Joseph Pilates designed this programme to also be used as a rehabilitation tool. Pilates develops strength, stability, balance and symmetry to areas of the body that may have been misaligned due to injury. Let your True Pilates certified instructor know at any time if, something feels uncomfortable or ‘not right’ with an exercise, as there are modifications for all exercises.

With any form of exercise consistency is the key. In the beginning your body is learning a lot of new information and your mind and body connection is being established. The optimal recommendation is 2-3 times per week. However, once a week on a very regular basis can also be beneficial combining it with other exercise.

Private, small classes and private lessons are available as well as mat classes.

Pilates is designed to help you reshape your body and mind. Using different types of apparatus as well as your own body weight, the system helps you tone your muscles and elongate areas such a waistline and upper arms and thighs. Adding Pilates to a healthy diet and regular cardiovascular exercise can dramatically change your overall appearance. You will increase flexibility, mobility, balance, improved posture and overall strength.

The Powerhouse is one of the most important concepts in True Pilates training. In recent years, the term core strength, has become more well-known and is used somewhat interchangeably with ‘Powerhouse’, but they are not exactly the same.

The ‘Powerhouse’ area of your body is from the bottom of your ribs all the way to your hip line. It includes the abdominal muscles, low back muscles, pelvic floor, muscles around the hips, and the gluteal muscles. The ‘Powerhouse’ muscles work together to form a supportive corset for your torso. It is this ‘Powerhouse’ that gives us the energy, stability, strength, and control within the True Pilates exercises.

The core muscles are part of the ‘Powerhouse’ set, and using your core is part of using your ‘Powerhouse’. The core muscles are the deep stabilizers like the pelvic floor, the psoas, the multifidus, and the transversus abdominis, among others. However, the core muscles are not the big movers like the rectus abdominis or gluteals, that also belong to the group of muscles know as the ‘Powerhouse’, in True Pilates training.

Core strength, flexibility, balance, uniform development, and efficient movement patterns are all hallmarks of True Pilates training and highly relevant to men’s fitness. The integrative component of Pilates can be especially beneficial for men, whose workouts often emphasize a part-by-part approach to muscular development, such as that found in weightlifting, etc.

Pilates, by contrast emphasizes movement from the centre of the body, the powerhouse, and developing core strength in the deep muscles of the centre to stabilize the torso and protect the back. This kind of core training makes Pilates an excellent technique for whole-body fitness, as well as a foundation for cross training and other kinds of sports and exercise.

Pilates exercises do seek to increase flexibility and range of motion, in a way that men often feel comfortable with as Pilates works toward functional fitness. That is, the ability to have the strength, balance, and flexibility that allows one to move through daily-life tasks, thereby enhancing performance and reducing risk of injury in other activities.

Joseph Pilates was inspired by eastern and western forms of exercise and wellness principles so there are many similarities. The breathing is different as you scoop your belly in instead of relaxing it. Pilates is more dynamic focusing on movement rather than the static holding of postures as yoga dictates. You do both mat and apparatus work with True Pilates.

The Pilates method is one of the most effective exercise programs to utilise during pregnancy.

However it is recommended no new exrercise program should be started if you haven’t been doing it prior to pregnancy.

Many changes occur for women during this extraordinary time, including hormonal changes, weight increase and physical distribution, balance and centre of gravity, postural, muscular and ligamentous changes.

Pilates exercise can help women cope with these changes, possibly avoid problems both during and post-natal and assist with the actual birth. Many women who have remained consistent with their Pilates programs over their pregnancy report the benefits of conscious abdominal assistance, greater breathing capacity, leg strength and overall endurance during labour, and less post natal physical and postural concerns to name just a few.