“I was lying with my husband in bed the other day after sex, and he suggested we send you some flowers.”
A few years ago, I was working with a client who I’ll call Amanda. After a few months of working together, I noticed that Amanda was starting to have a particular look about her that had become familiar to me after years as a Pilates instructor. It was the look of a very satisfied woman. Amanda had been turned on to Pilates’ dirty little secret.
Pilates makes sex better.
By Ben Greenfield
What do Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and many seven-foot-tall professional basketball players have in common? They all do Pilates. If you have no clue what Pilates is, or need a reminder, check out my article “What Is Pilates?”
Although I’m a fan of anything that helps you live an active, healthy lifestyle, there are plenty of myths and misconceptions floating around about Pilates, kind of like with yoga. Here are the five most popular Pilates myths:
Myth 1: Pilates Is a Good Way to Lose Weight
In the article “Does Yoga Burn Calories,” you learn about several studies that have shown yoga to be relatively ineffective in directly burning calories or causing significant weight loss. While Pilates has definite benefits, its strongest suit is certainly not weight loss. A 2006 study found that body weight and body fat was not significantly affected in adult females using a regular Pilates routine, and a 2004 study found that Pilates does help improve flexibility, but does not significantly affect body composition, even after six months of training. So when it comes to pure calorie burning and fat loss, running on a treadmill, riding a bike or lifting weights will be more effective than Pilates.
But because Pilates does such a good job strengthening your core, reducing risk of injury and improving your flexibility, it will help keep you from getting sidelined with an injury — which means you can work out more consistently. You may also be more likely to exercise in other ways, since you often find yourself visiting a gym or a health club to take Pilates class.
Myth 2: Pilates Is Only for Women
Because it does a good job strengthening lower abdominal and pelvic muscles that are important for a woman’s childbearing, reproductive and urinary function, or because it doesn’t involve heavy steel, grunting or large amounts of weight, Pilates is often perceived as a “women’s only” activity.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Firstly, Pilates was invented by a man (Joseph Pilates). Secondly, plenty of male athletes (including yours truly) use Pilates moves as a perfect complement to weight training and cardio. Want more proof? How about Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Hugh Grant and many other male athletes and celebrities? They use Pilates to maintain core strength, flexibility and function.
The Pilates Place on South Beach announces new classes and other changes to its schedule that will start the week of November 7, 2011.
To view the new schedule, go to: http://thepilatesplacesobe.com/schedule
Stay tuned as the Pilates Place SOBE plans to introduce more classes soon!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Actress Sandra Bullock showed off her Pilates-toned physique in a glittery gold dress at the 2011 amfAR gala at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Oct. 27.AmFar, the Foundation for AIDs Research, is a nonprofit organization that supports AIDS research and HIV prevention.
Pilates, Kickboxing & Strength Training
The 57″ Bullock, 47, has said she maintains her svelte figure by working out regularly and watching her diet.“I do a lot of Pilates, kick-boxing and weight training in Los Angeles, and when I’m in Austin I run or ride my bike,” said Sandra, who splits her time between L.A. and her Texas ranch.
“If I can work out every day, I will.”
Bullock showed off the results of her hard work in a much talked-about nude scene in the 2009 comedy The Proposal(which co-starred with her longtime friend Ryan Reynolds).
“People ask, ‘How do actresses do it [stay so fit]?’ Um, they pay us to do this in order to look good on film,” she said.
MADONNA
When Madonna had horse accident, she was exercising Pilates to speed up recovery process, and then she said “I used to be a freak about doing yoga, but I had to do a lot of Pilates to rehabilitate my shoulder joint and get the use of my arm back”. When she was in Chicago she rented high-tech Pilates equipment from Body Endevors. Body Endevors have Pilates equipment such as Reformer and are Power Pilates affiliate, so Madonna did probably exercise Power Pilates!
KATE WINSLET
As a star at age 36 she looks gorgeous, by a little help of Pilates. According to TimesOnline in UK, she owes her beautiful figure to “daily home workout DVDs and 10-minute Pilates sessions” and good diet program. That well-formed sexy shoulders certainly are benefit of Pilates.
HUGH GRANT
When he turned 50 he started to take care about his health, and started to do Pilates. “I’ve actually started to do Pilates to try to keep me young. I go to a place where there are all these attractive young girls and just the one sad, hung-over old man, who is me.” He definitely looks younger than he actually is. Pilates actually kept him from aging. Oh, yes he also said “Now I have muscles of steel and could easily deal with giving birth.”
JENNIFER ANISTON
A star of popular “Friends” and today well known movie actor once said about pilates. “I’m a Pilates person. It’s great. I had a hip problem. I had a chronic back, a pinched nerve and a hip problem and it’s completely solved all of it. I love it. It makes me feel like I’m taller.”
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
She is known as “The Body.” Lee Curtis has every so often says that she got into great shape thankfully to Pilates, a low impact workout that shapes the body as it strengthens and tones muscles.
And there is no end to this list Mari Winsor clientele included people like: Vanessa Williams, Daisy Fuentes, Melanie Griffith, Elizabeth Berkeley, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Courtney Thorne-Smith.
Samantha Chang, Celebrity Fitness and Health Examiner
September 19, 2011
Oscar winner Kate Winslet and actress Sofia Vergara ruled the red carpet at the 2011 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles Sept. 18, sporting glamorous, skin-tight gowns that showed off their luscious curves.
Kate Once Weighed 200 Lbs. & Abused Diet Pills
The 5’6″ Winslet, who once topped the scales at 200 pounds, looked fit and shapely in a body-hugging red Elie Saab dress. Kate, who once abused laxatives and diet pills as a teen, is now more leaner and healthier than ever, thanks to portion control and regular Pilates workouts at home.
“I just do my own stuff at home with the help of DVDs. A little bit of Pilates,” Winslet, 36, has said. “And just recently I started running, but I’m not very good.
“I have cellulite, I don’t go to the gym because I don’t have time but I do Pilates work out DVDs for 20 minutes or more everyday at home.”
Sofia Overcame Thyroid Cancer
Vergara, 39, who recently overcame thyroid cancer, was stunning in a coral one-shouldered Vera Wang gown with chiffon draping and tumbled tulle.
The 5’7″ Sofia maintains her sexy 125-pound bikini body by doing a cardio toning/strength-training program and Physique 57 workouts several times a week.
“Oh, I hate [working out]!” Vergara has said. “But I also know that at my age — I’m almost 40! — I have to do it to maintain my figure.”
Team USA beat Uruguay 118-79. As a tribute, Lebron threw up the roc. Team USA went on to clinch the gold by beating Argentina 118-81 to win the FIBA Americas championship qualifying Team USA for a spot in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing China. At the awards ceremony Lebron threw up the roc again.
When asked what does it mean? James replied: “It’s a Pilates move. I can never remember the names of all the moves, so I just give them my own names, such as “Jesus H” and “no way in hell.” Anyway, there’s one exercise on thereformer — I think the original name is shaving or shave to the head or something — where you make a triangle with your hands on your forehead and then extend your arms at a 45 degree angle. When my Pilates instructor first showed me, I just called it the roc to make it easier.”
“This team for the USA is one of the best USA teams,” Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. I like this USA team.” “They play so hard.
They have great players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, but they play together so well and they play great defense. It is a pleasure to play against them.
“Bryant is in the best shape of his life. He’s dropped eighteen pounds, has totally revised his diet, and is traveling with his own personal Pilates instructor. “I wore out his ass,” Kobe bragged. Long time Pilates Buff Jason Kidd Named was just named USA Basketball’s 2007 Male Athlete of the Year.
“You don’t like to single guys out, but LeBron’s performance in the finals was one of the best ones in an international game that a U.S. player has had,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He was big-time today.”
Engage your core like never before incorporate Pilates into your workout today.
via Pilates Enhances Performance Of Olympic USA Basketball | Pilates Blog.
Come join us The Pilates Place for fun and exciting afternoon trapezing in bayfront park from 1 – 3 pm. We only have 10 spaces left so let us know at 305-316-3341 if you want to come. Impress us with your core strength and flexibility.
AS a six-day-a-week exerciser who favors high-intensity workouts, I consider the seventh day enough rest. But it turns out that moving even more might be a smarter way to let my muscles recover and help me to push myself harder in the gym.
New York City has several workout options for people like me who sometimes overdo it. These classes say they help keep regular exercisers injury free and allow them to continue their strenuous routines through use of light movement and active stretching to get rid of tightness in the body.
This year Crunch gyms introduced the hourlong BodyArt, created by a physical therapist, Robert Steinbacher, to loosen muscles through a combination of cardio, yoga and Pilates. Tensions in the thigh muscles are released, for example, by squatting rapidly and breathing deeply to the backdrop of upbeat music and then holding the squat for several seconds. Calves are worked through the classic yoga downward dog and other moves.
Hear that? Pilates just got a ringing endorsement.
The Daily Mail reports that Pippa Middleton, sister of Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, passes her free time at Parson’s Green Pilates Studio in London — in fact, she wrote the following testimonial for the exercise center:
“As someone who is always ‘on the go’, Pilates has been a wonderful escape from my busy lifestyle in London. Whether it’s 7am in the morning or 7pm at night I always leave feeling calm, refreshed and invigorated. Over the past few months I have noticed a huge difference in my core strength and posture and couldn’t recommend Margot more highly as an instructor. From breathing techniques, muscle toning to overall flexibility and relaxation, my Pilates sessions have become something of a weekly necessity that keeps me fit, happy and energized.”
Fit, happy, energized and the subject of a Facebook group with 221,714 members as of this posting. And the 27-year-old’s posterior might have sparked an increase in butt-lifting procedures in the UK, which you can read all about here.
UsMagazine.com adds that Pippa also “gets her cardio on with swimming, jogging, tennis and skiing.”
