How long have you been doing Pilates? Any of its forms, because there are many options to choose from. What do you know about Pilates?

I found this fun little article on Shape. I didn’t come across it by chance, I was actively searching for Pilates related things. I wanted to do some light Pilates reading. I also wanted to feel inspired to write about Pilates. It has been a few days since I wrote specifically about Pilates.

Article:

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Pilates

In all honesty I knew most of them. So, if you are an avid Pilates person, you may have known these. I am guessing if you are an instructor you definitely knew these. I am a novice instructor still in training and I knew them. The last 2 were kind of a stretch, ha pun intended, for me. The italics are strictly my thoughts on the list. They go into their own explanations if you follow the link above. But I decided to share my thoughts on the list.

Courtesy of kensington.patch.com

Courtesy of kensington.patch.com

  1. PILATES ORIGINAL NAME: CONTROLOGY (They are referring to the term Joseph Pilates initially used to describe his work. It was not originally called Pilates. He was reflecting the fact that you have to focus so much on control and your core.)
  2. MAT MOVES ARE VINTAGE PILATES (They don’t mean this in a negative way. I think I would have chose the word classic Pilates or classic work. The point was that you can and should always return to the classic work of Joseph Pilates)
  3. YOU CAN DO PILATES ON A GUILLOTINE… IF YOU DARE (This is a reference to the different types of machines that are available to you. Joseph used regular items, hospital beds, chairs, etc, as his equipment. He transformed them into useful pieces of Pilates equipment. 
  4. ONE HOUR OF PILATES BURNS CALORIES ALL DAY LONG (I have personally felt the truth in this statement! I have to constantly snack on fruit during the day because my metabolism is on hyper drive! You are building muscle through resistance training. It helps you to continue to burn calories throughout the day, even after your workout is done.) 
  5. EVERY PILATES MOVE WORKS THE ENTIRE BODY (It should be added that this is IF you are doing the moves correctly. That is on you as the instructor or as the student. You have to consciously engage your muscles, use control, breathing, preciseness for this to happen. If you do that, then this is beyond belief true! You have to be there in the moment and think about it. No texting and Pilatesing )
  6. VISIBLE SEAMS CAN ENHANCE YOUR WORKOUT (In your workout clothing. This is because it shows your instructor long lines. Pilates is all about pretty long lines. I don’t feel this is a fact or thing someone didn’t but needs to know about Pilates. It is neat and kind of a cool thing to think about, but I think there are other things that could have been added.)
  7. CELEBRITIES STILL SWEAR BY PILATES (Sure that is super cool. But I was a little disappointed when I got to the last item on the list and this was it. Like I said, cool, but I felt a little deflated. It doesn’t help my knowledge base of Pilates. It doesn’t give me some tidbit I didn’t, but should know. They could have talked about how Pilates is a practice, not a one time wham bam thank you ma’am workout. It takes years to master all of the pieces and parts. They could have discussed how your core extends down into your hip flexors and glutes. How it is not just your abs, a lot of people don’t know that! It is more than ab work. Your core is everything except your arms and legs! Celebrity practice is nice and can enhance the exposure of Pilates, but it is not something that I was expecting to learn on this list.)

The last two were iffy for me. I was really kind of deflated, as I mentioned, when I got to them. I really enjoyed the first ones. Even though I knew them. I thought “yes, people should know these things about Pilates!” Overall I did enjoy reading these. Initially I was curious because I wanted to test myself, to see if I did know these facts. I was happy that I did know them. I kind of felt like “phewf, an instructor should know these things!”

What would you add to this list? Did you know all 7 or most of them? Did this teach you something new? I would love to hear other items that you want to add. I love to learn new tidbits! It is all part of the journey.