How Pilates works, benefits and a little history ...
How it worksThe deep stabilising muscles of the body, that are essential to ensuring core stability, are conditioned and strengthened by doing Pilates using sequences of movements that employ gravity, body weight and equipment as forms of resistance.
Pilates is a form of exercise that focuses on using both the mind and body. This connection between the mind and body is crucial to Pilates. Pilates trains the mind to maintain a constant level of awareness of the way the body moves. This results in a greater control of motion and vastly improved movement in every day life. 
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BenefitsPilates practise can help improve posture, muscle tone, balance and joint mobility, as well as relieve stress and tension.
It can also provide pain relief to people with non-specific lower back pain. It is great for rehabilitation, such things as shoulder, neck, hip and other joint injuries. For sports people, pilates can complement their training by developing whole body strength and flexibility, and help reduce the risk of injury. 
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Joseph Pilates
Joseph Humbertus Pilates was a man who believed completely in his method and practiced what he prescribed to others well into his eighties.
Pilates was born near Düsseldorf, Germany in 1883. Little is known about his early life, but he appears to have been a frail child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. His drive and determination to overcome these ailments led him to become a competent gymnast, diver and skier.
During World War I, Joseph was initially interned in England and then in the Isle of Man. It was here that he began refining and teaching his minimal equipment system of mat exercises to other internees. Joseph called his method "Contrology", it was only after his death that it became known as "Pilates".
After the war, Joseph returned to Germany. He subsequently emigrated to New York around 1925. It's here that his method started to gain a devoted following amongst the local dance and performing arts community.
Pilates was born near Düsseldorf, Germany in 1883. Little is known about his early life, but he appears to have been a frail child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. His drive and determination to overcome these ailments led him to become a competent gymnast, diver and skier.
During World War I, Joseph was initially interned in England and then in the Isle of Man. It was here that he began refining and teaching his minimal equipment system of mat exercises to other internees. Joseph called his method "Contrology", it was only after his death that it became known as "Pilates".
After the war, Joseph returned to Germany. He subsequently emigrated to New York around 1925. It's here that his method started to gain a devoted following amongst the local dance and performing arts community.
“If, at the age of 30, you are stiff and out of shape, you are old.
If, at 60, you are supple and strong then you are young”
Joseph Pilates
If, at 60, you are supple and strong then you are young”
Joseph Pilates
