Everything you weren’t afraid to ask about Clinical Pilates – answered by our Clinical Pilates instructor, Courtney Holm
What are the benefits of doing Clinical Pilates?
Clinical Pilates is beneficial for people looking to address pain and strengthen the right muscles to help prevent future injury. However, Pilates is not just for rehabilitation, nor is it another form of yoga or just “stretching”. In fact, Pilates is an extremely effective movement training system for fitness and resistance workouts with the adaptability to allow movement regression for rehabilitation.
Many people find going to a gym tedious, intimidating or just plain uninspiring. Working out on the reformer will give you an opportunity to perform eccentric resistance training, which is vital for bone and muscle health as well as optimising your fitness levels.
Pilates provides means for toning and sculpting muscles as opposed to “bulking up”. It also provides great variety from traditional weight lifting, and when done under the instruction of a Clinical Pilates instructor will allow for the safest possible workout.
Should you do Clinical Pilates on a mat or reformer?
Mat Pilates is typically done on a mat with light props and various exercises to work the whole body or a particular muscle or muscle group.
Reformer Pilates combines similar movement patterns with the use of a machine to achieve extra load and help set the body up into good form. Clinical Pilates sessions at Brunswick Health will combine elements of both mat and reformer to help clients achieve their individual goals.
Can I get the same benefits as Clinical Pilates by doing Yoga?
Pilates and Yoga can compliment each other well yet they are not the same thing nor do they yield the same results. One of the main differences is that clinical pilates and yoga practice have very different aims. Clinical Pilates is more specifically targeted at rehabilitation from injury, reducing pain and preventing future injury.
Pilates originated as a series of exercises developed to improve muscle strength and core stability. Today it is used as a way of rehabilitating an injury, movement re-training and a fitness tool. Pilates can help with all aspects of movement in any given person’s life, as its purpose is to balance muscle imbalance and increase strength and muscle tone.
Clinical Pilates is dynamic in movement and is highly adaptable and customizable to an individual. Our Clinical Pilates programs are individually tailored and are backed by a physiotherapist with over 20 years of experience.
In Yoga, there is no explicit focus on rehabilitation from injury and Yoga instructors do not receive any specific training for therapeutic work. Yoga is more about the greater connection with the body, holding poses, stretching and concentrating on perfecting similar or repeated movements through mind-body awareness.
Book a Clinical Pilates session with our instructor or find out more about our Clinical Pilates programs and state of the art facilities.
