One of my long time Pilates clients went in to see her physician for a routine check-up. She is in good health and is fit and looks great. After she informed her doctor that she does Pilates exercises on the equipment weekly he mentioned to her that she should be getting some resistance exercise as well. I had to ask myself why this doctor doesn’t know that Pilates IS resistance training. And why is there still so much confusion about what Pilates is? Pilates has been in the United States since the 1960’s and has been increasing in popularity since the early 1990s because of the profound results people have been receiving One of my missions since bringing Pilates to Pensacola over ten years ago was education. I see that I still have work to do.

One of the reasons I believe that there is so much confusion about Pilates is because of its depth of understanding. Try telling someone what you do in Pilates and you’ll see it is hard to explain in simple terms. There is a lot of misinformation out there and I believe that misinformation is worse than no information. .

Secondly, confusion reigns due to the varied states of Pilates schools in the industry. To understand this I will try to cover a century of Pilates history as briefly as possible. Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1880. He was frail with asthma and rickets and was bullied and beat up to such an extent that he lost an eye at a very young age. He studied martial arts, boxing and gymnastics. He started developing his exercises at the age of 14 to strengthen his own body. During his early adulthood he work on injured war victims during World War I. Later he emigrated to the United States with the then famous boxer, Max Schmelling and opened his studio in New York City on Fifth Ave. Due to the close proximity to the entertainment world, dancers such as Martha Grahm and Geoge Ballentine soon discovered Joseph Pilates. At the time he called his work “Contrology” Word spread to other dancers as he could help them to recover from injuries. There was no physical therapy back then to speak of. Joseph continued his work until he died at the age of 83.

There are still five people who Joe personally trained that are still alive and working! They are referred to as the “elders.” He trained each one differently according to their individual needs, therefore, each elder passed on his or her own style. In the 1990’s, one second generation student began suing Pilates studios nationwide saying that Pilates had given him sole permission to teach his technique. After being challenged in court 2000, the word Pilates became a generic term. This was good and bad news. Of course the good news was that people could freely practice and teach Pilates without fear of being sued. 

The bad news was that fly-by-night schools popped up overnight offering weekend certifications, internet certifications, etc. Pilates historically is taught by a Pilates teacher who has at least 10 years experience. The education comprises classroom hours and apprentice work. True Pilates teachers have a thorough understanding of all the equipment as well as the mat exercises and can work with all types of body conditions. This is still true today. It takes about a year to complete a course and like any other skill takes a few more years to become highly skilled. So, from the not-so-well-taught instructors and the students they teach emminates the mis-information.

In 2005, the Pilates Method Alliance was formed and a National Level Certification Test was created. Today, only the PMA can issue certifications and Pilates schools can issue diplomas. Certifications are only issued to a Comprehensively trained instructor. It is still not mandatory but soon will be. So consumer beware is still the best course of action.

Pilates is NOT:

• Just stretching.
• just good core work.
• simple.
• just for dancers.
• just for women.
• just some choreographed callesthenics performed on a mat at your gym.
• something one learns in a weekend - or six months for that matter.
• learned from a book, over the internet, or from a video.

Pilates IS:

• exercise that increases strength, flexibility, range of motion, coordination, balance and proprioception of the entire body.
• exercise that emphasizes perfect skelatal alignment to place the joints (vertebra included) in the most stress-free position possible/
• exercise that teaches movement strategy to create pain-free and fluid ranges of motion
• exercise that creates a more efficient gait - this means playing tennis with less fatigue and risk of injuries (ever pull a calf muscles on the court?).
• exercise where all moves are core initiated, so that your legs and arms are strengthened to support the natural curves of the spine rather than trained in isolation which puts unbalanced stress on the muscles of the spine, pelvis or shoulder girdle pulling them out of alighnment.
• exercise that addresses the full kinetic chain linkages.
• where a trained instructor watches the micro moves of your body to uncover compensatory movement patterns and makes adjustments.  This is what creates a balanced musculo-skeletal system.
• exercise gives you a flat belly and lifted backside (becuase it is anatomically correct!).
• exercise that when done properly is safe for those with injuries, osteoporosis, stenosis, and other issues.
• exercise that greatly improves your sports performance.