Well, you’ve come to the right place! Pilates is a great way to get your body into a better shape. Whether you’re looking for an intense workout or something gentle and relaxing, Pilates Classes Christchurch can help.
In this article we’ll talk about how Pilates improves posture and builds core strength—and why those things matter even if you’re not doing any strenuous exercises in particular.
Improving your posture
Pilates classes can help you improve your posture. Proper alignment is important for overall body health, and it also helps prevent injuries. Improving your posture will help you feel and look better as well!
When working out in a pilates class, it’s important to keep good form so that you don’t hurt yourself. Focus on keeping your shoulders down and back; don’t let them round forward or move up towards the ears.
Keep your abdominals engaged so they support the spine, rather than letting them sag or flop around loosely toward the floor when you’re doing exercises like crunches.
Make sure that when your legs are stretched out behind you during exercises such as pelvic tilts or bridge pose (or “upward dog” if yoga-ing), they’re aligned with each other so they form a straight line from head to toe without sagging one way or another.
Developing flexibility
Stretching is the last core strength and body fitness element we’ll touch on in this article. It can be a little challenging to integrate stretching into your Pilates practice, but if you make it a priority, you will see results very quickly.
Here are some examples of stretches that can be done at home or at the gym:
- Hamstring stretch: Stand on one leg and bend your back knee while keeping both feet flat on the ground. Place one hand on your back knee for balance, then lean forward until you feel tension in your hamstrings (back thigh muscles). Hold for 30 seconds before switching sides and repeating for 8 repetitions total per side.
- Get into all fours position with hands directly under shoulders, knees under hips and toes tucked away from each other behind you.
Building core strength muscles
The core muscles are the most important and largest muscles in your body. These include the abdominals, lower back and pelvic floor. Pilates exercises help to build core strength by improving posture, reducing stress on joints and improving balance and flexibility.
Pilates exercises focus on controlling the breath while performing specific movements of the body that are designed to maintain optimal alignment as you move through each exercise or series of exercises.
While some people equate Pilates with stretching, it actually involves both stretching and strengthening muscles as well as improving overall fitness levels through coordinated movement patterns that increase muscular endurance without adding bulk or size to your muscles.
Exercising every muscle group
The human body has thousands of muscles that work together to form groups. For example, the arm muscles—the biceps, triceps and deltoids—all help to lift your hand up.
To strengthen these groups of muscles, you should focus on exercises that target each group individually. For instance, if you want to build stronger arms by working out at home or in a studio class (like Pilates), then you’ll need to do exercises that specifically target each individual muscle group within your arms: the biceps and triceps (for example).
The benefit of targeting all these different muscle groups is that they complement one another when we move our bodies around during everyday activities like walking or running up stairs.
When one part of your body becomes stronger than another part does not mean that other part will be weaker; instead it means both parts are equally strong but work together better as a team!
Strengthening the pelvic floor
The pelvic floor muscles are important for sexual health and support the bladder, uterus and rectum. When these muscles become too weak to hold in urine or stool, it can lead to incontinence.
Studies have shown that Pilates exercises can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles as well as improve flexibility in the spine and hips.
In addition to helping with incontinence, strengthening your pelvic floor muscles may also be helpful if you experience discomfort during sex or other physical activities such as running or yoga practice.
Preventing injuries and back pain
Pilates is a type of exercise that focuses on strengthening the core muscles. These are the deeper muscles that support your spine and help you to maintain a good posture. Pilates Classes Christchurch can help prevent injuries and back pain by improving balance, flexibility, coordination and strength.
By strengthening those muscles you’ll be able to improve your posture so you don’t suffer from back pain or other issues related with poor posture such as headaches or shoulder pain.
Conclusion
Pilates is a great way to improve your overall health and fitness. It’s a low-impact workout that will help you develop core strength, flexibility, and balance.
In turn, this can lead to less back pain and injuries by strengthening muscles around the spine as well as improving posture so muscles are not pulling on joints when standing or sitting upright on their own accord
