Pilates: getting to the core of the matter

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-19 17:54

The dance connection stuck. As did the notion that Pilates produces a dancer's long, lean body.

"I believe it's true," Bastos said.

"Pilates strengthens and lengthens muscles at the same time, so it's different from weight training, which only works concentric muscles. In Pilates the muscles get really long," she explained.

"Even in breathing we try to work the abs. We inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth to get all air out of stomach," she said "We do not allow ribs to pop out."

Mat classes remain the most popular, but Bastos sees interest in the Pilates equipment growing.

Pilates: getting to the core of the matter

"You start on the mat and move to the machines." Bastos said of the Reformer, the Cadillac and the Chair.

The founder himself created the forerunners of these wood-and-leather contraptions of levers, springs and pulleys when, working in an infirmary, he rigged hospital bedsprings to offer light resistance to bedridden patients.

"The mat works against gravity only. On machines you have spring tension," said Bastos.

Of course, similarities between Pilates and yoga have spawned the inevitable hybrid: Piyo or Yolaties, by any other name.

Other so-called fusion classes provide the cardio workout missing from a Pilates. Something called Rock Star Pilates adds spinning. "It's perfect if clients only have one hour," Bastos said.

Or, if they need to do a little flitting.

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