4 Tips To Make Sure You Do Pilates Properly

We all know that Pilates is one of the most popular methods of conditioning out there, whether it’s to be to help with back pain, helping to prevent the chance of injury or just to feel better Pilates is more popular than ever.
 
Unfortunately many people out there are still not getting anywhere near as much benefit from their Pilates classes and in some cases people believe Pilates “doesn’t work”. The main reason for this is that people are simply not doing it right. 

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I am not actually referring to the exercises themselves not being done right, there are many other important aspects people are not aware of which makes them lose the benefit of Pilates.
 
By simply turning up to a class and doing ‘the hundred’ (or any other classical Pilates move) doesn’t mean you are doing Pilates properly!
 
Here are 4 tips that will be able to help you:
 

1. Understand the principles correctly – The biggest reason I see people miss out on the benefits of Pilates is that they don’t understand how to carry out the Pilates principles. Without these principles you can do any ‘Pilates’ exercises you want, but it will have little benefit (if any at all). If you read Joseph Pilates original books you will notice the importance of understanding the Pilates principles. If yet to see many people get results in Pilates without understanding good alignment, how to diaphragmatic breath and how to activate T.A/Pelvic floor (pretending to stop going to the bathroom isn’t a good enough technique for that last one!)
2. Too much focus on the ‘core’ - Many of us seem to think we have ‘weak core’ muscles and a too much emphasis is put into strengthen our core alone. Often this ends up with little results and in some cases increased back pain. Pilates is designed to focus on the whole body. We can’t just focus on one area. That’s not how it works. In our Pilates classes the aim is ‘to strengthen the weak muscles, lengthen the short muscles & mobilise the joints, whilst incorporating the Pilates principles’.
3. Working through pain - Pilates alone will not help everyone. Sometimes we attend Pilates in the hope of improving our back pain, however we can be disappointed when it either doesn’t work or in some cases it gets worse. If this happens then it is likely there is something else going on which needs something more than Pilates. This is why it is ideal to have a Pilates class run by a Therapist (rather than a fitness instructor) if you attend for back pain/injury as they will be able investigate further what is going on.
4. The wrong exercise for the wrong person - There isn’t a one exercise fits all for everyone. That is why a big class of people doing ‘the hundred’ or ‘the roll up’ etc will only benefit a limited of number of people in the class. Pilates should be unique to the individual. We are all not going to have the same weak muscles, short muscles etc, so there is no point giving everyone the same exercise. We need the exercises that will strengthen the individuals weak and lengthen their short muscles. We also have to take into consideration underlying conditions (disc bulge, degeneration etc) where we need to be aware of avoiding the exercises that could make the symptoms a lot worse.  

 
These are just a few things that we could focus on to get the best results from our Pilates classes. If you feel like you are struggling to get results from your Pilates, contact us for a free 15 minute talk today and we will give as much guidance as we can. 

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About the author
I am a Manual Therapist covering a range of different disciplines including massage & Biomechanics. I also run small specialist Pilates classes around Corfe Mullen, Broadstone, Wareham, Wimborne & Poole. Instead of just purely rubbing the pain, I always look to see if I can find a potential cause (or causes of the pain) and then work on treating this.