Why choose Pilates for hockey? | Fitness factor | Hardcore Hockey

Pilates emphasizes the concepts of core strength and stabilization and is an invigorating form of exercise for both your mind and body.

It can improve your strength, flexibility and overall mobility. Pilates will also help with correct posture which will help you move more efficiently and effortlessly. Once you become more efficient at moving your muscles you will save energy during the hockey match or training. If your muscles contract more effectively and have worked together to create the required movements you will save energy! In those last minutes of the game you need all the energy you can get so start pilates today!

Another advantage is you can do it at home in front of the TV!

You'll achieve a strong core, develop longer, leaner muscles and improve your overall sense of well-being. And, it will help improve your game.

CLICK through to Pilates- the basic set up position to get started.

Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, two students of Romana Kryzanowska, published the first modern book on pilates, The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning, in 1980 and in it they outlined six "principles of Pilates".  The original six principles were: concentration, control, center, flow, precision and breathing.

Concentration

Pilates demands intense focus: "You have to concentrate on what you´re doing. All the time. And you must concentrate on your entire body". This is not easy, but in Pilates the way that exercises are done is more important than the exercises themselves.

Control

Pilates is based on the idea of muscle control. "Nothing about the Pilates Method is haphazard. The reason you need to concentrate so thoroughly is so you can be in control of every aspect of every moment" All exercises are done with control with the muscles working to lift against gravity and thereby control the movement of the body. "The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body and not at its mercy".

Centering

In order to attain control of your body you must have a starting place: the center. The center is the focal point of the Pilates Method. Many Pilates teachers refer to the group of muscles in the center of the body - encompassing the abdomen, lower and upper back, hips, buttocks and inner thighs - the "powerhouse." All movement in Pilates should begin from the powerhouse and flow outward to the limbs. CLICK through to Pilates- the basic set up position to get started.

Flow or efficiency of movement

Pilates aims for elegant sufficiency of movement, creating flow through the use of appropriate transitions. Once precision has been achieved, the exercises are intended to flow within and into each other in order to build strength and stamina. In other words, the Pilates technique asserts that physical energy exerted from the center should coordinate movements of the extremities: Pilates is flowing movement outward from a strong core.

Precision

Precision is essential to correct pilates: "concentrate on the correct movements each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value".The focus is on doing one precise and perfect movement, rather than many halfhearted ones. Pilates is here reflecting common physical culture wisdom: "You will gain more strength from a few energetic, concentrated efforts that from a thousand listless, sluggish movements".The goal is for this precision to eventually become second nature, and carry over into everyday life as grace and economy of movement.

Breathing

Breathing is important in the Pilates method. Pilates saw considerable value in increasing the intake of oxygen and the circulation of this oxygenated blood to every part of the body. Proper full inhalation and complete exhalation were key to this. "Pilates saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation." He advised people to squeeze out the lungs as you would wring a wet towel dry. In Pilates exercises, you breathe out with the effort and in on the return. In order to keep the lower abdominals close to the spine; the breathing needs to be directed laterally, into the lower ribcage. Pilates breathing is described as a posterior lateral breathing, meaning that the practitioner is instructed to breathe deep into the back and sides of his or her rib cage. When practitioners exhale, they are instructed to note the engagement of their deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles and maintain this engagement as they inhale. Pilates attempts to properly coordinate this breathing practice with movement, including breathing instructions with every exercise. "Above all, learn to breathe correctly."

CLICK through to Pilates- the basic set up position to get started.