Introduction: How is Pilates Different?
Think of Pilates more as a body therapy than a fitness routine. Most sports and fitness routines create an overuse of certain muscle groups creating over-trained muscles. Weight training breaks down and rebuilds muscle fibers, which encourages inflammation. Chronic inflammation is associated with diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Many people who enjoy traditional forms of fitness have tight hamstrings from excessive squats and lunges; forward head postures from tightness through the pectoral muscles in the front chest and weakness in the shoulder girdle in the upper back; and weak abdominal muscles, which can cause back pain.
If a person has poor alignment or poor posture and is participating in a fitness routine without first balancing the muscles through Pilates, they will be cementing their body in poor posture, resulting in injury and pain.
Pilates re-balances muscles, so the skeletal system can be in ideal alignment. In addition to specific movements to strengthen and tone muscles, Pilates focused on breathing to improve the circulatory system and coordinating movements to challenge and improve neurological function.
Using over 10 years of experience and passion for the benefits of Pilates, Barbara begins with an assessment to evaluate any physical imbalances that may compensate, creating improper posture that leads to injury and pain.
Barbara designs a program of exercises that address specific spinal discrepancies. These exercises recruit specific muscle groups to fire in the proper order to prevent injury, eliminate back pain and allow for freedom of movement for daily and favorite activities.
Barbara keeps sessions interesting yet appropriately challenging.
Being diagnosed in 1998 with degenerative disc disease and spinal problems that medically could be treated with a fusion or rod implanted, Barbara embraced a Pilates practice instead. She is a good example of how proper exercise can be the best medicine.
