Elena Giordano first heard of the Pilates Method of body conditioning while exercising in upstate New York, where she was singing with a summer-stock theatre company. As Giordano stretched her leg on a boarding-house banister, a dancer approached her and suggested she try Pilates.
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"Please what?" she mimicked, wondering if she should say, "Gesundheit."
"Pi-LAH-teez," he repeated, as he began demonstrating some basic moves.
Twenty-five years later, Giordano credits her career longevity to Pilates, the suddenly hot workout sensation that tones and firms the body through resistance-based stretching exercises. They can be done on a mat or a piece of special equipment, and are coupled with deep breathing techniques.
If performed properly, the Pilates Method safely isolates and strengthens muscles without joint stress. Developed by German Joseph Pilates about 80 years ago, the workout elongates muscles, rather than leaving them bulky and short.
"I'm not a young kid," Giordano says. "I'm in my 50s, and I feel great."
Giordano says she recovered from hip-replacement surgery in two months, thanks largely to Pilates. She was among the people who discovered the program in the 1970s and never jumped off the bandwagon. Pilates practitioners say it didn't stick with the mainstream fitness faithful because there weren't enough educated instructors.
Celebs join Pilates bandwagon That's changed dramatically in the last few years. Pilates has become enormously popular, even chic, as celebrities from Jamie Lee Curtis to Madonna to Danny Glover have openly embraced it.
Pilates isn't for women only, but about 70 percent of its enthusiasts are female.
All Pilates movements must be generated from your "powerhouse," the central body muscles in the abdomen, widely recognized as the "six-pack" on sculpted stomachs. The movements should never exceed the line that runs from your hips to your shoulders, which "frame" the body. Once you grasp the concept of working within your "frame," long, lean muscles should follow, advocates insist.
For example, if you're lying on your side, swinging your leg forward and back, you shouldn't lift it higher than your hip. If you exceed that boundary, you'll invite injury, because your large and small muscles will "fall out of balance," causing strain and discomfort, instructors say.
For most people, mat work offers a sufficient workout because your body provides all the resistance you need. But for those who crave further exhaustion, there are Pilates machines designed to magnify resistance via springs and pulleys.
Giordano says she shrank from a size 14 to an 8, and keeping the inches off has been simple. She feels energetic, sleeps well and eats plentifully. And she suspects Pilates has caught on now because people are more health-conscious than ever.
"It's great," she adds, "because you look better than all of your friends."
Easy on joints, muscles Sean Gallagher, 42, recognised the health benefits and marketing potential of Pilates when he was exposed to it in the early 1980s. He obtained the registered trademark in 1982 and became an instructor and owner of studios across the country.
"The first time I did it," Gallagher says, "I knew it had potential. Pilates shows you how to get in touch with your body. You cannot disassociate the mind from the body. So when you change the body on a physical level, you change it on a mental level."
Adds Fatima Bruhns, a 41-year-old Chicago-area instructor: "We live in a higher stress level than we did 20 years ago. I think to a certain extent it's a new-age thing. People are starting to find things that take away from the daily stress. I'm telling you, if you care about your body, Pilates is what you're looking for."
Chris Hall, the associate athletic trainer at Texas Christian University, says that without proper conditioning, it might be difficult for beginners to perform Pilates moves correctly. But as they gain flexibility and learn how to help their muscles move harmoniously, there should be no risk of injury.
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