How Does Pilates Help You Lose Weight?
There are innumerable ways to lose weight, and the matter of concern is which is the easiest and safest way to reduce weight. You can shed some extra weight by consuming supplements that burn calories, adopting a low-carb diet, or introducing exercise into your lifestyle.
Each method has its pros and cons. If you want to go on a low-carb diet, you may be deficient in some nutrients. If you wish to begin a morning jog routine, you may overrun your strength, tiring yourself with excess fatigue.
Yoga, too, to some extent, has its side effects, so what could be the safest choice to lose weight?
Lose weight conveniently without worrying about injury or side effects by performing pilates. Most of us may have heard about pilates, while some are still not aware of what pilates is. Nonetheless, this post will help you discover all about pilates and how pilates aids in weight loss.
What Do You Need to Know About Pilates?
Pilates is a low-impact full-body exercise that focuses mainly on the core, and it helps strengthen the muscle and helps improve the postural alignment.
Although some people might believe that pilates contributes to weight reduction at a slower pace, regularly practicing pilates helps maintain a healthy weight and well-maintained body shape.
Pilates is similar to yoga, but it hits your core. Understand that the core does not comprise the abdomen only. Your core involves your upper and lower abdomen, inner and outer thighs, and back.
8 Things You Should Know About Pilates Before You Begin
Pilates is an excellent exercise that, just like yoga, helps boost flexibility while enabling you to have a well-balanced body. Understand more about pilates before you begin practicing it.
Here is a list of things that may come in handy for beginners when opting to introduce pilates in your daily exercise routine to lose weight.
#1 You May Use An Equipment, But Pilates Does Not Necessarily Need One
Pilates are of two types, one involving a mat and the other consisting of machinery called a reformer. The main focus of pilates is to develop a connection between your mind and body by helping you maintain control. Thus, you may or may not use the equipment for pilates.
The reformer is not a piece of complex machinery, and it involves a spring and pulley attached to it to help you tense up your core muscle. The goal is to create tension in the muscles, exercising muscles against the force of gravity.
Do not overtire your muscles since that is not the objective of pilates. Pilates aims to help you maintain a time balance while performing the exercise and focusing on your breath.
The other type of pilates involves a thick mat, and you may want to use it to keep yourself from slipping when performing pilates.
This mat is similar to the mat you use in yoga, but if you can manage without a rug, you are free from the need to use the equipment during your workout.
#2 You May Come Across the Same Group Of Exercises As A Beginner In The First Few Weeks
Pilates is a well-developed set of moves that may need to be repeated in the first few weeks of the exercise. The set includes:
● A breathing exercise is The Hundred, which aims to target the core muscles to strengthen them and create stability.
● A spinal exercise involves a slow, exact move of stretching the spine and the back. The goal is to strengthen the abdominal muscles, and the step is called The Roll-Up.
● The third movement aims to stabilize core muscles and strengthen hips, called The Leg Circles.
● 4th move involves massaging the spine to open the back by rolling like a ball.
● The last action consists of a series of 5 that strengthen the abdominal and back muscles.
During the first few weeks of pilates, you must repeat this set of moves to attain familiarity with pilates. Once you familiarise yourself with these moves, you can progress further.
#3 Pilates Can Be Performed Both At Home And At Practice Schools
If you think you may have to go the extra mile to practice pilates, you are probably mistaken. You do not have to go elsewhere to shed some excess weight and strengthen your core with the help of pilates.
Pilates is a form of workout which you can conveniently find on the Internet, and in case you do not want to go to a pilates class, you can perform pilates at home with the help of videos available on the Internet.
If you want to put in some extra effort and perform pilates in a more profound environment, joining pilates classes is the best option.
#4 Pilates Is Not Yoga
Many of us mistakenly think of pilates as a yoga move. This is where we misunderstand the concept of pilates. Pilates and yoga may be similar in so many ways, and however they both have some lines of difference.
Yoga and pilates are alike when it comes to focusing and stabilizing your breath while harmonizing it with the movement of your body. Both yoga and pilates help establish a connection between the body and mind. Nonetheless, pilates is not yoga.
Yoga is an overall body workout that helps you lose weight and enhances your body posture. Moreover, yoga tightens up muscles in the entire body, and however, pilates focuses primarily on your core and back.
#5 You May Feel Sore The Next Day Of Performing Pilates
Have you felt sore after a workout? If so, then understand that you are likely to face the same in your initial attempts of performing pilates.
As you progress, the soreness tends to subside, but you may feel sore for a specific time before that.
Do not worry, as the soreness only lasts for a day or two, till you get used to the exercise. Once you develop consistency in your regular performance, the soreness will disappear before noticing it.
#6 Your Muscles Burn During Pilates
If you believe pilates does not help in weight reduction, then here is what will help you change your mind. Pilates does not only help you shed some extra fat and helps you get your desired body shape as pilates helps burn core muscles.
Pilates may be slower than most weight reduction methods, but it is no less effective than any other.
It cuts the extra mass by burning muscles and fat that presides over your muscles. Pilates burns muscles, which is also why you feel sore before you get used to the exercise.
Does Pilates Help You Reduce Weight? How?
Many people believe that pilates may not help them in weight reduction. On the contrary, pilates is remarkably one of the best ways to reduce weight, improve posture, and impact the body positively.
Pilates may be a slow procedure that aids in weight loss, but you can achieve more than you expect from any weight loss exercise with some consistency. It helps you reduce fat around the most challenging part of the body — your core.
It is proven that pilates has helped and does help in weight reduction. But how? pilates focuses mainly on the core muscles. When you begin working out, the exercise enables you to shed some fat around your core, and once that fat melts, pilates helps burn muscles to help you attain your desired weight.
If you want to lose weight and it has become nearly impossible for you to shed the most challenging fat around the core, pilates is the best option. It helps you tone your core and attain a lean body.
Some Benefits of Pilates
Who said pilates is good and only good for your core? Did you know pilates does more good to you than just toning your body?
If you never knew what secret marvels pilates beholds, then the following points will highlight the same advantages of this incredibly fantastic exercise.
#1 It Helps Reduce Weight Effectively
Pilates is thought to be a slower means of weight reduction. Nonetheless, the facts are quite contrary, and pilates is one of the best ways to reduce weight effectively.
It helps reduce weight by helping you shed extra mass from the part of the body from where it is most difficult to cut the mass.
#2 Pilates Enhances Your Posture
There is more to just weight loss when you adopt a routine to perform pilates. Reducing weight should not be your sole target; instead, you should aim and expect more from pilates.
Pilates shares similarities with yoga when it comes to maintaining a well-balanced posture. Pilates helps open up your back muscles and massage the spine to strengthen your back.
Expect more from pilates than just weight loss. Enjoy a healthy, sleek, and well-maintained posture with the help of pilates.
#3 It Gives You a Boost Of Energy
When you are overweight, you tend to feel low on energy, which is one of the disadvantages of gaining weight. If you start performing pilates, you will shed some extra fat and get your muscles toned, but it will also give you a boost of energy.
Adopt a morning routine for pilates and stay energetic the entire day. Win your day with a boost of energy with the help of this incredibly fantastic exercise.
#4 It Develops A Connection Between Mind And Body
Another similarity between yoga and pilates is that pilates establishes a connection between your body and mind. You learn to perform better at physical exercise and develop a well-balanced connection between your mind and body.
When this connection is established, you eventually become more focused and energized. This is another reason to start performing pilates today.
#5 It Releases Stress And Anxiety
Pilates helps you get rid of stress and anxiety. Some moves involve breath stabilization and mind relaxation that rid you of the daily stress you develop due to the busy city life or a hectic routine.
Whether you are a student, a housewife, or you work, pilates is incredibly fascinating when reducing not just your weight but also stress and feelings of anxiousness.
#6 Pilates Enhances Mobility And Flexibility
This exercise involves moves that enhance mobility as it expands your muscles. These moves enable you to stretch and open up your core muscles alongside strengthening them.
More so, pilates involves moves that help massage your spine. As a result, your spine stretches, and your overall flexibility improves.
#7 It Helps Soothe Menstrual Pain
What is the worst thing about having menses? The menstrual pain alone makes it challenging to make your way through the days you are experiencing your period.
There are innumerable ways available on the Internet that claim to ease menstrual cramps, but hardly any one of those methods is effective in helping you get rid of this severe pain.
Pilates may help ease your menstrual pain effectively. Since pilates primarily focuses on toning your core muscles and helps stretch your spine, it is implausible to believe pilates is ineffective.
#8 It Strengthen Your Muscles
Pilates involves moves that help you strengthen your muscles and, more importantly, the muscles of your core. Your core involves your abdominal muscles, inner and outer thighs, and back, including the spine.
This makes it evident that pilates helps strengthen your muscles, making your mind and body strong.
The Final Word!
If you want to lose weight, pilates is your answer. If you're going to strengthen your core muscles, then pilates is the best way to do that. Pilates helps you in uncountable ways and not just limiting to focusing on the core.
Pilates' core is primarily the focus, but it does you good in more profound ways. It helps you lose weight, gets you your desired body shape, and tones your muscles while helping you relax. These are all the reasons why you want to start doing pilates today!