Functional Pilates

Every day you perform various movements and assume different positions. Standing, sitting, walking, reaching, turning, lifting, supporting, carrying… movement is constantly with you, and it’s hard to imagine life without it. While performing daily activities, you may not consider how important it is to do so correctly. Do you want what you do to be safe and beneficial for your musculoskeletal system? To feel comfortable in your own body, without pain and limitations? Functional Pilates comes to the rescue.

 

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL PILATES?

 

Functional Pilates (also known as standing pilates, or pilates in a standing, vertical position) is based on the exercise method created by Joseph Pilates and training on the mat or reformer. Its goal is to maintain a neutral spine position during everyday, ordinary activities, during which we are exposed to overloads, such as standing, walking, sitting, or bending.

In functional pilates, training focuses on exercises that mimic the movements you perform in daily life while simultaneously adhering to the fundamental principles of pilates, such as control, concentration, stabilization, breathing, fluidity, and precision.

Your body will be less prone to pain, injuries, and traumas if you learn to move safely in accordance with proper movement patterns in your daily life. During ordinary activities, your musculoskeletal system can also be subjected to significant overloads, and this is precisely what functional pilates prevents.

For example, let’s take a look at bending. When you bend, depending on how you perform this action, stabilization of the spine or its proper articulation with the engagement of the appropriate muscles is essential. If there is a lack of activation of the postural muscles, the spine will be overloaded at various levels. A lack of synchronization of even one element in the neuromuscular-respiratory control system will also result in overload. As a result, experiencing pain while bending will only be a matter of time.

It is also worth remembering that Joseph Pilates turned to physical exercises specifically to improve health. He aimed to ensure that movement limitations did not hinder daily life. He struggled with asthma and rickets, but by studying well-known exercise methods and developing his own system, he became an extremely fit person. His physique improved to such an extent that at the age of 14 he became a model for anatomical drawings. Joseph Pilates and his method prove that anyone can function healthily and feel comfortable in their own body.

Maintaining proper body posture every day – this is the key message of functional pilates. If you avoid exertion due to joint pain, back pain, weak muscles, or coordination problems, functional pilates is the perfect solution for you.

 

FUNCTIONAL PILATES – WHO CAN TRAIN?

 

Like classic Pilates, functional Pilates has no age restrictions. There are also few health limitations. The following individuals can participate in functional Pilates classes:

• people with poor physical condition,
• older adults,
• pregnant women (except in the first trimester),
• people recovering from injuries,
• overweight individuals, including those with significant weight,
• professional athletes,
• dancers,
• people suffering from back pain.

Functional Pilates is a form of training that almost anyone can try. Through these exercises, you can increase your body awareness and learn to control your posture during daily activities and related movements.
What does functional Pilates offer?
The innovative approach to body work that functional Pilates proposes can bring many benefits to your health and daily comfort. Here are the most important ones:

• reduction of injury risk during daily activities,
• comprehensive strengthening of the entire body,
• stimulation of internal organs,
• improvement of bone structure,
• strengthening of deep muscles, which not only improve posture but also promote better health,
• improvement of joint nutrition,
• strengthening of the spine,
• increased joint flexibility,
• improvement of agility and motor coordination,
• increased overall physical endurance,
• shaping a beautiful figure,
• maintaining proper posture,
• more confident and efficient movement in daily life.

Functional Pilates is an excellent way to achieve coordination, balance, and stability while performing daily activities. With it, you will learn how to correctly perform various movements that may seem completely ordinary, such as lifting a child, climbing stairs, or sitting.

Thanks to functional Pilates exercises, it will simply be easier for you to move in everyday life. Functional Pilates not only significantly reduces the strain on muscles and joints compared to endurance training but also teaches the correct movement patterns. Once you establish proper movement patterns, you will live with the awareness that you are not overloading your body, and it will serve you much longer without pain.

 

WHY CHOOSE FUNCTIONAL PILATES?

 

The human body works in an exceptionally complex manner. Every movement consists of chains of muscles that move the joints. For a movement to be executed precisely, stabilizing muscles work simultaneously.

But that’s not all. In addition to the work of the muscles (their strength, flexibility, endurance), which should be harmonious, it is also essential to have a proper sense of the body in space, coordination, and balance.

Imagine that you want to reach for a glass of water. Although the movement seems simple, it is not just an elbow extension through the contraction of the triceps muscle. Reaching is a multi-joint movement, meaning that work occurs in several, or even a dozen or so joints.

You want to reach for the glass, so you turn towards it, moving the vertebrae of your cervical spine. You engage your fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder, spine, and, by leaning, also the joints of your legs.

Thus, when reaching for a glass of water, you engage entire muscle groups that shorten and lengthen, tense and relax. Everything should happen at the right pace, with optimal strength, in physiologically defined sequences.

Multi-joint work, natural for human movements during daily activities, is a characteristic feature of functional Pilates. That is why functional Pilates is a great tool for refining the body in the most natural way possible.

 

DOES FUNCTIONAL PILATES HAVE ANY DISADVANTAGES?

 

Functional Pilates is an extremely versatile type of training that is not taxing on the body and can be easily adapted to individual needs and capabilities – exercises can be individually selected based on the level of difficulty. It can therefore help in shaping your figure and good habits regardless of whether you have poor physical fitness or are a professional athlete.

These features mean that functional Pilates has few disadvantages. Essentially, they can be reduced to two cases.

If you are counting on significant and visible weight loss, functional Pilates is not for you. It is not a workout that allows for spectacular weight loss. This does not mean that you cannot practice Pilates if you are overweight – this sport is also practiced by people with excess weight. Remember that functional Pilates engages all parts of the body, and through these exercises, you can reshape your figure, for example, after pregnancy – regain waist definition, a flatter stomach, and firmer buttocks.

It should also be noted that, as with any workout, there may be individual contraindications to practicing functional Pilates, although the list is not long. In most cases, it is enough to exclude certain exercises from the training or replace them with similar ones, and to consult with a doctor or therapist before starting the workout.

 

FUNCTIONAL PILATES – WHO SHOULD AVOID IT?

 

However, there are ailments and conditions for which exercises, including functional Pilates, are not recommended. These include:

• thrombosis (risk of clots),
• blood pressure problems, especially instability,
• advanced osteoporosis,
• herniated disc (so-called “slipped disc”),
• recent surgery (especially in the abdominal area),
• spondylolisthesis (displacement of vertebrae relative to each other),
• acute inflammation,
• recent bone fracture,
• the first trimester of pregnancy and high-risk pregnancy.

Comfortable, safe movement instead of an unstable posture and incorrect movement patterns – this is what you can achieve by training functional Pilates. This type of training will allow you to refine your body in a natural way, which will translate into the establishment of correct habits in daily activities.