, and what position to keep your head at?  We bet you probably haven’t thought about how to walk in a VERY long time!
   
   Once our body learns a movement pattern, it becomes very good at it.  We become so efficient at that movement that we don’t think about it again.  This is fine most of the time – however if you are moving in a way that isn’t optimal it can cause issues!
   
   Our classes help you to build good muscle activation patterns, supervised under the well-trained eye of our experienced Physios.  We can tell when you’re moving well and stop you when you’re cheating!  This means you’ll gain more strength than you would have otherwise, and reduce your risk of injury in your daily activities.
3. Balancing the Body for Life
   
   Our Physios carefully design our classes to build balanced strength, and ensure that each participant is working with a neutral spine throughout the class.  This ensures that your abdominal muscles are working hard, and that the front and back of your body are balanced.  
   
   Our classes help to improve your body awareness and ensure that every movement you do (both with us, and at home) is done with good posture and a strong core.  Once you have learned these principles (and switched on those deep core muscles!) you have those skills for life – you can use them in the gym, to improve your golf, or to pick up the kids more easily. 

Pilates classes under the supervision of our experienced Physios really is one of the best things you can do to look after your body this year!  

Contact our friendly team to get started and find out how you can claim a substantial rebate through your Private Health – making classes very affordable for your whole family.