Pilates Myths Debunked

By: Sarah Christensen

Adding Pilates to a golf conditioning program has become routine for many professional and amateur golfers. Tiger, Butch Harmon and Camilo Villegas, have all been quoted in the media talking about the positive impact Pilates training has had on their swing. Yet, despite the glowing reviews, many golfers are still hesitant to try Pilates. The comments that I hear from golfers, especially men, indicate there are many myths about Pilates which are just not accurate. Everything from “Pilates is for Girls” to “it’s against my religion to meditate”. Let’s look at these myths and set the record straight about this powerful program.
Myth #1 Pilates was developed for dancers Joseph Pilates was a German boxer and gymnast whose theories about how the body moves were first developed during World War One, when he was interned in a British prisoner of war camp. He served as a medic and nurse, with duties including rehabilitation of the wounded. Working to re-train patients to walk, Pilates started to analyze movement. The theories he developed in this work served as the basis of a fitness program he called Contrology. When he moved to New York City after the war, dancers were naturally drawn to his rehabilitative and preventative techniques due to the high number of injuries they sustain. While the dance community did embrace him, Pilates was a cigar-chomping man’s man who would be horrified by today’s “dancer” image of him.
Myth #2 Pilates is a recent fad Joseph Pilates first developed his philosophy and techniques for movement in the 1920’s and 30’s, refining the Contrology method until his death in 1967. It was not until the 1990’s that Pilates became popular, when Hollywood stars and celebrities discovered this great way to have a long, lean shape. Myth #3 Pilates is a group of special exercises Pilates is actually a technique for moving in a way that is the most efficient, natural and pain-free. Pilates techniques are used whenever we move in life and on the golf course. It is how we walk the course, tee off, chip, putt, and drink a beer afterwards. Over time, with practice, the body will eventually naturally move in the Pilates technique. My golfer students often ask how I can keep my abs engaged for 18 holes. But, I don’t even think about it - it is how I always move! It takes the average golfer 6 months to a year before this transition occurs. Conversely, even specific exercises that Joseph invented such as The Hundreds, are not Pilates, if his techniques are not applied. Myth #4 Pilates is some kind of stretching Pilates is so much more than just stretching. That’s why Pilates is great for the golf swing: it addresses the body as a whole, improving all of the biomechanics needed for a great swing.
The Pilates technique builds a strong core, while developing overall muscle strength with flexibility, and improving stability, balance, posture, back mobility, alignment, coordination and focus. Joseph Pilates did believe that we should build strength and flexibility simultaneously, so that we stretch with each strengthening move. Flexibility was a radical idea in the early 20th century, but Pilates saw that long, lean muscles were less prone to injury and tears. Tight muscles also pull on the spinal structure causing neck and back pain. For golfers, it is flexibility that increases the amount of turn, allowing for faster club head speed for more yardage. The movements that Pilates developed are flowing, dynamic stretches. For someone who is tight, like many golfers, stretching is usually not fun. Stretching with movement eliminates the pain of holding a stretch. Many new students often comment they are surprised by how “stretched” they feel afterwards, as they didn’t realize how much they were actually stretching.
Myth #5 Pilates has a lot of core exercises. Joseph Pilates believed that the body’s every movement is generated first from the core or abdominal muscles. So when new students ask, “How many core exercises are there?” the answer is, “All of them”. Studies have measured that the best golfers initiate their abdominals about 30 milliseconds before they start the backswing and adding abdominal contraction to putting will create a solid foundation from which to take a stroke. While crunches and sit ups develop the large outer muscles that give you the “six pack abs” look, Pilates also works the deeper abdominal muscles. These deep muscles such as the Transverse Abdominus, are muscles that do not move the body, but rather allow us to stand upright and stabilize the pelvis and lower body. Stability in the lower body will increase your X-factor for more distance and also help eliminate hooking and slicing. A 6-pack is great for picking up guys or gals, but the stabilizer abdominals are what you need for great golf!
Myth #6 Pilates is not really “working out”. FROM USA Today August 18, 2003 Curt Schilling, the Boston Red Sox star pitcher, agrees. "The first three weeks, I was really disappointed," says Schilling, who incorporated Pilates into his offseason training program last winter. "I wasn't sweating. I wasn't winded, which is what I associate with true exercise. "Then in the fourth week I started to understand the Pilates terminology, the idea of working from your center. By the third month I was more powerful and flexible than ever before. And I'd lost 15 pounds." Curt’s experience is due to several facts. First of all, we must relearn how to move. Consequently, the beginner Pilates exercises seem easy while we are developing the building blocks for the more difficult work. Just as we must master the fundamentals of golf, perfecting these beginner exercises and learning the Pilates techniques is essential. The Intermediate program is a killer workout, but many golfers give up before they achieve this higher level of work. I once worked with a client who had fallen off a roof and had terrible back pain. He was an avid golfer and had tried many of the famous golf-conditioning programs. After about 4 weeks of 1x per week lessons combined with self-practice 15 minutes every day, he went to Scottsdale on a winter golf vacation. Upon returning, he said it was the first time in 5 years he had played without pain. But the most striking thing for him, was that he had initially thought our simple Injury Prevention Warm-up wasn’t going to do much. He continued since he had nothing to lose but was surprised at the huge impact of these “silly little exercises”. Also we do not work the muscles to exhaustion. In Pilates, we do fewer, more precise controlled movements, rather than endless exhausting and mindless exercises. Joseph Pilates actually called his method, Contrology. Lastly, in Pilates we work the very deep muscles and work outward from there so you may not feel something at first. But the work builds until the entire body is developed.
Myth #7 Pilates is “something like yoga”. Joseph Pilates was influenced by yoga, as well as other exercises such as martial arts, Tai Chi, boxing, and calisthenics. Like yoga, Pilates develops strength and flexibility. Some yoga has a meditative component. Pilates does not come from a spiritual tradition. That said, we do think about all the Pilates techniques while performing each exercise and one of Joseph’s concepts was the requirement to perform each exercise with focus and intent. This element of Pilates is great for working on golf’s mental game.
Myth #8 Pilates is too hard for regular guys Often, the women in a guy’s life will drag him to a Pilates class that is too high a level of difficulty. As mentioned above, it is important at first to be patient and learn the fundamental techniques of the Pilates work and not jump to the hard exercises before your body is ready. In my own work with golfers, I have modified the exercises to take into account the needs of male bodies such as tighter hamstrings. Many of the exercises can be performed seated or standing until the body is ready for the floor work.
Myth #9 Any Pilates will help my golf game This one is TRUE! Pilates in general will help your golf game. Our Hole in One Pilates program was developed to help you hit the ball consistently farther and straighter with reduced risk of injury and back pain. Designed to target the biomechanics of the golf swing for a much faster result than a regular Pilates program, we have also developed new golf-specific exercises in the Pilates technique.

Pilates: the workout that takes yoga up a level

Charlotte Young/Contributing Writer

Issue date: 3/9/08 Section: Health

For most beginners, the very first session can leave the body feeling sore and full of aches and pains the next day.

"Controlling your movement with precision and efficiency, staying with the breath and being aware in the moment, can all be difficult!" Johanna Nichols, a yoga and Pilates instructor at Flow Yoga Center said. "All of the poses, when done correctly, should be challenging."

Athlete-turned-Pilates instructor, Donald Ali, agrees. "Pilates is not easy," he said. "I found that this is harder than it looks … but once I did it, I enjoyed it."

Ali, an instructor at Shakti Mind Body Studio has been teaching Pilates for nine months, enjoys it as an alternative to lifting weights to strengthen the body. "It helps you control your body," he said. "A lot of people walk around without control of their body."

Pilates was created by Joseph Pilates, a German native who as a sickly child, found an interest in body strengthening. He drew from the ancient principles of yoga, Zen and Greek principles, among other studies to design a sequence of movements which is now known as mat Pilates, in the 1920s.

While interning in England during World War I, he improved his technique to help patients, using bed springs as light resistance exercises. This became the foundation for Pilates Apparatus. Pilates later moved to New York where he opened the first New York Pilates Studio in 1926.

With regular practice, Pilates yields numerous benefits including improved core strength, back health, balance, and flexibility. Athletes often use Pilates in training and those injured often use it for rehabilitation.

"Pilates is very popular at our studio with most of the classes filling up in advance," Nichols said. "We leave a limited number of spots for walk-ins, most of the students sign up in advance on line."

With its roots in yoga, the similarities the two share are brought together to create a class called Mat Fusion at Shakti.

"I can definitely tell that my core is stronger," Jessica Woods, a student in the class said. Woods, who has been doing Pilates for a year and yoga for five years, believes Pilates is harder. "I feel like the benefits in Pilates are purely physical. Yoga is more psychological with a mind body focus," she said.

"Body College has been in business for over 10 years. When we first started, everyone was concerned about Pilates being a fad," he said. "I kept arguing that it was not. Why? Because Pilates works."

While many yoga studios concentrate on Pilates in a mat work out form, Body College takes Pilates off the mat and onto the apparatus.

"The mat work is really just using your own body weight. At Body College you start on the floor with the mat work," he said. "You eventually get up on your feet and do upright Pilates, then the machines give you advantage."

According to Wright, the machines help with posture and add extra challenge because they go beyond the body weight. It is also beneficial to those with injuries or issues with muscle imbalances.

"When you're on the machine you have mechanical advantage to choose which muscles you want to fire up," he said.

Though Wright believes that, "trying to learn Pilates from a video is like diagnosing yourself with a personality disorder," Body College Pilates allows students to bring in their Pilates or Exercise videos, so that an instructor may help them with the workout.

"Go at your own pace," Nichols gives as advice for beginning Pilates. "It is better to get the correct form on one repetition than not get it at all. Quality of movement rather than quantity. Breathe and have fun."

Pilates and the Long Distance Runner

By Barbara Wintroub / Pilates COREterly / Winter 2008

From competative marathoners to amatueur long distance joggers, Americans continue to run regularly, to run consistnently, and to do so in large numbers. According to USA Track & Field's latest "state of the industry" report posted on its website, nearly 10.5 million Americans ran 100 days or more in 2002, while more than 11 million runners have been in the sport for 10 or more years. That number has been estimated to grow significantly over the last five years. In addition, Running USA stated on its website that competative road races alone in the U.S. grew across all distances and sizes in 2006 with a total of 8,535 million finishers.

A recent study in an article in LA Sports and Fitness Magazine showed that 29% of runners running an average of 10-19 miles a week had sustained some type of injury due to running.

As a marathoner, I can tell you that not so long ago people just ran the way they ran with no attention to form. When we got injured we just ran through the injuries. This usually caused early retirement from running. Today its critical to pay attention to how you run. Adding the component of Pilates to your conditioning gives your muscles a different type of workout. Using the Jump Board on the Reformer or just doing short, quick moves on the chair can help build leg strength and turn over speed. Increasning spring weight continues to build endurance while promoting proper alignment and symmetry.

Theres a place in the body where your running crosses your breathing, particularly when running uphill. The psoas cross the diaphragm and as you get tired or hit the wall, you lean forward shortening the space between you chest and legs. The legs continue to lift, but your chest is basically sitting on them, causing the lungs to stop from expanding to full capacity and leading to exhaustion. Core, back extension and mid back stregthening exercises with Pilates can alleviate this problem.

Conversely, a runner going downhill tends to lean backward, compressing the vertebre and putting pressure on the quads. This can lead to sciatic issues as well as strains in the scapula. Pilates exercises provide balance and strength in these areas, releiving muscular and joint tension, and letting you run more fluidly downhill.

There is also a natural mind-body relationship between Pilates and runners and its here that you need to pay attention to your kinesthetic awareness - how your head is balanced on the neck and spine, how your feet feel on the ground, whether you are running in the proper sequence, and your breathing patterns. It is being aware of your body and how it moves in space - the same mental principals found in Pilates.

Published - September, 12, 2006

Pilates, yoga offer health benefits

Jennipher Scoggins

Pilates, one of the fastest growing exercise therapies in the country, has many health benefits. I recently attended a conference on Pilates and other movement and exercise therapies and would like to share some of the latest research on the medical benefits these movement exercises.

We all know that weight-bearing exercises help build and maintain bone density to help prevent osteoporosis. Did you know that nonweight bearing/nonimpact activities such as Pilates and yoga are beneficial as well? They both may help to maintain quality bone by creating stress on the bone when the muscles pull on them. For those persons with already frail bones, Pilates, Tai chi and other movement therapies can help improve their balance, abnormal gait patterns and muscle weakness therefore decreasing risk of falls and bone fractures.

Older adults encounter many age-related changes such as postural dysfunction, loss of balance control and stability, reduced gait cycle, and overall reduced muscle function and strength. Muscles most likely to be weak are usually found in the trunk, gluteals, and quadriceps -- all of which Pilates helps to strengthen.

Pilates can compliment an older adult's training regimen by correcting abnormal movement patterns, helping restore muscle balance, reintroducing movement with nondestructive forces, and by enhancing breathing and relaxation.

Those with Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremor, rigidity, extreme slowness of movement, gait disturbance and postural instability, may benefit from the physical activity, especially balance and strength training. A person with Parkinson's disease is five times more likely than other older adults to have fall-related injuries. Physical activity also helps increase dopamine levels which Parkinson's patients are lacking, therefore helping prevent Parkinson's patients from being in a chronic contractile state.

Stretching and movement exercises such as Pilates and yoga can be beneficial for people with arthritis. Pilates and other movement therapies increase blood supply therefore increasing oxygen and nutrients to affected joints. Other benefits: reduced joint pain and stiffness, improved flexibility, muscle strengthening and endurance, decreased inflammation and minimized fatigue, and assists in weight loss and weight management. These movement exercises also strengthen of the pelvic floor which decreases urinary incontinence and improves posture.

The studies on the benefits of these exercises are ongoing. So whether you need to improve your core strength, balance, stabilization, coordination, or flexibility or you are just looking for a little variety in your daily exercise routine, try a Pilates, yoga or other movement and exercise therapy.

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