It is a psychophysical conditioning method created by Joseph Pilates that, when practiced correctly, provides exciting psychophysical benefits.

Pilates, unlike almost all other training methods:

• requires continuous commitment to control, execution with the body, visualization, and mental control;
• the perceptual feedback that results during Pilates sessions helps correct the posture of our body;
• always involves the entire body, including the deep, postural muscles;
• in individual lessons, the exercises are tailored to the individual.

Joseph Pilates was born in 1880 in Germany. During his adolescence, he became a skilled gymnast, skier, diver, and practiced many other techniques. He studied philosophy, anatomy, and oriental medicine. In 1912, he moved to England where he engaged in various activities, such as boxing and trapeze, and became a self-defense instructor. Captured by the Germans at the beginning of World War I, he gave lessons to his fellow prisoners. In prison, he worked as a nurse. Despite the serious injuries sustained by many soldiers, Joseph managed to help them heal through the acquisition of muscle strength. He believed that it would be impossible to heal without a training regimen composed of valid physical exercises. Joseph Pilates was always researching new possible tools to optimize their use, inventing many of the tools and accessories that are used today. In the 1920s, he met Rudolf Van Laban and had his first contact with the world of dance. At 46, he decided to emigrate to the United States. On the ship, he met his future wife, and together they opened a studio in New York to teach training techniques, beginning to codify HIS training technique, which today we all call the Pilates method. In the United States, Joseph Pilates’ Method attracted the attention of the dance world, and dancers found benefits from using his techniques. Figures like Martha Graham and George Balanchine practiced and recommended this method to their students. Joseph Pilates was a visionary in physical activity, developing a system of exercises whose precision and efficiency are still relevant, even more than thirty years after his passing.

Following the good practice of obtaining medical authorization for any physical activity one wishes to engage in (though a prevention program is beneficial even for the sedentary), EVERYONE can practice Pilates by adapting it to the specific psychophysical conditions of the individual. This can only be done in classes with a small number of participants or, even better, during a “one-to-one” session. Therefore, if you are in good health, you can safely attend small group classes, but if not, individual lessons are ideal and sometimes essential.

Our body is a dynamic element that is very sensitive and immediately ready to adapt to the situations that we propose to it, consequently from the beginning of a Pilates course, our body begins to obtain results. The more our body has been neglected, the more evident and rapid the first results will be, so much so that there are people who leave the first Pilates lesson feeling different, sometimes even others notice it; this immediate result is due to the awareness of one’s body and its unlimited possibilities, which immediately leads us to seek a more natural and healthy posture. Furthermore, no less important, is the positive influence on our mood and attitude, in fact it is now scientifically proven that posture conditions attitude. – Try to be happy maintaining a posture curved forward with shoulders and chin pushed down, or to be sad with high shoulders, chest out and chin up -. After a few months you will no longer recognize yourself, both functionally and aesthetically. If you have yet to start a Pilates work program, note down your athletic and aesthetic abilities: you will be amazed at the results you will obtain after a few months of constant and adequate Pilates training.

Our body cannot make any movement or even maintain its body temperature without consuming energy, otherwise world hunger would be eradicated. We must think of Pilates as a fantastic tool, and the final result will be due to the way we use this tool, combined with the actions we perform outside of Pilates.

Let us explain better, in order to clarify this point which is much discussed all over the world:

• in the presence of a balanced diet that presents all the necessary nutrients in the right ratio between them, it can be said that weight loss occurs when we have a greater caloric consumption than the calories taken in with food;
• Pilates is an aerobic or anaerobic activity directly related to how we do it and the psychophysical conditions of our body. To verify it is simple, just calculate what our aerobic and anaerobic thresholds are, equip yourself with a heart rate monitor and do some Pilates lessons of different intensities;
• if we start a Pilates program and in the meantime we maintain, or even worse, worsen our eating habits by justifying it by saying that we are training now, it is not Pilates’ fault if we do not lose weight, and even less if we gain weight.

Pilates, accompanied by a few healthy lifestyle habits, can literally reborn our body and mind, making us more efficient, confident, enthusiastic, strong, resistant and aesthetically more pleasing.

Josef Hubertus Pilates, developing the method of the same name and the equipment that is commonly used to carry out Pilates lessons.

It depends on the manufacturing company:

• some faithfully produce the equipment invented by J.Pilates, who developed them with the technology and knowledge of the time; others make adjustments and improvements based on current technology and knowledge… The question is: “would a person ahead of his time like J.Pilates, if he were alive today, keep his creations the same as when he invented them?”;
• other companies produce equipment by faithfully copying it from other companies, without putting anything of their own into it, in some cases they don’t even know what it’s for and this can be seen from some details that are the result of production planning but not of carefully considered choices based on knowledge of the method;
• As in all fields, even in Pilates there are products that are put on the market only to be sold and intended primarily for non-professional users. Sometimes these tools become work tools of professionals who have purchased them from salesmen who manage to sell everything or by basing their choice only on the lowest price;

Then there are companies that produce quality tools, created for professional use and to last over time, which for choice of materials, research, after-sales service, etc. have higher costs; these, however, should be the tools adopted by professionals. We identify ourselves in this last category, with the advantage of being a small production company that manages to contain costs, thanks to an efficient production chain including research and innovation, facilitated by long experience, over thirty years in the sector, managing to offer its products on the market with an excellent quality-price ratio.

Taking into account that the equipment is intended for professional use, where the entrepreneur is responsible to his customers for both the service he offers and the active and passive safety of the equipment, the Professional Pilates Teacher should make his choices according to the diligence of a good father, choosing equipment produced according to the rules of the art.

These are the main features to check when purchasing:

• the structure must be robust and solid, capable of resisting loads of use greater than those theoretically foreseen in normal use;
• must have rounded edges;
• there must be a minimum of 3 cm of free space in the lever movements to avoid the scissors effect;
• the frame must be made in such a way as to have excellent stability of the structure; a support base greater than the point of maximum imbalance;
• it must be painted with water-based paints to avoid releasing solvents into the environment;
• the elements that slide or rotate must be on ball bearings or self-lubricating synthetic bearings;
• they must have many adjustments to be able to adapt to the different anthropometric measurements of the customers;
• made from oxidation-resistant metals, preferably stainless steel or aluminium;
• maintenance must be simplified;
• must be fitted with safety straps where necessary;
• There must be no external pins or anything else that could cause cuts or snagging of clothing.

The company that produces them should:

• be present on the territory with spare parts ready for delivery and with assistance service;
• continuously research and test the equipment produced in order to keep it updated and periodically innovate it, even better if they have Pilates studios directly where their products can be used every day;
• have existed for a few years;
• always be available and reachable with a corporate orientation towards problem solving;

before even selling the products it must provide a consultancy service.

With the spread of the Pilates method in the world, many teacher training schools have been born, schools with characteristics that are sometimes very different from each other, some very valid others … a little less. Which is the best, it is practically impossible to establish because it all depends on what we are looking for, a school can be ideal for one person and less for another:

• There are very good training schools, regardless of how famous they are, where from the first contact you can perceive their availability and competence. They understand the problems of those who approach a training course, sometimes even adults, and are always solution-oriented. They encourage people to delve deeper into the method;
• Some teach the Pilates method precisely and specifically as it was created by Josef Pilates, without any changes dictated by research and experience, at least that’s what they say; even the equipment they normally use is faithful copies of the original models; by analogy, one thinks of the first fantastic car phone of the 80s, compared to a smartphone today ……..;
• Others are just the opposite of the previous ones, where you understand that you are at a Pilates teacher training course, because that’s what they say and because we recognize the equipment, ………………………..
• in some cases we are faced with real industrial level producers of teachers, in these cases we find ourselves in classes of aspiring teachers with more than 50/60 people, sometimes with very little equipment, especially if compared to the number of participants, in some cases exercises are explained with virtual tools …..
• There are rigid organizations that require almost religious devotions, where the entrepreneur teacher in his Pilates Studio must necessarily adhere to the laws dictated by the school, collaborators teachers only and exclusively of that given school, prohibition of being able to have any type of relationship with other schools without their permission, under penalty of cancellation from the list of teachers of the given school.
• Some change the names of the exercises in order to create refresher courses.
• Sometimes it seems that they want to prepare athletes for competitions, forgetting that they are training technicians and not competitive athletes; the performance of a teacher in carrying out the exercises is clearly less important than his ability to transmit and use his knowledge to take care of his client.

First you need to ask yourself some questions:

1. Are you a private individual and want to learn a discipline as it was created at the beginning? Do you want to take up this profession because you think that you work little, earn a lot and this matters more to you than the benefits that your clients can obtain? Have you practiced Pilates on yourself obtaining excellent results and are you enthusiastic about practicing it and the idea of ​​teaching it? Do you want to take up a new profession or integrate yours with an excellent training method that you believe in, because you have understood that Pilates, if taught with passion, dedication, taking into account the human being in front of you, can give important psychophysical benefits, promoting a healthy lifestyle?
2. Are you interested in learning exactly what Joseph Pilates invented and developed until his death in 67, almost 50 years ago, or are you more oriented towards a Pilates method that, while remaining faithful to the principles of the original method, has undergone a natural evolution and integration, with current knowledge of anatomy/physiology and scientific principles and with the experience gained over years of application and use of this method?
3. Do you want to work in Italy or abroad? Because if you take a course that is not recognized in the country where you want to work, it does not matter if for you it is the most important or beautiful school in the world?
4. If you are a doctor or a physiotherapist? In this case you could use medical or rehabilitation notions that are given in some training courses. Otherwise it is better that a Pilates Teacher gives the best of his field and works in collaboration and synergy with doctors and physiotherapists. You cannot practice a profession that you are not certified to do, the law is very strict in these cases.
5. Have you tried calling the training school? Were they helpful? Did they give you the information you wanted? Did they just answer what you asked for or did they try to give you all the information you needed to decide and get started? Did they spend more time denigrating other schools than the information they gave you?
6. Does the same teacher teach training courses in many different disciplines?
7. What kind of equipment does the school have, quality or did they make their choice trying to spend as little as possible? Let’s not forget that they are work tools.
8. Does the school give you any guarantees in case you don’t feel comfortable during the beginning of the course?
9. Does the school provide instances where you can repeat part or all of the course you attended for free?
10. Has any training school advised you against or denied you enrollment in a course because you do not have this or that previous certification?

Once you have answered the previous questions, you will already have a clearer idea of ​​which school to choose.

Whatever school you choose, once you finish, remember that you make a difference, give your best as a Pilates teacher and you will receive great satisfaction.