One of our favorite fitness gurus is Shawn Weig (remember those amazing workouts he did for us?). guess what? ! He has a new book out!
Pilates for athletes Helping everyday people (no matter what sport or activity they enjoy) reach their highest physical and mental levels and improve their fitness, control, endurance and more – all through Pilates.
Sean Vigue has taught thousands of classes around the world and appeared in over 2,000 health and fitness videos. He’s motivated, he knows his stuff, and his training is fun. Basically, he’s the best!
And, we’re so excited that he asked us to share an excerpt from his new book. Read on to learn the top 10 reasons why athletes should incorporate Pilates into their training.
Top 10 Reasons Athletes Need to Train on a Pilates Mat
Shawn Weig
Mat Pilates is a bodyweight-only, full-body conditioning program that includes a detailed series of core-focused exercises sequenced together to enhance your mind, body, spirit, and athletic abilities. All you need is a Pilates (or yoga) mat to participate. No weight. There are no machines. Just you and the mat.
Strictly speaking, there are not many exercise programs that offer athletes the huge benefits of being on the Pilates mat. This is a lifelong program for the well-rounded athlete to practice, absorb, and enjoy. The benefits of Pilates are almost impossible to list, and there is no end to the ways Pilates can improve your health, fitness, movement, speed, strength, control, balance, endurance, breath control, focus, strength, and flexibility.
That being said, here are 10 main reasons why athletes need Pilates mat training.
1. Pilates builds a strong, durable, flexible and balanced core.
Joseph Pilates called the core the “power room” and the “power belt.” It is the center and support of your body. The core is the structural foundation that holds the rest of the body together and develops stability, strength, and control. It begins at the base of the pelvic floor and extends upward to the base of the diaphragm, and is made up of the abdomen, waist, and buttocks. Technically, the core consists of the rectus abdominis (the muscle that people refer to when they think of “abs”), the transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle that wraps around the sides of the body and spine), the erector spinae (a pair of muscles) composition. lower back), internal and external obliques (muscles located on either side of the abdomen), and glutes/buttocks/buttocks (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus).
Weak core strength leaves athletes vulnerable to injury, compromised endurance, and fatigue due to poor posture. Pilates core exercises train the muscles of the pelvis, lower back, hips, buttocks, and abdomen to work together to improve balance, stability, and body control. From basketball to tennis to throwing darts, every sport depends on strength radiating from your center (core) outward to your extremities.
2. Pilates builds a strong, balanced and resilient body.
Athletes of all ages and fitness levels incorporate Pilates into their training to improve overall strength, balance and injury resistance. That’s because it’s hard to find a program that’s more comprehensive and effective than regular Pilates mat exercises. Pilates helps athletes improve changing movement patterns through progressive destabilization, which means the deeper you progress in your workout, the more the exercises challenge and force your body to adapt and improve. Once your body adapts, you’ll gain a higher level of skill.
Each exercise balances both sides of the body equally to counteract the imbalances seen in sports like tennis, golf, or baseball, where the dominant side is favored and strengthened while the other then weaken and shrink. Pilates works to repair muscle imbalances and bring symmetry to the body, leading to optimal physical achievement.
3. Pilates improves flexibility and freedom of movement.
Pilates exercises emphasize health, flow, and correct movement. Can your body move? How well do you move your body quickly without stress? Are you able to move freely throughout the day without feeling tightness and discomfort in your body? As an athlete, how athletic are you? Does your mobility help or hurt your motor skills?
Your ability to move your body in multiple planes of motion determines your athletic success. Pilates exercises move your body through all angles and planes of motion while focusing on building core strength and flexibility. Having a body that can easily adapt to the unpredictable demands of sport—quick changes of direction in tennis, explosive speed in hockey, drives to the rim in basketball—will give you a huge advantage over your opponents and extend your career.
4. Pilates improves overall flexibility.
Joseph Pilates once said, “True flexibility is achieved only when all muscles develop evenly.” Therefore, Pilates does not increase flexibility based solely on the body’s popular “hot spots” (defined as a joint or The range of motion of a group of joints and moving them through a full range of motion), such as the hamstrings and lower back. Instead, Pilates stretches, lengthens and expands the entire body through constant flow and movement.
While many movements isolate muscles and compress the body and spine, Pilates does the exact opposite: Each Pilates exercise is designed to lengthen and expand your body through countless flows and angles. It’s a flowing, dynamic movement that stretches and strengthens muscles at the same time. You’ll flow smoothly and gracefully from one threshold to the next, precisely controlling your body movements through the fullest possible range of motion.
5. Pilates is an excellent tool for rehabilitating the body during an injury and resolving issues related to muscle imbalances.
Practicing on a Pilates mat has minimal impact on the joints, making it an ideal exercise for physical rehabilitation and recovery from injury. You can also build your Pilates routine to suit your individual needs—there is no one-size-fits-all approach to Pilates. You control your training, not the exercises. They exist to meet you and your specific physical, mental and conditioning needs.
6. Only your body weight is used on the Pilates mat, so you can train anywhere and anytime.
Pilates is efficient and easy to adapt to your current training program, making it suitable for even the busiest schedules. The absence of any weights, equipment or machines means you can rely solely on the best gym thing you have: your body.
Your workouts can last from 10 to 60 minutes, depending on how much strength, flexibility, and focus you need at the time, and you can train every day, mixing up your workouts to keep reaching new territory.
7. Pilates offers ever-changing, never-ending exercises and sequences that keep you challenged.
Athletes need to accept challenges that force their bodies to adapt and improve. Pilates training is a process of gradual instability with each session. As you progress, the exercises become more challenging and comprehensive, and with each new exercise you incorporate new parts of the body into the movements. Once a workout becomes too “easy,” we add a move that forces your body to adapt and improve on the fly. Whatever an athlete needs, Pilates has it covered.
8. Pilates establishes and reinforces correct posture and alignment.
Maintaining proper body alignment (how your head, shoulders, spine, hips, knees, and ankles relate to and align with each other) can improve your posture and reduce stress and strain on your spine. Standing, sitting and moving with correct posture will reduce stress on muscles and ligaments and improve your ability to flow more efficiently and precisely. For athletes, the foundation of control begins with good form. Building on this are big moves like jumping, grappling, swinging, throwing, catching, and sprinting…but if your body isn’t aligned correctly, these moves will be compromised and diminished.
Good posture works in conjunction with a strong core to help stabilize the body and meet the athlete’s needs for speed, power, rotation and quick changes of direction. Pilates will help reinforce good posture and alignment during every phase of movement.
9. Pilates can improve your breathing ability.
We often breathe in a shallow way, draining our energy and focus and damaging our posture. Pilates deep breathing strengthens the core and lifts our bodies into strong, consistent postures.
Pilates teaches deep lateral chest breathing, drawing the breath up from the lower abdomen and bringing it into the sides and lower back. This type of breathing fills your lungs and muscles with oxygen and improves your ability to take in and process your breath efficiently. It helps you make the most of each breathing cycle, drawing fresh oxygen into your lungs and squeezing out every atom in your exhalation, filling and emptying your lungs with every breath.
Improving your breathing capacity will greatly improve your athletic performance and abilities. Effective breathing requires thoracic spine flexibility, core strength, and a flexible diaphragm to pump breath into and out of the lungs. Athletes who utilize their breathing to its full potential experience more energy, increased blood flow, sharper focus, and progress when faced with stressful and unpredictable situations. Pilates also teaches athletes how to breathe during movement, which helps the exercises flow more smoothly and with more control throughout the range of motion. Deeper breathing and increased breath awareness can translate into better form and power, including swinging, jumping, sprinting, changing direction, and throwing. Link your breathing to movement, reducing wear and tear while improving your ability to move—a triple win.
10. Pilates can improve your explosive speed and strength.
Pilates combines deep, expanded breathing, a stronger core, improved flexibility throughout the body, increased strength, and efficient movement to move the body faster, faster, and more powerfully. It’s pretty simple: the more relaxed you are about controlling your body, the faster you’ll be and the more effective your power will be.
Whether it’s moving faster and more accurately in a football pass, running around the defense and heading for the goal in a hockey game, or using explosiveness to dip, jump, and spike the ball in a volleyball game, Pilates offers the tools to achieve these goals. Tool of.
Bottom line: The benefits of Pilates are powerful and transcend all exercise. Every breath you take and every movement you make enhances your physical and mental performance, combining to create a deep-seated love that makes you better every day. In this regard, Pilates is a loyal and dedicated companion. try it!
Excerpted from Pilates for Athletes, with permission from Hatherleigh Press.
Thanks so much Sean for letting us share this great excerpt! Be sure to purchase his latest book here! —Jenn