Pilates Machine
Pilates machine? What is pilates? It is a system of about 30 exercises invented about 100 years ago by a German whose name was Pilates. If we examine it a little bit deeper we see that it’s a European version of “soft” yoga.
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The system focuses on postures, breathing and stretching rather than strength. The differences are secondary. I’ll write about the pilates system of exercises, but don’t forget – the next step is yoga, not a fitness gym studio. There are a lot of accessories for this type of exercise, more than for yoga, and there are some pilates machines as well. The original system, as original yoga, didn’t make use of any of these accessories. It was about the body, about pure body, pure breath and pure mind. We have invented mats for yoga, sport shoes, dumbbells and much more – all these things are very useful for beginners, particularly for the people like you, who spend too much time in front of a monitor instead of simply standing up and starting to exercise next to your chair. In a fact you don’t need anything else. But we have to do something with the money we earn sitting. So let’s look at some pilates machines.
Pilates Cadillac
Pilates Machine I
The most popular models are: reformer, pedipull, resistance bands, cadillac, barrel and chair. Here is a photo of a cadillac. As you may see in the picture, it’s a mix of a bed, a cage and a lady learning to fly. This pilates machine is a contemporary sign of a the never ending dream of Icarus. Xtend Pilates comes in 8 colors for $2,400 which seems reasonable for a piece of wood and some iron. A lot of stuff for yoga and some pilates accessories are available on Yoga Accessories website. For some reason this form of exercise appears to be a kind of gymnastics performed in studios rather than at home. There are a lot of fitness addicts who do yoga or use fitness equipment at home, but pilates is also a way to spend time together, with other women. Hard to find a man in a pilates studio. Well, of course many of the trainers are men, but that’s another story. A pilates studio can be filled with machines or totally empty. Compare these two pics and you’ll see.
Pilates Reformer
The second pilates machine worth mentioning is the pilates reformer. As you probably can tell I’m not a great fan of it. However curiosity always pushes us forward and it doesn’t matter what’s the subject of our research in life we always find something astonishing. So there are some amazing machines on the pilatesdotcom website, pilates reformer as well. It looks like a piece of craftsmanship, not cheap Chinese plastic shit.
Stretches
They have a nice site too, with the most expensive and sophisticated reformers being close to $5.000. There’s no joke about it, spending $5,000 is already a real big pleasure.
Stretches
Before you start your gym session it’s always good to perform some stretches. However, when it comes to yoga or pilates, this is not exactly true – pilates is a kind of stretching itself. Stretches are such an important part of the session that pilates without stretches doesn’t exist. Here are two examples. If you can’t perform the first one you can always start with the second. Everything depends on free will, breathing and concentration. Nothing to do with your age or physical capabilities. Everyone can climb to Mount Everest. Everyone can be a smiling, stretched, 21 year old beauty. Ne c’est pas? And now something completely different: stretches. There’s one company I recommend. The name of the company is iTrain. You can download from their site classes of pilates stretching in mp3. Great idea, amazing site. Stretch with iStretch.
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Winsor Pilates
If you’re looking for something more refined than mp3 you can always visit the site of Mari Winsor pilates. One can read on her website that Hollywood stars love her. No info from where those stars come from, ATL or XXX. After all we all need to stretch from time to time. So, on her website you’ll find plenty of educational material to order. Order now. The highest price I’ve seen was $220, hopelessly nothing more expensive, but I can resist.
Pilates DVD
Once you’ve chosen a home pilates machine (by the way, which one is better in your opinion, cadillac or pilates reformer?) or when you’ve chosen a pilates studio, and bought an mp3 or total kit from Mari Winsor pilates, you can also order a pilates DVD from basipilates dot com, or stotpilates. You choose. I recommend basi.
Pilates ring and aero pilates
The longer version of the post about pilates ring and aero pilates is coming, here only the brief explanation. The pilates ring is simply a ring used in some exercises. Some examples of exercises you can see at Martha Stewart dot com, session with Mary Tedesco. The first one exercise I’ve seen on the video is quite stupid. Laying on the mat on the back you put a ring between your knees and simply exercise trying to approach fast your legs and then releasing the tension. It looks like a football player during the break or like a woman during her plateau. It really doesn’t look serious, a little bit silly. Maybe this is an exercise for elder people, I don’t recommend to anybody to buy it. Aero pilates looks much better. This is a machine for ultra light bodybuilding I dare say. However listening to some idiots saying “This machine totally change my life” and so on my opinion about pilates has established itself definitely: pilates is a humbug. It’s pure marketing, there’s nothing particular in pilates, apart of spending money on aero pilates, ring pilates or other similar stuff which you can’t do exercising yoga (total price of the session: $0), or simply using dumbbells or bicycle. There are hundreds of post telling you “buy this or that”, stupid ads nothing more. Honestly, I don’t see any reason to continue to write about pilates.
This is the end
Ok, this is the end of my first class. I’ve learned about reformer and stretches, about George Pilates and Mari Winsor. I’ve looked at some cute stretching photos, ordered a pilates DVD and now it’s time to finish work. I stand up, make two steps right and start to exercise. First a deep breath, then a second, then I can open my half full half empty bottle of gin and start to think that one day I was young, strong, full of joy. And now I’m old, strong, full of joy. Nothing changes. Never. With a pilates machine or without one has to like oneself, like the people and the companies who produce and sell the machines. They like money. I like money too. Too much. By the way – do you think this is important? Anyway, people don’t read anymore. There are already too many unnecessary words floating around the internet. Some more of them about home gym machines are on the other post.
Pilates Machine IV
