History of Pilates

I was wandering the net as I am prone to doing when I am procrastinating, and I came across this wonderful article on Jospeh Pilates and how he came about developing his exercise method. As it turns out, Joseph Pilates has met and worked with Rudolph Laban one of my heros. If I had not been exposed to the works of Rudolph Laban and his protege, Irmgard Bartenieff, I would not have been able to manage and prevent muscle injuries. I am prone to such injuries because I have Fibromyalgia and when I danced professionally, I was always nursing one injury after another. I started every day with what I called 'release work' by doing the Bartenieff Fundamentals exercises. For each show, I did a 'pre-warmup' with Bartenieff Fundamentals exercises which allowed me to perform with injuries without exacerbating them. Moreover, the injuries continued to heal even though I did not modify my training, rehearsal and show routine! The FMS eventually ended my dance career but the fascination with Rudolph Laban and Irmgard Bartenieff continued as I explored the amazing and profound effects that resulted from my consistent practice of the famous Bartenieff Fundamentals exercises. This link provides more information about Rudolph Laban, Irmgard Bartenieff and their institute for movement studies.

Now, today I discover that Joseph Pilates actually worked with Rudolph Laban at some point!!!! Now it all comes together in my mind; this is why the Pilates method had such a strong appeal for me! Read this great, comprehensive article about Joseph Pilates now.

Should your Pilates instructor workout with you?

I've been asked on several occasions if I think it is acceptable for a Pilates instructor to work out with their class. I suppose this all comes down to opinion, but in mine, the answer is a resounding NO! As an instructor, I expect to watch the clients workout and cue the correct technique when their dominant muscles begin to take on too much of the work, as often happens when the muscles become fatigued. This is a subtle yet important shift that should not be permitted as the dominant muscles will only continue to strengthen if one doesn't strictly adhere to the Pilates technique, recruiting the deep skeletal and often underutilized muscle tissue. Even very advanced clients who may not need to be reminded what the exercise is, often need a watchful eye and gentle reminders that the technique is getting weaker. The neck is the most common zone for poor technique as the upper trapezius can often become too involved in extension work while the latissimus dorsi along with the mid and lower trapezius fibres become fatigued and recruit less and less during the movement.

Now, if the instructor is working out with the class, how can this person see these technical subtleties, without of course, cranking their own neck, thereby displaying poor technique in their own workout. Of course, proper alignment of the joints, especially the neck and head, are a critical component of the Pilates workout and gross misalignments have the potential to lead to injury regardless of the level of fitness or advancement one has achieved.

Neck Placement #2 - A Technical Discussion

The issue of the neck placement during your Pilates workout is still on my mind, so I guess I just need to talk more about it!! For this article, I will look only at one key issue: dominant muscles versus underutilized muscles. First of all, let's get some background. Everyone has groups of muscle tissue throughout their bodies that retain excess tension consequently becoming much shorter and tighter than the surrounding muscle fibres, which in turn, become too weak and soft. This type of imbalance exists in everyone, and for each person, there will be a threshold that, once reached, makes the region of the body associated with the imabalance prone to pain and injury. When the pain starts, we run off to the massage therapist or chiropractor or accupunturist and so on, but the treatments don't always produce a permanent change in the muscle tissue. The key to success lies partly in developing tone in the underutilized muscles of the region exhibiting pain. Let's take the neck for example. Let's say you have a chronically tight upper trapezius, amongst other muscles in the area, which sometimes even flare up, creating sharp pain and greatly limits range of motion in the neck. The trapezius alone is a 3 part muscle: upper trapezius, mid trapezius and lower trapezius. More often than not, if the upper trapezius fibres are very short and tight, the lower trapezius fibres will be elongated and relative to the upper traps, also weaker. As the upper trap fibres continue to shorten and tighten, the cervical spine (neck) can be compressed and all types of pain can ensue including headaches, disc pain, nerve pain and so on.

As such, during the Pilates workout, the upper traps will continue to overwork causing the head and neck to be out of alignment during most exercises. Spinal extension exercises such as breast stroke or swan dive are classic examples, where most people who have tight upper traps tend to look up as they lift their head, and so the neck is misaligned with the rest of the spine. In this example, the upper trap fibres are very shortened, the cervical spine (neck) has a sharp angle in the curve around C1-C4, compressing that region of the neck. Often, even the shoulders will be pulled closer to the ears if the individual tends to 'work hard'. Ideally, when an individual performs an extension exercise, the neck creates a long smooth curve which follows the curvature in the thoracic spine as the body moves into extension from a prone resting position. The primary extensor for these exercises are the deep paraspinals, particularly those covering the thoracic region such as longissimus thoracis, semispinalis thoracis and spinalis thoracis to name a few. The cervical (neck) and lumbar (small of back) extensors should take on as little work as possible. The cervical extensors will not fire as much if you don't look up while performing the exercise, and the lumbar extensors will not overwork so long as the abdominals are fully recruited before lifting the upper body into extension, and continue to work for the duration of the exercise. In peforming your Pilates exercises in this manner, the spinal extensors eventually become balanced in both strength and flexibility.

The last issue to discuss when considering ideal neck alignment during the Pilates workout is the scapula (shoulder blade). Many of the same muscles that move the head also move the shoulder blades. In order to keep the neck lengthened into a smooth curve during extension exercises, it is important to stabilize the shoulder blades. That means that when you recruit the abs to prepare for lifting the upper body off the mat (or box if you are on the reformer), you should also recruit the latissimus dorsi and lower trapezius fibres. These muscles will pull the shoulder blade down towards the pelvis and 'anchor' them in place as you lift the upper body. Consequently, the muscles that connect the neck and shoulder will lengthen rather than shorten and the cervical spine will not be compressed during the extension exercise. Furthermore, with time and consistent practice, the upper traps and lower traps will also come into balance with respect to strength and flexibility, and many of the pain issues associated with the aforementioned muscular imbalances will be considerably reduced, if not disappear altogether.

Pilates Certification

There are many studios that certify instructors and there is no current broad agreement as to how the Pilates technique should be applied. As such, it is very important to spend time researching the various courses if you want to become a Pilates instructor, ask technical questions and possibly even talk about it with a local physical therapist. Some courses are very rigorous and offer in-depth teaching not only regarding the body of Pilates exercises, but also teach musculoskeletal anatomy, body mechanics and gait analysis. One such Pilates certification course is offered at STOTT PILATES in Toronto, co-founded by Moira and Lindsay G. Merrithew. To find out more about the requirements of this certification, click this link:

http://www.stottpilates.com/education/index.html

Once you have satisfactorily finished the Stott Pilates instructor training course including the in-class hours, apprenticeship and final exams (practical and written), you are awarded a certificate attesting to your success.

Since there are many different Pilates certification courses out there, it is very difficult for an individual looking for a certified Pilates instructors. Some course certificates state that the instructor participated in a course, while others attest to the successful completion of the course. The wording is important so if you are nervous about an instructor's ability, you should openly ask questions about their certification course and even ask to see their certificate.

What is Pilates?

This link for the Pilates Method Alliance takes you to a thorough, accurate, detailed description and history of the Pilates exercise method. See photos of Joseph Pilates, and his wife Clara, teaching clients or working out. In fact, this site is an excellent resource for many reasons so look around!!

http://pilatesmethodalliance.com/whatis.html

Neck placement during your workout is important!

Today I spent much time explaining to a client the importance of being mindful of the shape of the neck during the Pilates workout. My guiding principle is that the curvature of the cervical spine should not be extreme whether in flexion or extension exercises. For instance, when a new client is first learning the breast stroke, the natural instinct is to look up when lifting the upper body. Now, when this happens, there is a long smooth extension in the thoracic spine which ends in a sudden sharp extension in the top cervical vertebrae, predominantly C1-C4. It is important to always lengthen the curve created by these cervical vertebrae especially in extension, but also in flexion exercises. If this muscular contraction pattern is practiced too much the muscle fibres which cross over the C1-C4 region will shorten over time, which could lead to various pain issues related to compression of the cervical spine some of which include disc compression, headaches and so on.