Services
Pilates
Our Pilates Studio
You'll step into our studio and you will be welcomed with a smile and greeted by your name. You will feel very comfortable with all of our staff and instructors.
Our classes are small with a lot of individualized attention. You will not be just a face in the crowd. Your exercise goal is our goal. Your success is our satisfaction.
Our studio is friendly and elegant and very private.
What is Pilates
Joseph Pilates called his work Contrology, a method of body conditioning "designed to give you suppleness, natural grace and skill that will be unmistakably reflected in the way you walk play and work. You will develop muscular power with corresponding endurance, ability to perform arduous duties, to play strenuous games, to walk, run or travel for long distances without undue body fatigue or mental strain." It is the most efficient movement possible, simultaneously strengthening and stretching to prepare the body for the rigors of daily life.
The primary focus is on the core muscles, comprised of the abdominals, buttocks, low back. As these muscles are strengthened, they stabilize the spine, facilitating ease of movement and improving posture. Intense concentration, as well as recruitment of many muscle groups, is required to execute over 500 exercises on 11 different pieces of equipment.
Pilates works for people of all fitness levels, from elite athlete to beginner. The system ranges from beginner to super advanced workouts, adding elements as the student progresses. Sessions are individualized to suit the needs of the participants, achieving maximum results.
Pilates Terminology
During a Pilates class the instructors will refer to many body parts and specific Pilates terms that might be unknown to the novice. This list explains some of those terms. Should there be anything mentioned in a class that you do not understand please let us know and we will add it to this list.
- Biceps: muscles located on your forearms, see illustration
- Deltoids: muscles located in your arms , see illustration
- Hamstrings: muscles located on the backside of your legs, see illustration
- Midline: Pilates term, to describe the body's verticle centerline from head to toes. As you draw into the midline your body becomes centered and stable.
- Obliques: muscles on the side of your body, see illustration
- Pelvis: bones at the end of the spine, see illustration
- Pilates box: a Pilates term describing the part of your body from shoulders to hips. Keep all four points stable for aligment and core stability
- Pilates stance: a Pilates term also called military stance with heels together and toes a fist width apart
- Powerhouse, we distinguish between Primary and Secondary Powerhouse. The primary powerhouse encompasses your abdominal muscles, buttock and leg muscles, whereas the secondary powerhouse refers to your shoulder muscles in the front and back of your body.
- Pubis: bone at the front of the pelvis, see illustration
- Sacrum: bone of the pelvis, the base of the spine, see illustration
- Scapula: bone of the shoulder, see illustration
- Sternum: bone that connects the ribs in the front of your chest, see illustration
- Serratus: muscles on the side of your back, see illustration
- Triceps: muscles on the underside of your upper arms, see illustration
History of Pilates
Joseph Hubertus Pilates’ inspiration for his revolutionary method of body conditioning was his own frail constitution. As a teenager around 1900, Joe began studying gymnastics and body building to strengthen his physique. By the age of fourteen, he was modeling for anatomical charts.
His foray into fitness continued, as Pilates emigrated to England in 1912. At the start of World War I, he was interned in an enemy alien camp with thousands of other German men, where he introduced his fitness regime to the other prisoners using spring resistance to assist movement.
When the war ended, he returned to Germany to train the Hamburg police in his method of body conditioning. Disillusioned by the changing political atmosphere, he soon took leave of his homeland once again, heading for America. On the long voyage, he met Clara Zeuner, who eventually became his third wife. Zeuner, a nanny, settled in New York with Pilates, where they opened a studio in the early 1920’s near Madison Square Garden. The nearby boxers quickly took to Contrology. By the 1940’s George Ballanchine and Martha Graham had discovered the remarkable results Joe’s system had on dancers’ flexibility, strength, and rehabilitation from injuries. It wasn’t long before actors, businessmen, and socialites followed suit.
Pilates operated his studio at 939 8th Avenue for nearly three decades, until his untimely death in 1967. At the age of 84, he suffered a blood clot after slipping on the ice and puncturing his lung. However, the studio continued to operate under Clara’s direction for the next ten years, until she retired at the age of 90.
Over the years, Pilates work continued to evolve as he developed equipment designed to address specific physical issues and conditions. His first patent, filed in July 1926, was for the reformer, a gymnastic apparatus facilitating exercise without strain on the back or internal organs. This was the first of many patents, including the catapult, the arm chair, and the bednasium for sleeping.
Pilates’ philosophy, theories, and basic principles of body conditioning and wellness are articulated in the 1934 publications, "Return to Life Through Contrology" and "Your Health". They are the written legacy left by a remarkable man who has had a lasting and profound effect on the world of fitness.