Body Control Pilates Tyldesley
Body Control Pilates
Body Control Pilates
2008 Author: Lynne Robinson
Latest estimates are that more than 25 million people worldwide participate in Pilates classes on a regular basis
The boom in interest and participation in Pilates shows no sign of slowing up.
Latest estimates are that more than 25 million people worldwide participate in classes on a regular basis and hundreds of new teachers are being trained every year on courses that range from two days to many months.
In the light of this, you may understandably have several questions:
- “Are all Pilates classes the same?”,
- “What exactly will I be taught in a Pilates class?”;
- “Is Pilates for me?”,
- “Should I have private one-to-one sessions or can I join a group?”,
- “Should I do matwork classes or studio sessions?”,
- “Is my teacher properly qualified?”.
I hope that I can answer some of these questions here!
In reality, there is a huge difference in both the content of Pilates classes and the teaching approach of instructors.
To understand why, you have to go back to its origins. Pilates is a mental and physical body-conditioning programme based on the work of Joseph Pilates, who did most of his work in New York from 1920’s until his death in 1967.
He left behind a huge legacy of mat and machine work, the core of his mat-based work being a series of about 40 ‘classical’ exercises designed to be performed in sequence to provide a total body workout (‘Full Mat’). He also developed a wide range of studio equipment that used resistance with springs and pulleys to help give his clients the flexibility and strength they needed to do the matwork.
After his death, there emerged many different ‘schools’ of Pilates with just as many different approaches to the teaching. Joseph Pilates always adapted the exercises to the individual so he hardly ever taught the same exercise the same way to the same person two days running – no wonder then that there are so many versions of Pilates! Many schools stayed true to his original ‘classical’ work teaching the Full Mat with little adaptation. Others have modified his work in the light of modern research and the changing needs of the modern client, and this is where Body Control Pilates comes in
In the 10 years since we developed the Body Control Pilates method, it has become one of the world’s largest teacher training schools and is the form of Pilates that the majority of UK Pilates enthusiasts follow, due to our books and DVDs and our network of more than 800 teachers, whose training, even in the basic matwork, will typically have taken between six to nine months.
we found that the ‘average’ person struggled to do Joseph Pilates’ original exercises well
We created the Body Control Pilates approach because we found that the ‘average’ person struggled to do Joseph Pilates’...
