Functional Fitness: Functional vs. Dysfunction Exercise
[Exploring Life] One of the most important principles in a functional fitness program is the even, coordinated development of the muscles. Unfortunately, many exercise programs tend to treat muscles as if they exist in isolation. Strength exercises that isolate muscles can be dysfunctional with respect to the proper functioning of the body. Balanced muscle development [...]
Optimal Breathing: Stress
[Exploring Life] What makes you hold your breath? describes the importance of optimizing our breathing pattern in order to promote healthy digestion as well as calming the nervous system. The authors recommend that the stressors that are the root cause of holding the breath be identified as they happen. This brings us to the threshold [...]
Functional Fitness: Designing a Functional Fitness Program
[Exploring Life]The world of fitness and exercise is becoming increasingly complicated and often times confusing. Various styles and methods of exercise constantly compete for our attention. My own experience in fitness and exercise include Yoga, Pilates, weight training, cardio routines and stretching. While each method has benefits when practiced correctly, I have yet to discover [...]
Functional Fitness: The Essence of the Pilates Method
[Exploring Life] Contrology is the term coined by Joseph Pilates to describe his method of integrated mind-body fitness. Today it is commonly referred to as the Pilates method. Joseph Pilates wrote two books: a) Your Health-1934; and Contrology-1945 [1]. These are the main primary sources materials and should be required reading for any teacher and [...]
Functional Fitness: Posture and the Core Area
[Exploring Life] The word core means the center of an object. The Earth’s core, for example, is also referred to as the center of the Earth. The core area, or centre, of the body is the site of the internal organs. The core area includes the entire area from the diaphragm down to the base [...]
Functional Fitness: Posture – An Integrated View
[Exploring Life] A common understanding of posture is the body’s alignment when it standing still. The word posture originates in the Latin positura meaning position. If posture is good, then often a reference is being made to a preferred shape of the spine when it is at rest. This perspective on posture is, however, quite [...]
Optimal Breathing: Pilates Breathwork
[Exploring Life] Correct breathing is a primary goal and basic fundamental in the Pilates method. Practicing Pilates exercises while using abnormal breathing patterns can be very detrimental to both the body and mind. Unless a student is capable of breathing correctly under normal conditions, the probability of breathing correctly during exercises is poor. Breathwork is [...]