Blog: Love your inner self!

Pilates can help to develop your core, balance, flexibility, posture and strength so you can learn to love yourself! Joseph Pilates developed Pilates as a form of exercise to help improve both the mind and the body. He believed Pilates is much more than an exercise method - it is a way of life. The mind – By concentrating on your breathing, spine and pelvic alignment through smooth and elongated movements, you become aware of your body and are better able to control it. We focus on quality rather than quantity so that you get the exercises and movements correct with maximum efficiency. Breathing techniques not only assist with the exercise but with stress relief too. The core – Using a series of low repetition, low impact stretching and conditioning exercises you will help to develop your body’s core strength, encompassing your back, pelvic and abdominal muscles. Flexibility – A lot of exercise these days involves weights which can build short and bulky muscles and leaves you more prone to injury. However, Pilates elongates and strengthens the muscles by improving the range of joint movement, as well as muscle elasticity. The combination of strength and flexibility means you are less likely to get injured. Conditioning – Pilates involves the whole body. From head to toe, we make sure the muscles are not over trained or under trained. This will help with not only day-to-day activities but also with your chosen sport. Soft and gentle – Pilates is a low impact and partially weight bearing form of exercise which means we use lots of seated and reclined positions. Therefore Pilates is safe and very useful if you are coming back from any injury as it leaves lots of room for progression so that you constantly improve and challenge yourself. Physiotherapy and Sports Rehabilitation Services at St Mary’s University, Twickenham offer Pilates classes that are suitable for all levels. Our instructors, Fran and Roxy, run classes every Wednesday 12:30-1:30pm and 6:00-7:00pm, as well as Friday 12:30-1:30pm so why not share the love and bring your partner along so that both of you can give it a go. Find out more here.