Pilates Workout of Therapy?

Pilates has a well founded reputation for helping people improve posture, breathing patterns and rehabilitation from injury.

As Pilates has become part of main stream exercise with health clubs and leisure centres embracing it, the market has grown immensely - Pilates is still one of the fastest growing segments of the fitness market.

Where once training to be a Pilates teacher was based on an apprentice system the huge demand for teachers within the industry has seen the development of training schools that offer various levels of education.

Its natural that with this growth and development as well as latest research there has been a certain amount of change in the general interpretation of the technique. The involvement of the fitness industry has helped create many fusion style Pilates classes.

There Are Choices

It seems there is a definite line in the sand, one side presents Pilates as a workout that will tone, shape and generally be the missing link in a fitness programme, whilst the other side has Pilates lining up beside therapies and bodywork associated with rehabilitation helping to alleviate various physical limitations.

Fortunately, there are enough clients with many needs who want to benefit from Pilates, that as teachers we can choose which camp we want to align ourselves with. My experience training teachers for more than ten years is that once they complete their training some move on to further training either as bona fide medical based teachers or with educators who have a strong corrective exercise background.

These teachers tend to work on a personal training basis or with very small groups of people with specific problems, sometimes with the guidance of a medical professional. This close association with medical professional can give the teachers great insight into rehabilitative methods.

A more recent phenomenon, well, over the last 5 years or so has seen physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors taking Pilates training to enable them to add Pilates to their rehabilitation programmes. This has added weight to the medical benefits attributed to the Pilates system of exercise.

The other group move into or already have many fitness skills so use them to enhance their Pilates sessions using various pieces of small equipment even teaching Pilates in a circuit style format. These Pilates session can be quite dynamic and cater for the cross over from a pure fitness programme to a Pilates regime.

Then there are those who go the Classical Pilates route which may encourage a more stringent approach to the delivery of the repertoire. These teachers may have strong opinions regarding presentation of movements and class format.

Room for Everyone

All styles of Pilates have a place in the market, whether you offer Pilates as a pure exercise system for improved physical fitness and well being or you prefer a more therapeutic approach working mainly on a personal training basis, perhaps with medical referrals, the essential aspect is quality training, to enable you to offer the best service you can.

Tell Me What You Think

I would love to hear your opinion as to what you consider Pilates is and how you present it. Send your comments to me at info@thepilatesconsultant.com. I will report the results next month.

Nuala Coombs

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