Top five reasons you should be doing Pilates
Integrating Pilates into your daily routine helps you live healthier – with better posture, improved blood flow and more concentration. Still not convinced? These five reasons are sure to make you a Pilates fan.
Pilates is a workout for the entire body, with a particular focus on the spine, stomach and pelvic floor. Similar to yoga, your breathing and movements must be in harmony to harness the full potential of the exercises. And there’s a lot to gain from Pilates, because in addition to slimming and toning your figure, it promises numerous other health benefits.
Improves posture
You can tell a lot about a person from their posture. Good posture helps you look more self-confident and more elegant. It also helps ease aches and pains and reduces the risk of injury. Pilates focuses primarily on strengthening the core. Building up your stomach, back and pelvic floor muscles automatically improves your posture both standing and sitting.
Boosts concentration
A lot of concentration is required while doing the exercises, because you focus on yourself as well as on your body. The aim of all Pilates exercises is to connect mind and body while also coordinating the breathing with the movements. This way, you train your strength endurance, flexibility and concentration to create the perfect physical and mental balance.
Helps manage stress
Being active is the best medicine against stress. Pilates has the big advantage that the exercises can be done anywhere – all you need is a mat. When you do sport, the body releases happiness hormones known as endorphins, which make you feel good and help relieve stress. Pilates also includes specific exercises designed to boost relaxation, for example by consciously breathing out through the mouth while stretching the muscles.
Improves circulation
Pilates is a whole-body workout that stabilises and strengthens the deep core muscles. All the movements and exercises boost the circulation. And if you regularly train your pelvic floor, this generally improves the blood flow through the muscle tissue.
Help with other sports
Pilates helps develop other important areas that are useful for other sports, too. It has a positive influence on your body awareness, your flexibility, coordination and balance – the basis for many other sports. That’s why it’s a good idea to add Pilates to your training schedule in addition to your favourite sport. This will help you get the most out of your training schedule.