Welcome to the April edition of Pilates Central News.
In this edition:
- Great Expectations
- Ageless Jane
- Road to Recovery
- Pilates Prince
Great Expectations
Pilates for beginners can seem intimidating, but after a little preparation there is no need for anxiety. Your teachers will give detailed instructions on how to use the Reformer. The Reformer has a flat padded platform called a carriage, which is moveable and slides up and down on a frame. It also has a foot bar and shoulder and head rests to stabilise the body. The Reformer has springs under the machine and pulling straps to offer adjustable resistance, which help with strength and flexibility. Exercises can be made easier or more challenging as required and give both strength and mobility training. Basically the moving carriage helps engage the core muscles while the resistance of the springs and pulleys work on muscle strength. The Reformer can be used lying down, sitting, kneeling or standing up and so makes many different exercises possible and allows numerous and often neglected muscles to be worked using slow controlled movement.
Another common worry is what should you wear to do Pilates? Clothes don’t have to be skin-tight but with Pilates soft fabrics are good and tighter rather than baggy clothes will give the teacher a clearer view of your body position so they can assess your alignment and movement. Baggy clothes and hoodies might interfere with certain exercises. Fabrics like nylon can be good for low-impact exercise while bamboo is an option. Cotton can cause chafing, but if you feel comfortable then it’s fine too. Zips can be uncomfortable and dig in when you are rolling or lying down, while watches are best removed.
High-waisted leggings shouldn’t slip with squats and lunges, but nor should they be so tight they dig in to your body. For men cycling shorts or leggings are good, but if wearing shorts slim-fitting underwear helps as sometimes you have your legs apart, and you don’t want to expose too much.
For women there are numerous crop-tops and athleisure gear on offer, though it’s not a fashion show and a regular tee-shirt is fine. No shoes are needed but socks with a grip help and there are many varieties of Pilates socks with sticky spots on their soles. These allow your foot to engage and help use the stabilising muscles.
Once they get going many users stay with Pilates for life, because it so adaptable and also low-intensity, but creating permanent changes. You can take it up while young or in the prime of life but it is also excellent for rehabilitation and working around injuries. As we age Pilates can help with back pain and bone strength and keep you flexible. There is also a mental aspect in that focusing on breathing and slow movements can help alleviate stress.
Pilates is easier to take up than most beginners think, despite the complicated-looking equipment. Joseph Pilates came up with his system more than a century ago and it has stood the test of time, combining innovative designs like the Reformer with exercises that are easily adjusted, giving long-term benefits that can be enjoyed for a whole lifetime.
Ageless Jane
“Bond bombshell: Bond actress Jane Seymour shows go-to Pilates workout at 75 but women are blown away by her age-defying figure,” declares the Sun. Seymour, who starred in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, recently caused a stir on TikTok with a video of herself working out on a Reformer and looking fantastic at 75.
The Daily Mail was equally impressed, publishing pictures of Seymour’s Pilates session with the headline, “Jane’s Fit Figure” and praising her “stunning shape and age-defying flexibility.” Viewer comments on TikTok included, “Dang I’m 37 and wish I looked like this!” and “If I looked half as good with my 45 years, I would be happy.”
Jane, who lives in LA, was also busy promoting Pilates on Instagram, posting a St Patrick’s Day video of herself in the studio captioned, “A little movement, a lot of gratitude, and just the right amount of luck.” She added: “Pilates with weights… always leaves me feeling strong, centred, and ready for whatever comes next. There’s something so powerful about taking that time for yourself.”
As a former dancer Seymour knows the value of low-impact exercises to protect her joints. The British-born star captioned her TikTok video: “Staying strong, stretching, and smiling at 75,” adding the comment, “I love Pilates!”
Road to recovery
It was good to see the Guardian devote two pages to the pros and cons of Reformer Pilates. Writer Anita Chaudhuri identified that one of Pilates’ best uses is for recovery from injury. She spoke to two contrasting users, a climber and a pole dancer who had used Pilates in their rehab.
Angelina Nizzardi had a terrible climbing accident in Italy when her left foot was shattered in multiple places after a fall. She told the Guardian: “A friend offered me a free pass to a Reformer studio. I never looked back. It’s been incredible and I can now walk unaided… there had been severe muscle wastage in my calf and thigh. As soon as I started this, the strength started to come back. It was so encouraging.” Nizzardi added that after classes, “I can flex and bend my leg… I think you do need a high level of attention if you’ve got an injury. It might all sound like a fad but it’s been a complete life-saver for me.”
Academic and pole dancer Carolina Are had different types of injuries: “Pole dancing is quite a high-impact activity. My osteopath advised me to start cross-training because I had problems with my knees and my back. I started integrating Pilates into my workouts and it has been a gamechanger. It changed my posture and reduced my lower-back pain. The training of both sides of the body equally and building strength and flexibility has also been really helpful in balancing my body out.”
The piece also tackled influencers who offer unreal expectations, but was overwhelmingly positive. And certainly for recovery from injury Pilates is hard to beat.
Pilates Prince
“Rise of the Pilates bros: Why more men are doing Reformer classes,” was the Sunday Times’ headline for a piece by Rosamund Dean on men and Pilates. Dean notes that some women have been complaining online about “matcha men” in their Reformer classes. These include Hannah who mentions “beast mode” grunting, adding, “One man never wears a top. And they have such long limbs. If you’re doing leg circles on the Reformer next to them, they will bash into you.”
Though most men are more considerate, including user Giles who says: “I always wear clean clothes and smell fresh because you don’t want to get a whiff of BO when you’re in the zone. Also, I never try to ‘man up’. If I need harder spring settings, I’m discreet about that, as it’s not a competition.”
The Sunday Times piece also has an amusing table listing the habits of the Pilates Princess versus the Pilates Prince. The Princess drinks matcha latte, while the Prince prefers black coffee. She wears Alo or Vuori activewear sets while he opts for Gymshark T-shirt and Adidas shorts. She smells of Le Labo The Noir 29 while he smells of Aesop shaving serum. She is spotted “at the farmers market buying organic honey” while he is spotted, “flitting between the cold plunge and the sauna.” As for tech she opts for the Oura ring while he dons the Apple watch. The Princess says, “It’s really lengthened and toned my body”, while the Prince says, “It’s actually insane for core strength.”
The feature ends with the very sensible conclusion that Pilates is for both Princesses and Princes: “Because stability, mobility and nervous-system regulation are not gendered pursuits, just grown-up ones. And if the price of progress is the occasional overenthusiastic exhale, it feels like a small one to pay.”
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The Pilates Central Team
