When deciding on topics, after yoga was taken, Charlotte and I looked into exercises similar to yoga and discovered that pilates has some similarities in exercise workouts. Pilates is a system of exercises using special apparatus, designed to improve physical strength, flexibility, and posture, and enhance mental awareness. Joseph Humbertus Pilates, was born with rickets, asthma, and rheumatic fever in the 1800’s. In 1912, Pilates was jailed as an “enemy alien” and worked as an attendant in a hospital, used bed springs and other equipment as a way to help patients perform body strengthening exercises. There are two different types of pilates: mat-based pilates, exercises that are performed on the floor using gravity and body weight to provide resistance; and equipment-based pilates, which uses specific equipment that works against spring-loaded resistance. A study in 2004 revealed the many benefits of pilates as a group of 25 people with average blood pressure of 142mmHg (systolic) and 86mmHg (diastolic), participated in yoga for 11 weeks. By the end of the study, the average blood pressure of the group had dropped to 126mmHg (systolic) and 75mmHg (diastolic). Pilates also affects people's sleep patterns and revealed that people who regularly engage in Pilates at least one hour before going to sleep were: “56% more likely to fall asleep in 10 minutes or less; 67% more likely to stay asleep; 78% more likely to awake feeling rested and rejuvenated. The study used a testing group of 15 and a control group of 25.” In a study by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, once completing 36 weeks of Pilates training, “women strengthened their rectus abdominis (the muscle responsible for six-packs) by an average of 21 percent.”
Pilates emphasizes the use of: abdominal, lower back, hips, as well as thigh muscles, it increases lung capacity and circulation through deep breathing; strength and flexibility, especially in the abdomen and back muscles; coordination; balance, core strength and posture are all increased in addition, and bone density and joint health improve. The exercises performed in class- deep breathing, which encourages full oxygen exchange, slows heartbeat, and can lower blood pressure; standing rotation, that improve movement involving bending forward and backward. The benefits of torso rotational exercises include increased mobility and strengthened obliques; seated knee tucks, works and improves core strength, this improvement to your core helps protect your back from injuries and improves your posture; and superman,targets the glutes and quads, as it lengthens and tones muscles. Our topic was important to health and wellness because this form of exercise improves more than one aspect of the body as it works on multiple mental and physical parts of the body. As well, it does not require a lot of equipment, so it is an easy form of exercise that can be performed. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate myself a 9 because I went very in depth with the topic by providing its history and the various ways it improves an individual's health, as well as the exercises themselves were easy to perform in the classroom setting.
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