The take-off in surfing suddenly worked much better and snowboarding too gave me far more stability and strength in deep snow

- Pia Schröter -

Pilates - not only makes you strong, flexible and happy, but sometimes also addicted 

It's odd that Pilates sometimes has such a dusty reputation and that so many people have prejudices. I have to admit myself that until two years ago I didn't really know what Pilates actually is. As part of my fitness trainer training I had attended a workshop on it and ok – it didn't really impress me much back then either. Until my friend Denize dragged me along the summer before last in Portugal to PILATES with Coach Henry from Argentina. That was a workout! Even though, as a surf instructor, active surfer and fitness trainer, I thought I was in good shape, after the first session with Henry I had surely sweated out two litres of water and was left with seven days of aching muscles in places on my body I hadn't yet known existed at my 43 years of age. Those were different muscles than in surfing or snowboarding, because Pilates hits like a bomb, right into the deep musculature. It's about the small muscles. 

„After 10 sessions you feel the difference. After 20 sessions you see the difference. And after 30 sessions you have a new body,“ so said Joseph Hubertus Pilates, the inventor of the Pilates method. „The greatest effect shows itself in a slimmer waist, in a flatter, more toned stomach and strong gluteal muscles. The muscles of the body become long and lean.“ Through the strengthening of the entire abdominal musculature, the spine is protected from the front. Through the strengthening of the deep and superficial musculature of the back, the spine is better supported and back problems reduced. Strengthening the shoulder girdle helps to reduce complaints in the cervical spine and neck. In addition to improving posture, coordination and dexterity are trained, which provides the perfect foundation for other sports such as snowboarding, surfing, climbing, etc. Through conscious Pilates breathing, attention is directed to the here and now, and thus the best conditions for effective stress reduction can be created. I was thrilled – had I now found the perfect, deep-reaching full-body training as a basis for all my sports. The take-off in surfing suddenly worked much better, and snowboarding too gave me far more stability and strength, especially in deep snow, allowing me to make faster and more athletic progress even on icy surfaces. The pain as a late consequence of a slipped disc in the lumbar region vanishes into thin air with regular training, and by now I can say that I'm addicted – to the sport, to the movements and to the feeling afterwards. 

That's why last summer I decided on a placement at the Balance Pilates Raum in the Zillertal and completed the comprehensive training to become a Pilates Matwork Instructor at the Pilates Academy in Munich. With the lockdown I started offering online Pilates sessions via Zoom and am delighted at more and more active participants. Curious? Then simply give it a try; my sessions are designed for all skill levels and training levels and are free for now, or on a voluntary donation basis. Just send me an email at pia@choice-company.com. Then I'll send you the Zoom access and my current timetable. Your PIAlates looks forward to seeing you! 

The history of Pilates 

Pilates was named after its inventor: Joseph Hubert Pilates, who was born in 1883 in Mönchengladbach. The story goes that as a child he suffered from asthma and breathing difficulties. Thanks to his parents, he had access to healing methods from naturopathy and sports medicine. With this knowledge, he developed his own training method, which he called Contrology, because it was about controlling the muscles with the help of the mind. With it he strengthened his breathing, his mobility and his performance. The results? Even as a teenager the formerly sickly Pilates earned money as a model athlete and sportsman. In 1926 Pilates emigrated to America. On the crossing he met his life partner Clara. There's a story according to which Pilates helped Clara get the consequences of her arthritis under control. In New York the two opened a training studio. Pilates trained dancers, artists and businesspeople. Soon these showed astonishing improvements in posture, mobility and wellbeing. Because of the extraordinary efficiency of his method, the studio soon enjoyed great popularity. Famous artists such as Martha Graham, Hanya Holm and George Balanchine also trained with Joseph Pilates. 

In the early 1930s Pilates finally began to systematically document the successes of his method by photographing his clients before their first and after their thirtieth training session. These old photos still circulate on the internet today, which is why the method still has a slightly dusty image. At the age of 51, Pilates began to set down his findings in writing too. In his book „Your Health“ he formulated the cornerstones of his training method. He defined „natural health“ as the balance of mental and physical health. He demanded that this balance must be pursued with the same intensity as material goals. Being a trainer and a role model was Pilates' life. He died in 1967 at the age of 84. His training method almost fell into oblivion before it celebrated its triumphant rise at the end of the 1990s and was rediscovered by a broad public, when Madonna and other stars revealed the secret of their forever young, toned bodies. New exercises and further developments made the method attractive for every body. Today Pilates is a perfect training method as a foundation for all kinds of sports and general physical wellbeing. 

Pilates is a full-body training that focuses above all on the abdominal and back muscles, but also on strengthening the muscles around the pelvis and the neck. With Pilates you can achieve a long-term improvement in posture and a correction of muscular imbalances, which I obviously had from surfing – a strong back, a not-so-strong front. There are over 500 exercises, on the mat or on dedicated apparatus, and what I find so great are the exercise variations. In one training session, people of differing physical fitness can train together. For each exercise everyone chooses the variation that suits them, determines for themselves the level of difficulty and their own performance limit, which he or she can then increase at their own discretion as training progresses. The exercises are performed in gentle and flowing movements and with the utmost concentration, always coordinated with the breathing. The exercises combine strengthening and stretching and aim to stabilise perfect posture. And posture visibly improves, muscles become firmer and leaner, back complaints and tension disappear, the entire body awareness is trained and the mind has time to relax in the process.