In his system, Pilates stressed the importance of using fewer sets of few repetitions of compound movements that require significant motor skill and coordination (like well-organised strength training!), as opposed to the prolonged repetition of fairly automatic movements (like modern aerobics and jogging!). His reason for this was that endless repetition of unchallenging reflexive routines tends to decrease the degree of mental involvement, whereas carefully executed sets of very few repetitions of skilled movements tend to offer a better balance of mind and body training.
As we have noted above, all of these principles were abundantly evident in the work of Sandow, Krayevsky and other early masters. The major difference is that Pilates entered the world of dance to astutely promote his commercial career there and stressed the sale of his gymnastics-derived devices, while the other fitness leaders of that era allowed clients to use anything and everything that might be appropriate for any given individual, thereby laying the foundations for all modern fitness centres anf gyms.
In one respect, we should be grateful that the Pilates adaptations of the conditioning methods of his time has now offered a way out of the frequently repetitive and mindless militaristic group fitness classes. Not that the latter cannot play a valid role in the attainment of some aspects of general fitness, but they generally tend to be rather impoverished in terms of broader mind-body enhancement of strength, power, flexibility and motor control (unless the instructor happens to be far more creative and unconventional than the average).
Moreover, the likelihood of injury in Pilates type exercises tends to be far less than in most forms of aerobics class. However, the Pilates neglect of strong ballistic movement, high impact, heavier loading and high power output movements with loaded implements in free space also create deficits in all-round human development.
Even if Pilates does not actively add weight training methods to its repertoire of activities, it would go part of the way towards reducing these deficiencies by involving some of the Specific Activation and Specific Relaxation methods from PNF, as well as some of the pattern variations from that discipline.
In fact, if you are fairly well versed in the principles and procedures of PNF, and you are able to modify the traditional Knott-Voss activities to include pulley machines, some gymnastics apparatus, dumbbells, elastic bands, physio balls and a variable bench, you will be able to offer a very extensive form of challenging and productive training that Pilates will struggle to rival. If you are willing to include a few methods from the world of resistance training (Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding) and martial arts, then your system will go far beyond what Pilates can ever offer.
Before anyone extolls the originality and uniqueness of all that Pilates used in his training system, we have to recall that a very sincere Pilates inadvertently came upon or adapted patterns and procedures that mirror some of the methods used in PNF and weight training, as pioneered by other hugely influential fitness gurus who grew up in the European arena of late 19th and early 20th century training. This does not diminish its value, but it simply serves to place his training methods in a far more balanced light.
After all, there are still those who state categorically that
(http://bodymind.net/q&a.htm):
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This could not be further from the truth, as we have noticed in examining the fitness world into which Pilates was born. If anything, the fitness leaders of that time were more holistically inclined than the average fitness instructor of today (e.g., see Webster “The Iron Game”, 1976).
In his 1945 book of exercises, entitled “Return to Life Through Contrology”, Pilates wrote that “Contrology is complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. Through Contrology you first purposefully acquire complete control of your own body and then through proper repetition of its exercises you gradually and progressively acquire that natural rhythm and coordination associated with all your subconscious activities.” Again, absolutely nothing new at the time. These words simply repeat what Sandow and several of his colleagues had said way before Pilates methods were being taught.
An oft-repeated claim is this: “You will feel better in 10 sessions, look better in 20 sessions, and have a completely new body in 30 sessions.” ( Joseph H. Pilates). If we examine this, it is equivalent to 10 weeks of three times a week of periodised modern strength training, which, in the same space of time easily can produce the same results as Pilates. If it doesn’t, then there is something seriously wrong with your training!
SOME PILATES RESEARCH
While searching for some published research on Pilates methods, I found this website and thought “at last, something!”, but my initial hopes waned the moment that I read these articles.
http://www.pilates.uk.com/research/
These articles are fixated on comparing ‘normal springs’ with the ’special’ Pilates springs used on his ‘Reformer’ machine and offer no information whatsoever on the allegedly special physiology behind Pilates. In addition, here some extracts that reveal significant defects in the calibre of the research:
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***While the acceleration due to gravity is fairly constant over the surface of the earth, any movement against gravity involves acceleration, which means that resistance changes throughout the range of motion. Although springs offer resistance which increases directly with extension, training against gravity with or without weights can also increase resistance anywhere in the range of movement where you try to accelerate the limb or load. Movement at every stage of joint motion involves muscle shortening, so what this remark has to do with “coinciding with shortening of the muscle” is anyone’s guess.
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***This last sentence reveals that the author has never undertaken any biomechanical research, nor does he appear to know that, if the Force-Time curve is a complete rectangle, the acceleration and deceleration phases to and from some apparently constant peak force are vertical lines and the acceleration in each case must be infinitely large. Even if the curve is obtained on an isokinetic dynamometer, the acceleration and deceleration phases cannot be vertical lines.
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***How does work become “lost” in the elastic resistance case? If we wish to be pedantic, and the movement starts and ends in the same place, then no external work is done, be it against gravity or springs. If we wish to consider internal metabolic work, then his analysis is inappropriate and incorrect. Even if we can calculate it accurately in both cases, the work done depends on the magnitude of the external resistance, not simply on what arrangement is used to produce the resistance. More significant is the fact that there are action-specific neuromuscular programmes that will distinguish between the training effects of springs and inertial resistance.
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***Without indulging in another scientific analysis of further inaccuracies in this extract, it is interesting that training on most Pilates machines, especially the gliding seat, spring-resisting ‘Reformer’, ironically also fail to reflect what happens in ‘real life’! The author continues to proliferate the misbelief that the only necessary and sufficient condition for general and rehabilitative conditioning is sport specific movement. Were this to be true, the use of all forms of resistance and supplementary training would be entirely redundant.
SOME PILATES WEBSITES
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_04.17.97/fitness/macri.html
The following site proliferates the myth that Pilates training somehow produces a Pilates-specific type of longer, leaner muscle and that all strength training aims at increasing hypertrophy:
http://www.fitnesslink.com/mind/pilates.shtml
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The idea of stretching and lengthening runs contrary to the methods used by most of today’s fitness professionals who believe that the only way to “tone” muscle is to increase the muscle diameter. But students of Pilates swear by his method and have even admitted to feeling taller, leaner and “better” after only a few sessions.>>
The proof in the above article? - Anecdote, hearsay and belief, relying on the very misleading idea that all strength training must involve bodybuilding bulking methods.
“Pilates based” training at home:
http://www.gocarolinas.com/living/health/fitness/1999/06/0628_pilates.html
This site includes an old ‘ab exercise’, the supine leg flutter, at which Pilates himself would cringe. At least the author states that “This really isn’t a Pilates exercise — it’s borrowed from the military — but it’s a fabulous ab-shaper.” Actually, the abs are contracted isometrically in this exercise and serve to stabilise the pelvis, rather than to exercise the abdominal musculature in the full range and manner that Pilates would have recommended. This is but one example of many Pilates teachers simply bastardising what Pilates originally taught and sometimes misrepresenting what the grand old man preached, so don’t think that if you attend a so-called Pilates class or “Pilates based” class that you are receiving the kosher article!
http://www.shapeshift.com/Articles/time.htm (Some Time Magazine rave trivia on Pilates)
Some final Pilates sites:
http://www.the-method.com/
http://www.pilates.uk.com/
http://www.shapeshift.com/articles.htm (Popular Glossy Magzine articles on Pilates)
http://www.shapeshift.com/Articles/mnf.htm (Pilates for Weightlifters and Athletes - filled with many errors about pelvic stabilisation and use during heavy lifting
In every single case where Pilates is compared with other forms of conditioning, it is measured against typical bodybuilding training and never against scientific strength training that has been used for many years in Russia and Europe to produce the world’s greatest athletes in many shapes and sizes, all depending on the specific needs of their sports.
Thus, there are some athletes who make Pilates adherents look thoroughly out of shape, just as there are others who make Pilates folk look like pictures of perfection. There are many slender, aesthetically built athletes who are considerably stronger, faster, more coordinated and more flexible that even the most seasoned Pilates practitioners, while there are bulky bionic-looking athletes whose all-round shape and performance is easily overshadowed by some Pilates fans.
It is apparent that far too many Pilates disciples seem to think that all resistance training is some narrow type of bodybuilding training which many years ago gave birth to that myth that all weight trained athletes are bulky, slow, inflexible and prone to injury. This sort of extrapolation from one small aspect of strength training to prove the merits of Pilates work betrays a serious lack of understanding and a very biased view of modern strength training.
In fact, if Pilates teachers were to learn more about what advanced strength training is about, they could raise Pilates methods to far greater heights. If any of them are genuinely curious to learn some of the methods of integrated West-East strength science, then let them examine references such as the following:
Zatsiorsky V “Science and Practice of Strength Training” 1995
Siff MC & Verkhoshansky YV “Supertraining” 1999
Bompa T “Theory and Methodology of Training” 1983
Yessis M “Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness & Training” 1987
Dr Mel Siff
Dr Mel Siff
Author of Supertraining
Author of Facts and Fallacies of Fitness
www.drmelsiff.com
