- What Is The Best Workout Machine To Lose Weight?
- The Raw Food Diet Plan
- Is Date Sugar A Healthy Alternative Sweetener?
- The Engine 2 Diet
- Going On A Diet May Have The Same Effects As Drug Withdrawal
- Lack Of Sleep Has Some Scary Side-Effects
- 7 Healthy Alternatives To Coffee
- Why You Should Never Use Splenda And 3 Healthy Alternatives
- The Volumetrics Diet Plan
- How To Start Working Out In The Morning
Does Pilates Help You Lose Weight?
One of the most frequent questions that I get asked is whether or not Pilates can actually help you lose weight. The answer is yes, Pilates does help with weight loss. However, just like any type of workout routine, your body becomes used to it and there’s potential to plateau. When this happens you’ll need to change the intensity of the workout so that you can continue seeing positive results from your training.
How Does Pilates Work?
Pilates works to create a long, lean appearance. It burns extra calories and will help create lean muscle mass. When you have more lean muscle mass you burn more calories and you lose weight faster. Actually, the more muscle you build the more calories you’ll burn all day…even when resting!
Pilates does a number of things for your body:
1.It helps with your posture. Pilates emphasizes good spinal alignment. Good posture not only puts less pressure on your body but studies have found that those with better posture lose weight faster and actually feel better.
2.Pilates promotes better breathing. Better breathing means you’re getting better oxygen flow to your lungs which means that you have more energy to help you exercise better so that you can lose more weight.
3.When you engage in an exercise program like this it makes you feel better about yourself. Not only do look better but you have an improved self-esteem.
How To Do Pilates For Faster Weight Loss
If you’ve never tried Pilates then you’ll need to start out slowly. The reason is because as a beginner you’ll need to establish the perfect form and movement. Just like strength training, it’s very important that you get the form down. If you work with poor form and movement you won’t get the same results and you’ll increase your chances of injury. So it’s important to get the movements down before you start to increase speed and intensity.
What Is Pilates?
When you do Pilates at home and you have the movement and form down you’ll want to increase the speed. If so it’s a good idea to have a routine or two that you’re familiar with. This way you can get into the flow of the routine without having to stop to make sure you’re doing it right. You can even check several websites for their lists of Pilates routines and you can put together one for yourself. Check About.com’s list of Pilates Exercises for a good list of workouts: About.com’s Pilates Exercises
Another great way to beef up your Pilates exercise routines is to find a few extra DVDs. Check the skill level of the video ( and beginner, intermediate, advanced) before you purchase it. Be honest with yourself and your own skill level. If you’re a beginner don’t purchase an intermediate or advanced video. If you do you’ll increase your chances for injury.
Look for videos that include a fitness and exercise ball also as these present more opportunities to burn more calories with different types of exercises. Also, you can find Pilates DVDs that are specifically geared towards weight loss. Check Amazon.com as they have a fairly large amount of workout DVDs for you to choose from.
