YOUR CLASSES
pilates
Focussing on balance, strength, flexibility and posture, Cooley Health Clinic's Pilates classes aim to improve flexibility, build strength and develop control and endurance in the entire body.
Pilates is a physical fitness system that was developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Pilates was designed to aid injured soldiers in regaining their health by strengthening, stretching, and stabilising key muscles.
He believed that mental and physical health were essential to one another, creating what is a method of total body conditioning. Pilates uses correct alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement (the Pilates principles) to establish a perfect working body from the inside out.
Pilates classes build strength, flexibility and lean muscle tone with an emphasis on lengthening the body and aligning the spine, rather than on bulking and shortening the muscles.
Pilates has a focus on the core which can basically be thought of as the ‘powerhouse’ of your body. Your core is the area between your shoulders and your pelvis (without your arms and legs) and encompasses all the muscles within this area.
What are the benefits?
The benefits that Pilates will provide you are endless and we really could chew your ear off for a good few days but in the interest of saving you time and sanity, here are some of the broader benefits for you to get excited about.
During Pilates movements, the focus on strengthening and lengthening the muscles at the same time produces long, lean, strong overall muscle tone that doesn’t create bulk. These results are unlike any other type of exercise, so if you feel like you have already tried everything to get the body you want without success, our Pilates will astound you.
You can expect overall slimming, greatly improved flexibility and increased mobility, even in just a short space of time. Alignment and postural correction will have you holding yourself differently, standing taller, sitting straighter and moving with better balance and coordination.
Pilates gives you positive systemic effects on all of your body systems, stimulating and eliminating toxins and waste. You will find improvement to your digestion system including an increased metabolic rate as well as a constant booster to your immune system.
Pilates also provides many more specific benefits for differing populations including improvement to pelvic floor function, bone density improvement and lung capacity/breathing technique improvement amongst many others. The question should be asked, "Why WOULDN'T you do Pilates?"
stretching
Did you know that regular stretching is just as important as regular exercise? Stretching has major benefits. Hopefully these reasons will inspire you to make it part of your schedule especially on the Cooley Healthy Body program.
What are the benefits?
Stretching has a calming effect: Even a short amount of time (10-15 minutes) of stretching can calm the mind, provide a mental break, and give your body a chance to recharge.
Prepares the body for the pain ahead: Stretching allows the body to warm-up as it encourages the flow of blood to all the right places, being the muscles.
Builds and elongates muscle: Stretching allows you to move through the full range of motion when it comes to hitting weights, in effect creating long and full muscles instead of stunted ones.
Reduces the risk of injury: Just like vitamins are seen as preventative medicine for health by decreasing the likelihood of illness, stretching can be thought of as preventative medicine for the body by ensuring it stays mobile, flexible and best of all injury free. A flexible body means that your long muscles are not as susceptible to tearing.
Stretching encourages fast recovery: There is a reason as to why we are trained to stretch before and after exercise. Not only does stretching warm the body but it does wonders for recovery. Exercising creates toxins in the body as muscles are exerted. By stretching the muscles after exercise these toxins move into the bloodstream and out of the muscles, where they can be broken down and eradicated.
Stretching gives you that flexy feeling: One of the by-products of stretching is quite obviously improved flexibility. With an increased range of motion you might find yourself capable of moving into different positions.
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