Pilates (pronounced: puh-lah-teez) improves your mental and physical well-being, increases flexibility, and strengthens muscles. This exercise uses controlled movements in the form of mat exercises or equipment to tone and strengthen the body. For decades, it‘s been the exercise of choice for dancers and gymnasts (and now Hollywood actors), but it was originally used to rehabilitate bedridden or immobile patients during World War I.

Joseph pilates the founder of this exercise method, was born in Germany. As a child he was frail, living with asthma in addition to other childhood conditions. To build his body and grow stronger, he took up several different sports, eventually becoming an accomplished athlete. As a nurse for Britain during World War I, he designed exercise methods and equipment for immobilized patients and soldiers. In addition to his equipment, They developed a series of mat exercises that focus on the torso. He based these on various methods from around the world, among them the mind-body formats of yoga and Chinese martial arts.

There are two ways to exercise for dancers and gymnasts. Today, most people focus on the mat exercises, which require only a floor mat and training. These exercises are designed so that your body uses its own weight as resistance. The other method uses a variety of machines to tone and strengthen the body, again using the principle of resistance.

Because these exercises have gained lots of attention recently, there are lots of classes available. You‘ll probably find that many fitness centers and YMCAs offer these exercise classes, mostly in mat work. Some of these exercise instructors also offer private classes that can be purchased class by class or in blocks of classes; these may combine mat work with machine work.