Pilates Foundations

You might start Pilates to stabilise imbalances and ease pain or to build and tone muscle, but Pilates can be a great practice for mental focus through precise movement.

Pilates Instructor Georgie Brooks, takes you through the foundations of pilates. You can put this video into practice with the recording at the end of the page.

Pilates focuses on these four elements:

CONCENTRATION

Pilates teaches you to be mindful of your body movements, it relieves tension built up in the body through gentle stretching, and each Pilates exercise educates you to gain greater control over your mind and body.  During each exercise, you have to be consciously aware of what you are doing as a failure to concentrate could lose alignment and use of wrong muscles.

PRECISION

Pilates aims to work with precise movements so you can use muscles more efficiently. Pilates is about how you can build strength through mindful and controlled movements which is usually slower than we think! It is less about how many repetitions and how quick you can complete each exercise, and more about how precise you can be with moving your joints and activating muscle groups.

BREATH

In Pilates, this specific breathing pattern is designed to aid your movements and facilitate muscle activation.

Practice this technique:

• INHALE through the nose, directing the breath into the sides of the ribs (expanding the ribs from left to right)
• EXHALE through the mouth, closing the rib cage down and in

Try not to over think this breathing pattern – just ensure you focus on smooth breaths in and out while doing the exercises.

CORE CONTROL

Core stability is one of the main aims of Pilates and abdominal training is within every exercise. We often talk about ‘drawing the ribcage down and in’ and feel something ‘wrapping around the belly’. These cues help initiate the deep connection of your internal abdominal muscles.

Follow along with Georgie as she takes you through pelvic alignment, how to activate your core, and shoulder stability.