Improve Your Health And Body Shape Through One Of The Best Pilates Exercise Programs

One of the best Pilates exercise programs that I've followed is Brooke Siler's programs in her book titled "The Pilates Body - The Ultimate At-Home Guide To Strenthening, Lengthening and Toning Your Body, Without Machines" .

I found the Pilates mat exercises featured are easy and simple to follow and they're superb if you want to start doing Pilates to improve your health and body shape, at home.

Brooke Siler is a certified Pilates instructor trained under Joseph Pilates' protégé, Romana Kryzanowska, the leading authority in Pilates exercises.

Brooke spent more than 600 hours under Romana's master tutelage and has since gained her own reputation as a highly respected Pilates instructor.

She's also the owner of re: AB, a top New York studio for Pilates exercises and Pilates training.

Brooke's Pilates exercise programs are helpful guides especially for beginners as they provide Pilates at 2 levels: the "modified beginner" level and the "beginner" level.

Brooke lays out clearly 3 levels of the workouts:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

For advanced exercisers, Brooke also throws in "very advanced" workouts to satisfy their quest for really very challenging exercises.

I'm able to relate to these 3 levels as Brooke maps out the exercises in charts to demonstrate smooth flowing, sequential movements that help me to visualize the transitions from one exercise to the next.

The relationship among these 3 levels is very much vividly potrayed and I can appreciate the smooth "flow " of the full exercises.

One very good initiative by Brooke is that she specifically prepares "modified beginner" program to help first-timer and newbie in Pilates.

I think this is a fresh and unique approach to help you who could be really uninitiated in the exercise.

I've benefited a lot from the "modified beginner" program as:

• It gently introduces my body to the movements in Pilates in a safe and effective manner with the focus hinges on finding and building the muscles of my body's core or "powerhouse"
• It allows my body to get in tune with the Pilates movements, to mold and strengthen my core or "powerhouse" muscles such as abdominals, butts, lower back and hips, to support me through the subsequent more complicated movements as I progress to each level of the Pilates exercises

  It also provides the foundation upon which my knowledge and understanding of Pilates build.

• I was at the "modified beginner" program for about 6 months

  I realised that the 6 months I spent in familiarising the exercises had done me a whole world of good as when I progressed to the next level, my muscles were already sculpted in strong, supple and lean forms.

  They cushioned good support and foundation for the increasingly more demanding exercises that were to come.

• The strengthened muscles enhance my efficiency in doing Pilates exercises

  I enjoy injury-free exercise sessions as I progress to the "intermediate" and "advanced" levels of Pilates.

Brooke describes each exercise in a numbered step-by-step clear instruction - I can follow through the sequence of an exercise movement with ease and confidence.

Each exercise is on a two-page spread, with clear photographs and helpful graphics.

You can sense that Brooke knows the importance of giving clear, concise instruction with no room spared for ambiguity as it's a crucial tool in helping her audience of exercisers to do the exercises correctly.

The clear step-by-step instruction enables me to glean inklings such as:

• The flow of each exercise movement
• What muscles to concentrate and work on
• What muscles I should use to initiate exercise movement
• What're the feel and sensation in the muscles when doing the exercises correctly
• Transitioning from one exercise to the next to create the sequential flow to achieve fluidity and rhythmic movement

Each instruction goes with a creative visual description to illustrate the key focal points of each exercise and a graphic representation of the exercise movement.

For example, you'll find descriptions like these to help you imagine and visualize the exercise movement:

The Hundred

• Begin pumping your arms straight up and down as if you were slapping water

The Roll-Up

• Imagine that your lower body is strapped down to the mat, stabilizing you just below the hip bones

Rolling Like A Ball

• Imagine you're in a rocking chair that's about to tip over, and quickly bring yourself back to a balanced position

Descriptions like these helped tremendously in your imagination and visualization of the exercise movement.

The result? You got better understanding and grasp of the movements of the exercises and you could master them with more ease.

The descriptions became more vivid and alive when you referred to the photos illustrating the exercises.

The levels of the Pilates exercise programs (i.e. beginner, intermediate and advanced) are clearly indicated, both in the text and in the use of different models illustrating the exercises.

Another helpful tool Brooke provides is her unique offer of the "inside scoop".

It's mainly a list of tips that she has derived from training hundreds of her clients.

These tips help me to better understand the exercise movement plus they're also checkpoints to help avoid common bad forms and habits.

I found the inside scoop a good way to explore the how, what, where and why of Pilates exercise movements.

It also gives ideas and suggestions to do an exercise in the most efficient way to maximize control and flow in the muscles.

Brooke postulates that the inside scoop "is the next best thing to having a trainer at hand" .

I agree because I personally feel that it's like Brooke telling me:

• What to do
• What to look out for
• What to avoid
• What muscle to emphasize
• From what muscle to initiate exercise
• The "dos" and "don'ts"
• What movement to adopt to ease the hurt/pain if hurt or pain feeling surface in a muscle

Brooke also offers a section on doing arm exercises standing up. These are aimed at creating a balanced addition to the Pilates mat exercises she teaches.

The arm exercises are laid out in 3 levels:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

I see that the arm exercises are pertinent additions to balance up my Pilates workouts, besides giving me these benefits:

• I get additional exercises for the biceps, triceps and chest
• The choice of using dumbbells to carve more defined muscle tone and strength in my arms and chest

Brooke rounds up her workouts with relaxing cool down exercises.

The exercises, especially the one on "Rolling Down The Wall" - I can do it throughout the day to stretch and relax the muscles in my back, neck and shoulders.

Brooke does not provide a session on warm-up as she believes that as you stretch your muscles and strengthen them throughout the sequence of Pilates exercises, there is no fear of being improperly warmed up.

After following Brooke's exercises for just a short while, I increased strength in my muscles and my movements became more agile and efficient.

I stood straighter as the exercises worked to realign and improve my posture.

I was more energised than before.

3 to 4 months into the exercise, I could feel my muscles "lengthening" out and my flexibility increased tremendously.

The lower back pain I got from injuries doing toning exercise was gone!

I didn't have muscle soreness and tightness anymore.

And I thoroughly enjoyed my exercises!

After following Brooke's Pilates exercise programs, you could also train with a certified Pilates instructor near your area, to improve your exercises and to correct your bad forms and habits, if there're any.

In her book, Brooke provides a list of certified Pilates instructors and Pilates studios in the US and in other parts of the world for this purpose.

Brooke has yet another unique approach in her Pilates workouts vide "The Pilates Body Kit" .

The kit comprises:

• Workbook which explains the principles and guidelines of Pilates and a journal to record progress of Pilates exercise programs
• Flash cards which provide the visual components of the exercises (beginner to intermediate Pilates exercise programs)
• Two CDs (audio) - CD1 features Pilates exercise programs for beginner exercisers, CD2 features Pilates exercise programs for intermediate exercisers

I love the CDs! I can hear soothing voice guiding me through each exercise as if I were in an actual Pilates class.

The instructions are clear, telling me of proper hand, leg, torso and body placement, as well as when to breath.

If you've followed Brooke's Pilates workouts based on her book, then the kit is a great follow-up or add-on to the book.

I get better understanding of each of the exercise movement through the flash cards and the audio CDs which help me to improve the way I do Pilates.

If you're a beginner, the kit teaches you to do Pilates in much easier way, as the audio CDs provides better guide in teaching you the exercise movements as you listen and do the exercises.

I find the book and kit a superb combination that guides me along excellently.

Hey, try them!

Bookmark this page? Click one of the little buttons below and you're done.

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb

Back to top

Pilates Exercise Programs - back to Pilates exercises
Pilates Exercise Programs - back to home page