Did you know that Joseph Pilates had been a gymnast and bodybuilder. In 1912, he moved to England. There, he was a prize fighter, circus performer, and self-defence trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. Joseph Pilates mother was also a naturopath, so he did have a holistic background. My personal interpretation and experience of the method of Pilates is that it can be a  perfect compliment to other forms of training for athletes, but must not be used alone.

Rehabilitation Pilates has been used for many years by many physios as part of many athletes recovery programs. Joseph Pilates book ; ‘Return to life’ states: ‘In the stone age and onward man lived mostly outdoors with practically little shelter from the elements. He has not lived long enough indoors with protection against the elements to be able to successfully withstand the daily strains and stresses  imposed upon him by our ‘fast’ living. This explains why you and  I and all the rest of us are compelled in our own interest to give constant thought to the improvement of our bodies and to maintain more time in acquiring and maintaining all that all important goal of physical fitness’.

Pilates is a generic word and there is great differentiation in the teachers and studios around the world.  Pilates is a system which involves all the apparatus not just reformer. The training can be costly and return on investment only works if the teacher has the correct dedication to complete their training and business plan. The fitness industry as always, jumps onto fitness trends in order to make money. At the moment it is reformer, in a few years like step this will die a death. Athletes are challenged by the reformer because it is what’s called a tilting reflex, however exercises that are trending (fitness/functional style) often reincur faulty movement patterns in the central nervous system and have little carry over or relevance to the sport of that person. This is why the full pilates system is always the better choice as its uses both tilting and righting reflexes. Foe example if you look at a professional footballer, they play on a pitch which is still, this would be a righting reflex, only when the pitch is slippy and wet with the weather does it become a tilting reflex.

As the saying goes: ‘There is no such thing as a bad exercise, but is such thing as badly prescribed exercise’.  I have put together my own training program for professional athletes and footballers as the one size fits all, does not work. This involves sing Paul Cheks 250 assessments, primal movement patterns/functional movement, health, metabolic typing, belief systems and lifestyles.

Each program is then delivered with constant reassessment and re-programming. As with everything in life, nothing changes without us changing our habits and belief systems. Consistency is also key to change. It is easy to practice our changes when everything is going right in life, but the real challenge is to practice when everything is going wrong. Stepping up during times of grief, chaos and trauma is when true transformation takes place. This is when we are most challenged. It is the mind that controls the body in the hierarchy of survival.

Here is a beautiful video done by Muay Thai boxer/pilates teacher  Chris Robinson, showing how Pilates can compliment professional athletes, click here to watch

Bibliography

‘Return to life’ – Joseph Pilates

Gratz Pilates media YT