COMPLETE COORDINATION
By Alyson Mead

WLT Fitness

"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure." -Joseph Pilates

Contrology is the name Joseph Pilates gave to his ground-breaking system of low-impact exercises developed more than 70 years ago. By learning to control one's own body, Pilates posited, natural, non-injurious rhythms found in nature could be brought in line with a person's subconscious activities to achieve the "complete coordination of body, mind and spirit." Still used by many dancers and professional athletes, the Pilates Method is one way to find your New Year's resolution body.

Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born in 1880, as most industrialized societies were shifting into gear. People were moving into cities in record numbers and factories became more prevalent on the urban landscape. As he matured, Pilates watched the human body become less and less accustomed to things like fresh air and regular exercise, and instead begin to develop unusual levels of fatigue due to the speed and volume of daily activities. He noticed that inventions like cars and telephones, designed to enhance human life, soon caused nervous tension and a great sense of letdown when personal expectations were not met.

Pilates sought to restore the concept of play in order to revitalize the body from the strain of hard work and worry. However, he found that many people had no energy to indulge in even the most leisurely forms of play: a chat with a loved one, a good read or a walk after dinner.

During World War 1, Pilate's work in a German hospital lead him to develop the basis for his exercise machinery. He found that when springs were attached to the bedposts, wounded men could recover from their injuries while maintaining and even building strength. Pilates developed an approach to exercise that was isotonic, that is, involving the simultaneous movement and contraction of the muscles. He brought this new work with him when he arrived in America in the 1920s. Soon he was treating world-class boxers and the dancers of the New York ballet under the direction of George Ballanchine.

Pilates' book, Return To Life Through Contrology, written with William John Miller after 43 years of contriving and testing these exercises, begins with a simple concept: waking up. As he saw it, if the muscles are awakened from their sleepy, conditioned state, then a path is opened to the brain; he saw it as analogous to a switchboard, connecting the sympathetic nervous system with the muscles. Contrology, Pilates said, reawakened these formerly dormant brain cells and gave rise to greater brain activity , and improved functioning.

Pilates stressed that the mind must be fully engaged while performing his exercises. This helps the brain cells to renew. Of equal importance is the body's relationship with the blood. Pilates compared blood circulation to an "internal shower," crucial to dislodging the debris that has accumulated in the veins. If the exercises are performed on a regular basis, the heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood to the muscles. Exercises focused on increasing blood flow are designed so that the body is sitting or reclining, to minimize any strain to the heart.

The Pilates Method also places great importance on breathing. Rather than simply allowing the chest to rise and fall with breath, Pilates instructed his students to squeeze each last atom of impure air out of the lungs until they were completely empty. Several exercises involve "rolling" and "unrolling" on the spine. This causes air to be forced out of the lungs. Many students found that their fatigue began to decrease from these exercises alone.

Other areas Pilates found imperative to manage included eating a diet commensurate with the amount of work being done, receiving a proper amount of sleep and regularly cleansing the pores to allow the skin to breathe freely. By combining these disciplines, Pilates felt people could live up to the Roman motto, "Mens sana in corpore sano" (A sane mind in a sound body).

Pilates continued to develop his technique until his death in 1967. The knowledge that comes to us now is imparted by his original students, many of whom have gone on to train and certify the next generation of teachers.

Pilates instructors are certified through a grueling process of medical and physical therapy training that includes CPR, anatomy and kinesiology, and 600 hours of apprenticeship. The Pilates Studio and Performing Arts Physical Therapy (PART), located in West Hollywood and Sherman Oaks, is one of the studios that can train and certify new instructors.

Director Melinda Boehnert-Bryan, a registered physical therapist, says of this futuristic fitness regime, "Pilates was hidden for some time in the dance community, but now, since certain celebrities have brought it out into the mainstream, the benefits can be enjoyed by everyone."

Some of the these benefits are:

Increased stability and better posture

Pilates instructors routinely put most of their clients on a lower and mid/upper back program almost immediately. Stretching and releasing the pectoralis muscles, the upper trapezium, and the scalenes, among others, allows someone to lessen pressure put on the chest, the upper trapezium and neck muscles, which are forced to overwork in order to keep pressure off the underdeveloped back muscles. If the body can be trained to move from these core muscles, tension in the over-worked areas is lessened.

Changing the "muscle recruitment patterns" in the body enhances control, stability, coordination, endurance, agility, balance, strength and flexibility.

Greater coordination and balance

By developing control of the lower and deeper abdominal muscles as well as the lower back muscles, Pilates can help the body become more coordinated and balanced. In the Pilates Method, there is much emphasis placed on developing a strong "power center," meaning the core muscles from which most human movement originates. If a person’s body can be taught to rely on the core muscles, such as the inner thigh, the hamstrings and the abdominals, the chance of injury is lessened and, since muscles are not being "bulked up" with countless lifted repetitions, a long, lean line is created.

The goal is to realize the concept of "neutral," which happens when the large muscle groups such as the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis are stabilized and released, while the hamstrings, adductors and rotators do more of the work. If someone is neutral, it means that the body is functioning in complete balance. By default, that means the mind is in harmony.

Injury rehabilitation

The Pitates Method is also perfect for people who have suffered an injury and wish to become (or remain) physically fit. If the inappropriate muscles are used to perform daily movements, or if a person is overly sedentary, lower back pain is one of the more prevalent injuries reported. Through increasing the strength of the internal obliques and the transversus, many clients are able to become less dependent on the muscles of the lower back, increase the stability of the spine in general, and decrease the amount of pain they suffer.

Pilates can speed recovery from surgery because it relies only on gravity to strengthen and tone the muscles. For instance, people recovering from knee surgery often find that "the footwork," one of the exercises, is helpful in restoring the use of this sensitive joint.

Closed kinetic movements are the key to injury rehabilitation because they promote neuromuscular control. This control, in turn, protects the fragile joints most easily injured by weekend warriors. In closed kinetic chain movements, the last segment of the process is pressed against something. For example, the foot contacts the ground while a person walks. Closed kinetic chains provide the most support for a given movement.

In addition to easing common injuries, Pilates found that his exercises could correct Scoliosis and leg length discrepancies by working the antagonistic muscles concentrically, and training the muscles to work in the opposite manner to what is habitual. The muscles that support posture are designed to work this way, to straighten the spine instead of collapsing it inward.

But no system works by itself. Pilates requires mental concentration. If this is maintained, along with the discipline of performing the exercises in the prescribed manner, a new sense of body and posture awareness is formed in ten sessions. Melissa Quezada, owner of Perfectly Fit yoga and Pilates studio in La Canada and San Marino, sums it up perfectly, saying, "I have people who come in not being able to bend over and tie their shoes. After ten sessions they're more flexible, have a greater body awareness, and just feel better."

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