We are tired of hearing that physical exercise is essential for our health and well-being, but many people don’t like it and don’t feel motivated to do the most common ones, such as walking and going to the gym, for example.
Fortunately, alternative techniques such as Pilates have become popular and become many people’s first option for physical activity.
The person responsible for this exercise was the German Joseph Pilates, who created it as a method of physical and mental conditioning. Pilates promotes stretching and strength exercises that affect all parts of the body, including the organs responsible for breathing, to improve body control for those who practice it.
More: Discover the types of pilates
Discover now 10 reasons to be practically:
1. Pilates helps eliminate stress
This activity allows its practitioners to learn to breathe better and correctly, in addition to developing greater control over their body functions. The body control required by exercises means that those who do them also better control the brain activities that produce stress through the release of tension and relaxation.
More: Learn how to do Pilates at home
2. Prevents osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a metabolic and systemic disease that can affect all bones in the body. It happens when our body reduces the production of new bone tissue and the amount of old bone material becomes greater. In this way, the bones become weaker and thinner and make fractures easier, as well as making recovery more difficult.
Another advantage of practicing Pilates is preventing this disease through posture and balance exercises, which can also help prevent falls in those who already live with the condition.
More: Discover why Pilates makes you lose weight
3. Regula o sono
A good night’s sleep is the premise for a good quality of life. And this activity can reduce sleep disturbances by stretching muscles that release possible pain and tension. Free from these problems, the body can achieve natural sleep more easily and without the need for sleeping pills.
More: Pilates: working out your body without weight training
4. Increases strength and endurance without gaining mass
Exercise is a way to gain strength without muscle hypertrophy (excess muscle mass).
If you are one of the people who think that the only way to gain strength and resistance is with weight training, you prefer not to go this route because of mass gain, you can invest in Pilates. The stretching and muscle toning promoted by this activity are concentrated in the muscles of the pelvis, abdomen and back, places where muscle mass does not develop much. Even so, these exercises promote extraordinary strength gains. (Pilates and its benefits)
5. Improves posture
In the same way that these stretches promote strength and endurance gains, they also improve posture.
The spine is there to hold the entire weight of your body so that it moves with ease. Unfortunately, our daily routine hinders this functioning, as we spend hours sitting in the wrong way at work, in front of the TV and the computer… Bad posture can lead to back pain and the famous “hunchback”.
The muscle stretching promoted by Pilates does nothing more than realign the damaged spine.
See: 9 tips to avoid back pain
6. Cures back pain
As a result of realigning the spine, the exercises relieve pain and tension, especially in the back. These stretches also promote self-awareness in practitioners, who begin to pay attention to their posture and correct it on a daily basis.
See also: Pregnancy without back pain, find out how!
7. Body awareness and understanding
Pilates beginners are always surprised, even in the first classes, by the fact that they realize that they have no control over their own body. This lack of control can go unnoticed throughout our lives until we become aware of what we can do with our own organism.
These exercises that improve this body control can help from cases of urinary incontinence to common everyday situations, such as not losing your balance on a ladder when changing a light bulb.
Discover: 10 morning rituals that can improve your health
8. Increases energy
A stressful routine can drain all our energy. The best way to get them back is to practice physical activity and this is one of the best for this purpose, as it promotes movement in all parts of our body. In just a few classes, the physical characteristics of a sedentary life disappear. (Sedentarism: Don’t let it kill you)
9. Improves breathing
The act of breathing ends up being automatic in our daily lives, but having control of our breathing is very important to combat stress, insomnia and other problems that can ruin our well-being and we have no idea where they start. Pilates does this: it promotes techniques to learn to breathe and fight these inconveniences.
See: 15 tips to eliminate stress from your life
10. Increases flexibility
Stretching exercises greatly improve flexibility for younger people and even the elderly. Having good body flexibility can improve daily activities and also your health, as it prevents diseases such as tendonitis, for example.
