Health Benefits of Pilates

At Kaya Health Clubs, we often have people attending our Pilates Prahran classes purely because they are eager to tone up, and of course, curious to give it a go. Little do they know, that they’re signing up to receive far more health benefits than they may even realise. 

Pilates is renown all over the world for improving your muscle tone, sculpting your body, as well as building core strength, posture and balance. However lots of people are surprised to hear that this fairly low impact form of exercise can also boost your cardiovascular fitness, completely transform your mental health and even help you lose weight. 

Pilates is a complete workout for both the Body and the Mind. The benefits of this exercise system go far beyond building core strength and improving flexibility. In this article we will discuss the benefits of Pilates Prahran and how incorporating classes into your life can completely transform your health and wellbeing. 

• Strengthens your core 

Core work is a central part of every Pilates Prahran class. All Pilates’ moves are initiated by your core, also known as your Pilates powerhouse. Many movements and postures we do during class require you to hold your powerhouse in place while moving your limbs in different directions. This challenges your body with balance and stability, and strengthens your core over time allowing your abdominals to become more defined. In a study conducted by Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, they found that after completing 36 weeks of Pilates training, women strengthened their abdominis by an average of 21%.

• Corrects your posture 

Sitting down at a desk all day or spending so much time staring down at your smart phone can lead to poor posture and asymmetrical muscle development, where some muscles become weaker than others. Pilates helps restore the natural curves of the spine by strengthening those underdeveloped muscles and increasing mobility through the back of the body, correcting your posture and helping you stand with more stability. 

• Improves your flexibility

Pilates uses slow and controlled movements that include static holds and dynamic stretching. This increases the range of motion throughout the body, lengthening and strengthening your muscles and thus, improving flexibility.

• Helps ease back pain

A lot of Pilates Prahran exercises involve spine lengthening, which helps to restore muscular imbalances by teaching proper alignment. This in turn, helps ease back pain, as it teaches you how to stabilise your body using your core, rather than straining your lower back.  

• Reduces stress 

Breath-work is an integral part of every Pilates Prahran class. By focusing on connecting our breath to each movement, we allow our central nervous system to slow down, which has a calming effect on the body. Whenever our students are struggling with postures, we tell them to bring their awareness back to their breath. This can also translate to stress management well after class has finished, as it reminds us to breathe through the stresses of everyday life. 

• Helps to support mental health 

Pilates Prahran works wonders on your body but also on your mind! This is because it helps to create a connected body and mind relationship, where concentration, focus and meditation come together to help boost your mental health. Joseph Pilates said that “physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness”, and at Kaya Health, we definitely agree! The movements we execute during class trigger the release of happy chemicals in our body, including serotonin, cortisol and endorphins. The practice also enhances mindfulness and helps to create a better self-care routine, bringing more happiness into our lives and easing the symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

• Boosts your brain power

With Pilates being so connected to breath-work, deep inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth; you move a large volume of air from the lungs. This improves blood circulation to all working muscles and organs, specifically the brain. When Scientists from three Chinese universities measured changes in women’s brain activity after they had been practicing Pilates for 10 weeks, they found an increase in the brain’s alpha peak power. This is related to neural network activity, which results in a sharper attention span, better memory performance, and heightened cognitive function. It turns out Joseph Pilates didn’t call his workout method “the thinking man’s exercise” for nothing!

• Can aid with weight loss 

Pilates, being renowned as a low impact form of exercise, is often put in the ‘relaxing’ category. While it can be relaxing (at times), this definitely doesn’t give the practice the credit it deserves.  Pilates is a complete work out for the entire body and if practiced often enough and coupled with a nutritious diet, can definitely help aid with weight loss. Pilates Prahran not only helps to tone muscles and shape your body giving you a leaner appearance, but it also emphasizes the use of bodyweight and resistance training to burn calories. These speeds up your metabolism, and may help to drop any unwanted kilos. 

• Improves cardiovascular fitness

One of the biggest misconceptions about Pilates is that there’s no endurance involved. Like most workouts, the aerobic benefits of Pilates depend on your intensity, however there are many moves and routines we do that can certainly increase your heart rate. In higher-intensity classes of Pilates, both on mat and reformer machine, we sometimes move from exercise to exercise quite quickly, which moves the heart rate up into the aerobic zone and builds endurance. 

• Encourages better sleep

In today’s highly caffeinated, plugged in, on-the-go world, a good night’s sleep is often a rarity. Pilates can help combat insomnia as it is a stress-relieving practice that uses exercise and movement to slow down the central nervous system, helping us switch our minds off and get a better rest. In a study of more than 400,000 adults presented at the 2015 SLEEP conference in Seattle, people were less likely to have sleep issues if they walked, ran or practiced Pilates. Joseph Pilates said that the most important element of better and deeper sleep is mental calm. He said that it is “far better to be tired from physical exertion than to be fatigued by the “poisons” generated by nervousness while lying awake”. So when in doubt, work out! 

Kaya Health Clubs Melbourne offers a wide variety of Pilates classes both in Melbourne and Prahran. Our team of Pilates Instructors are highly qualified, dedicated specialists who live and breathe their discipline and are forever witnessing our students leave the studio after class with a huge smile on their face, feeling much better than when they arrived. So if you’ve been on the fence about taking a class, hopefully this article helps give you a little more incentive to sign up for a trial and experience the benefits for yourself!

At Kaya Health Clubs, we often have people attending our Pilates Prahran classes purely because they are eager to tone up, and of course, curious to give it a go. Little do they know, that they’re signing up to receive far more health benefits than they may even realise. 

Pilates is renown all over the world for improving your muscle tone, sculpting your body, as well as building core strength, posture and balance. However lots of people are surprised to hear that this fairly low impact form of exercise can also boost your cardiovascular fitness, completely transform your mental health and even help you lose weight. 

Pilates is a complete workout for both the Body and the Mind. The benefits of this exercise system go far beyond building core strength and improving flexibility. In this article we will discuss the benefits of Pilates Prahran and how incorporating classes into your life can completely transform your health and wellbeing. 

• Strengthens your core 

Core work is a central part of every Pilates Prahran class. All Pilates’ moves are initiated by your core, also known as your Pilates powerhouse. Many movements and postures we do during class require you to hold your powerhouse in place while moving your limbs in different directions. This challenges your body with balance and stability, and strengthens your core over time allowing your abdominals to become more defined. In a study conducted by Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, they found that after completing 36 weeks of Pilates training, women strengthened their abdominis by an average of 21%.

• Corrects your posture 

Sitting down at a desk all day or spending so much time staring down at your smart phone can lead to poor posture and asymmetrical muscle development, where some muscles become weaker than others. Pilates helps restore the natural curves of the spine by strengthening those underdeveloped muscles and increasing mobility through the back of the body, correcting your posture and helping you stand with more stability. 

• Improves your flexibility

Pilates uses slow and controlled movements that include static holds and dynamic stretching. This increases the range of motion throughout the body, lengthening and strengthening your muscles and thus, improving flexibility.

• Helps ease back pain

A lot of Pilates Prahran exercises involve spine lengthening, which helps to restore muscular imbalances by teaching proper alignment. This in turn, helps ease back pain, as it teaches you how to stabilise your body using your core, rather than straining your lower back.  

• Reduces stress 

Breath-work is an integral part of every Pilates Prahran class. By focusing on connecting our breath to each movement, we allow our central nervous system to slow down, which has a calming effect on the body. Whenever our students are struggling with postures, we tell them to bring their awareness back to their breath. This can also translate to stress management well after class has finished, as it reminds us to breathe through the stresses of everyday life. 

• Helps to support mental health 

Pilates Prahran works wonders on your body but also on your mind! This is because it helps to create a connected body and mind relationship, where concentration, focus and meditation come together to help boost your mental health. Joseph Pilates said that “physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness”, and at Kaya Health, we definitely agree! The movements we execute during class trigger the release of happy chemicals in our body, including serotonin, cortisol and endorphins. The practice also enhances mindfulness and helps to create a better self-care routine, bringing more happiness into our lives and easing the symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

• Boosts your brain power

With Pilates being so connected to breath-work, deep inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth; you move a large volume of air from the lungs. This improves blood circulation to all working muscles and organs, specifically the brain. When Scientists from three Chinese universities measured changes in women’s brain activity after they had been practicing Pilates for 10 weeks, they found an increase in the brain’s alpha peak power. This is related to neural network activity, which results in a sharper attention span, better memory performance, and heightened cognitive function. It turns out Joseph Pilates didn’t call his workout method “the thinking man’s exercise” for nothing!

• Can aid with weight loss 

Pilates, being renowned as a low impact form of exercise, is often put in the ‘relaxing’ category. While it can be relaxing (at times), this definitely doesn’t give the practice the credit it deserves.  Pilates is a complete work out for the entire body and if practiced often enough and coupled with a nutritious diet, can definitely help aid with weight loss. Pilates Prahran not only helps to tone muscles and shape your body giving you a leaner appearance, but it also emphasizes the use of bodyweight and resistance training to burn calories. These speeds up your metabolism, and may help to drop any unwanted kilos. 

• Improves cardiovascular fitness

One of the biggest misconceptions about Pilates is that there’s no endurance involved. Like most workouts, the aerobic benefits of Pilates depend on your intensity, however there are many moves and routines we do that can certainly increase your heart rate. In higher-intensity classes of Pilates, both on mat and reformer machine, we sometimes move from exercise to exercise quite quickly, which moves the heart rate up into the aerobic zone and builds endurance. 

• Encourages better sleep

In today’s highly caffeinated, plugged in, on-the-go world, a good night’s sleep is often a rarity. Pilates can help combat insomnia as it is a stress-relieving practice that uses exercise and movement to slow down the central nervous system, helping us switch our minds off and get a better rest. In a study of more than 400,000 adults presented at the 2015 SLEEP conference in Seattle, people were less likely to have sleep issues if they walked, ran or practiced Pilates. Joseph Pilates said that the most important element of better and deeper sleep is mental calm. He said that it is “far better to be tired from physical exertion than to be fatigued by the “poisons” generated by nervousness while lying awake”. So when in doubt, work out! 

Kaya Health Clubs Melbourne offers a wide variety of Pilates classes both in Melbourne and Prahran. Our team of Pilates Instructors are highly qualified, dedicated specialists who live and breathe their discipline and are forever witnessing our students leave the studio after class with a huge smile on their face, feeling much better than when they arrived. So if you’ve been on the fence about taking a class, hopefully this article helps give you a little more incentive to sign up for a trial and experience the benefits for yourself!

About the Author

Demi fell in love with yoga when she travelled to India when she was 20 years old. She loved the feeling of bliss she experienced both during and after class, and how that feeling would stay with her throughout her day. It was also in India, that Demi learned how much she loved to write about her travels. She believes that stories have power. They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help us understand. They imprint a picture in our minds. This led her to her job as a Content Writer. She loves helping businesses tell stories. Especially when the stories involve educating readers on the endless benefits of yoga and Pilates- two of her most loved fitness regimes