When trying to stay fit, Pilates is often not at the top of mind for most when they think of new activities to do.

“I love the idea of Stott Pilates. I was trained in Stott which believes in working the spine out in its most natural alignment,” says Erica Strelbisky a two-year Stott Pilates instructor at Intuition Massage and Pilates. “You do a postural analysis and you can determine which muscles need to be lengthened and shortened to rebuild your posture to its most natural alignment.”

Today we take a look at Pilates as a form of a workout. As your New Year’s resolution to get in shape begins the obvious choice is the gym but for some the obvious is the not so obvious, like Pilates.

“Pilates isn’t going to add bulk it more leans and lengthens you’re muscles, it basically puts you’re muscles where they’re supposed to be,” says Strelbisky.

So is Pilates something that you use to supplement and gym membership? Well Strelbisky says, not really. Two Pilates sessions a week is a great way to get lean. “You can definitely get a full body workout out of your sessions and just add that cardio in. You can get that entire workout for sure.”

Stott Pilates is also great for rehab. “Stott is more medical. It’s really good with rebalancing and fixing your posture. We can work with chiropractors and physiotherapists and do rehabilitation too.”

Pilates is not just for those who are just trying to tone up. “All sizes and people that have injuries come in. I’ve had ladies in my class who have had both knee replacements. You definitely have to modify your workout but you’re rebuilding and re-strengthening the muscles around the joints.”

In order to have a high quality Pilates workout you need six principles which includes centering, control, flow, breathe, precision, and concentration.

Intuition Stott Pilates believes in five core principles as well including breathing. “We breathe into our rib cage instead of stomach breathing.” The other four principles include stabilization of your pelvis, rib cage, shoulder blade placement and head placement.

If you watch late night TV you may have seen some late night ads that show women doing Pilates. Rarely do you see a man. And partially because of these late night ads there is a notion out there that Pilates is for women. What you see is not exactly what reality is right? Well Strelbisky says this is just a myth.

“There are lots of men that come to Pilates. We’ve got quite a few regular guys even in my group classes there are a few men.”

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