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There are many different types of exercises that you can look to benefit from. Depending on your age, body structure, health status and fitness goals, the right exercise can really help you a lot. For example, if you want a strong and healthy body, Pilates can help you achieve your ambition. For some time now Pilates has been the exercise of choice for dancers, gymnasts and a lot of celebrities. Pilates is now gaining its place as a mainstream exercise and its popularity is growing by the day.

Pilates is designed to help you breathe rhythmically with your body movements. While holding your torso in place, you move your limbs in different directions. This provides a challenging exercise and your flexibility, balance, stability and strength tend to increase and improve over time.

Here’s a look at the host of benefits that Pilates can give you but traditional aerobic or strength training exercises cannot.

1. You may want a lean look without appearing to have a muscular body. You may also want to increase your strength and endurance without having to build muscles in order to do so. Pilates may provide you with an effective solution in this case.

Most professional gymnasts and dancers prefer Pilates because it doesn’t involve repetitions that focus on building strong muscles. Conventional strength training is all about repeating the same set of exercises and so the muscles tend to bulk up. Pilates tends to focus on the whole body and not just a specific area and so you gain strength in every muscle, thus looking lean and fit.

2. There are some muscles in your body which help you maintain balance and posture in day to day activities. If they are strong, then you have lesser chances of getting injured while being active. Pilates can help you strengthen these ‘stabilizer muscles’ because the focus is on fluid body movements. In fact Pilates can give you a better understanding of your body in terms of right and wrong postures and how flexible you are.

3. Pilates can also be very helpful as a core strengthening exercise. The muscles of your abdomen and back, which form the ‘core’, are greatly benefited by Pilates.

4. Pilates is not just a physical exercise but has some great mental benefits too. Due to the fact that your breathing improves when you do Pilates, common problems such as stress and anxiety are known to be cured easily. Also the fluid body movements are known to help you relax. Mr. J. H. Pilates was a keen student of yoga and martial arts and thus included a strong philosophical foundation into these exercises, when he propounded the idea.

5. In case you are suffering from knee and joint problems Pilates can help you a lot by increasing your range of movements and overall muscular strength. In fact, Pilates is often prescribed for people undergoing post operative rehabilitation.

Pilates is about progressing from one type of movement to another and so, you might be better off in hiring a fitness trainer who can guide you along the way. He can make sure that you get the most out of every Pilates session.

Mike is a certified trainer and runs a boot camp Rancho Cucamonga location helping his clients get in shape. For more info on training check out his site.