Pilates was designed as a holistic exercise system designed to elongate, strengthen and restore the body to balance. Exercises involve the whole body and are performed either on special spring assisted apparatus or on mats.

As someone who has practised Pilates for 30 years and taught for the last 5 of them, Kerstin spoke about the contribution of Pilates to general health and to specific conditions. She focused on the following issues:

•      History and principles of the technique
•      Understanding muscles and myofascial tissue
•      The ageing process and helping our bodies to stay functional.
•      Why Pilates has been widely embraced by the Health and Fitness industry.

Kerstin began by noting the technique was developed by a German called Joseph Pilates, who was interned in the Isle of Man during the WW2. He is said to have used his fitness techniques drawn from various disciplines to help fellow internernees. He developed these techniques along with his resistance apparatus when he settled in New York and opened a studio. It was embraced by the modern dance community as a rehabilitative and complimentary training centre. After his death his in 1967 his exercise philosophy became known as The Pilates Method.

Understanding muscles and how they can be strengthened is fundamental to Pilates exercises. With the aid of diagrams of the human body Kerstin explained that muscles work in pairs: the agonist muscle contracts whilst the antagonist relaxes. She explained that Pilates mainly works with isotonic movement within the muscle groups to increase muscle strength, length and endurance. The aim is to create symmetry and balance within the body’s muscle and skeletal structure to enable good functional movement. Kerstin also discussed the importance of myofascial tissue – a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles. It needs to retain its suppleness and flexibility to allow muscles to move optimally.

Kerstin then talked about Pilates in relation to ageing. She noted that we lose muscle mass naturally from our 30s onwards. This results from a reduction of nerve cells in the brain sending messages to begin movement, muscle fibres reducing in number and size, and a slower replacement of tissue. Changes in the nervous system cause muscle to lose tone as well as the ability to contract.  As we age, joints become less flexible and stiff due to thinning or damaged cartilage and an increase in the viscosity of synovial lubricating fluid within the joints. For post–menopausal women there are additional problems: hormone reduction leads to a decrease in the ability of the body to turn protein into energy so that less protein (collagen) is made. Kerstin noted how Pilates exercises can help with many the changes brought about by ageing, including balance.

Kerstin concluded her talk with a discussion about the spread of the Pilates method through the dance community and now its popularity with the UK health and fitness industry. The first studio was opened in London in 1970 at the London Contemporary Dance Company HQ.

Today there are mat classes all over the country, although apparatus studios with the resistance based equipment are scarce outside London. The Pilates method is now used widely by sportspeople and dancers and has been found particularly beneficial to people with joint and muscle injury as well as those in post-operative rehabilitation.

We all had a mass of questions for Kerstin but sadly time ran out. We thanked her for a most stimulating and informative talk.  (Summary: Dawn Holder)