By Elisa Withers, Co-founder of APPI Clinics, Physiotherapist, Pilates Instructor.
Due to popular demand, we’re expanding our offering of Pilates mat classes.
The pandemic has certainly taught us all the importance of looking after mind and body. Pilates matwork offers a great way to not only align, strengthen and tone the body – but also to improve focus, concentration and create mindful movement.
At our APPI clinics, we believe matwork classes provide the perfect foundation for your Pilates journey. Here are just five of the many reasons for taking a Pilates mat class.
1. Improve your posture
If you really want to improve your posture, you need to work at it regularly throughout the week. Doing the daily mat Pilates exercises you’ll learn in class will help you to:
- bring greater awareness to your alignment
- build better balance and control of the inner postural muscles
- strengthen and automate your daily postures and movements
2. Prevent injuries and reduce back pain
Unfortunately, most people arrive ready and willing to start Pilates after an injury. And we’re pleased that they’ve taken this important step.
But it’s far better to start Pilates with the intention to avoid injury and pain. Pilates exercises are initially practised slowly – with low load, in supportive positions, and always with full awareness of the movement. This makes the method very safe and always under your own conscious control.
You’ll learn to practise Pilates with better balance and alignment, which will transfer into your everyday movements and other forms of exercise.
3. Achieve better flexibility and mobility
Maintaining muscle flexibility and joint mobility requires daily movement of your body – in various ranges and directions. If we don’t feed our body with these types of movement, we become tighter and stiffer.
We can all relate to how our body feels if you stay seated in your office chair or slumped on the sofa for hours. And as we get older, we need to put extra efforts into keeping flexible and mobile.
Pilates exercises nourish the joints and elongate the muscles through largely active movements, which is better for protecting and strengthening joints as you stretch.
4. Enhance your performance in sports and exercise
Pilates builds better balance and control – starting from the small, inner stabilising muscles to the larger, outer core stabilising muscles.
By targeting these smaller stabilising muscles first, the body can work in better balance and harmony, and with greater efficiency. This can mean the difference between a good performance, an effortless performance, and your best performance ever.
5. Decrease stress and tension with breathwork
Pilates uses breathwork to help connect the mind and body – and to create inner focus. This works very well in calming the mind and reducing stress. And in doing so, we can start to release the tension we subconsciously hold onto throughout the day.
Sounds good! Where do I start?
If you’re new to Pilates, always start with our beginner matwork classes, and as your practise transforms your body, enjoy the journey through to our improver and intermediate classes.
Advancing through our different class levels is so rewarding – and a sure way to keep the body adapting and progressing!