Will Pilates help me to get stronger?
Yes! And this term we will focus on all the ways Pilates can!
When physiotherapists talk about strength they are talking about the ability of a muscle to generate force along it’s length. Being strong incorporates power, tone and endurance. Strength also requires other elements of musculoskeletal fitness including flexibility.
Physiotherapists use something called ‘muscle grading’ to establish how strong a muscle is. But, just like fitness, being strong can be relative.
We need to be strong enough to balance our bodies and do the tasks we need to. For some that might mean having the power to bench press 100% body weight, for others it might mean being able to lift their grandchildren. These examples involve strength across multiple muscle groups. Sometimes we need to work on strength in a particular muscle group, for example, strengthening core muscles to support our spines, strengthening pelvic floor muscles to support our bladders, strengthening thigh muscles to support our knees. So whilst physiotherapists use special parameters to measure strength, at Pop up Pilates, we recognise that in practice strength means different things to different people.
At Pop up Pilates, our physio team take the time to work out what being strong means for you. They can assess your current strength and help you to fill in the gaps between that and your goals.
What are the benefits of strength training?
Strength training is associated with many physical and mental health benefits. These include:
- Toning
- Reducing pain
- Improving symptoms from arthritis
- Supporting joints
- Reducing risk of injury
- Helping with weight loss and treatment of obesity
- Recovering from injury or surgery
- Increasing bone density and reducing the risk of osteoporosis
- Treating lower back pain
- Recovering from childbirth
- Helping you stay fit and health in pregnancy
- Reducing risk of falls
- Improving cardiovascular fitness
- Increasing endurance
How will Pilates help me get stronger?
Each week this term your instructor will look at your Pilates exercises through the lens of strengthening. Each session will help you to get stronger through resistance training exercises. Your physiotherapist will support you to work at the right level for you and build on this bit by bit.
Each session will be built by our expert physio team. It will be designed around you and the other clients in your class. No class looks the same because none of us are the same.
Every week is a complete and balanced work out, focusing on building core stability, flexibility and movement balance. Classes last around 1 hour and include warm up, balance and stretching work and a cool down as well as a resistance programme to help you strengthen up. We work on all the key muscle groups with a particular focus on core strengthening.
Whilst each programme will look different, this term the course themes will include:
Week 1: Understanding (or recapping) the key elements of Pilates. The foundations of the Pilates method that will underpin your programme.
Week 2: Strength training for stability muscles, looking at the abdominal core including spine and pelvis
Week 3: Resistance training to strengthen lower limbs and gluteal muscles
Week 4: Eccentric training, these are exercises that strengthen muscles whilst elongating them
Week 5: Weight bearing strengthening exercises, these are particularly good for bone density
Week 6: Strength training for stability muscles around the neck and shoulder
Week 7: Dynamic strength training, these exercises focus on movement control
Week 8: Recapping all of the above in the context of any muscle imbalance or pain you might have
Exploring strengthening exercises more:
You can find more information on getting fitter here:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/
https://www.csp.org.uk/professional-clinical/professional-guidance/public-health-physical-activity/supporting-patients-1
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/strength-and-flexibility-exercises/strength-exercises/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/get-active/home-workout-videos/