Tag Archives: Pure Barre

Pilates – A Fitness Technique Invented By A German

It’s mid-February already! And just in case you are struggling with your New Year’s resolution of living a healthier, more balanced life this year, you are not alone!

January is widely known to be the busiest month in the health and fitness industry. Many gyms actually double their sign-ups during that month. But come February or even March many have given up on their new routine and lost their initial motivation and interest. Keeping up your motivation is important but so is having engaged in the right sport or fitness program in the first place.

There are so many great programs to choose from nowadays. From Yoga to Kick boxing, to Pilates and Pure Barre, just to name some exotic ones as well. Pilates and Pure Barre seem to be leading the line these days, and are part of the “in” fitness programs. While Pure Barre is a fairly new exercise technique, Pilates has been around since the beginning of the 20th century.

Pilates used to be an exclusive training program for the professional dance community to condition dancers, but also to help them when they were injured. Joseph Hubertus Pilates, a German national with Greek roots, had invented and promoted his Pilates method of physical fitness in the early 20th century, and refined his technique after he had left Europe and settled in New York where he founded the first Pilates studio.

According to Wikipedia, Pilates conditions the body helping it “to build flexibility and long, lean muscles, strength and endurance in the legs, abdominals, arms, hips, and back.”   It “… is a method of exercise and physical movement designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body.”  (www.pilatesmethodalliance.org/about-pilates)

Having started out as a very special training regimen for only a particular group in its beginnings, Pilates is now widely available, and is being offered at many Fitness studios as well as dedicated Pilates studios. One can find many books on the technique as well, but joining a class definitely helps to get the basics down.

Pilates, Yoga and Co. is of course not to everyone’s liking, and many may just prefer a traditional workout. To keep the momentum going, and not call it quits already early in the year, make it fun and choose doing your workout routine in the outdoors, for example at the beach: Jogging along the sandy beaches or a training session with a personal trainer, who knows you and can work solely on your specific workout needs.   Los Angeles based German fitness coach Christian Klugmann offers exactly this: A training session right at Venice Beach. See for yourself in the RTL – Explosiv interview.

Get inspired and keep these muscles working… Happy February!

More to read up on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/business/new-years-resolutions-recycled-are-a-boon-for-business.html?pagewanted=all

http://meditationyogapilates.com/joseph-pilates/

January – Fitness Month of the Year Or ‘Winterspeck Muss Weg’

Everywhere you go these days, any store you enter, any magazine or newspaper you open up – the topics Get Back In Shape and Fitness jump at you.

Stores are promoting their latest fitness equipment and workout videos and magazines try to educate or convince us on which cleansing technique is the best to lose unwanted pounds, and how one still can keep all her/his energy despite all the fasting.

And we learn: Once the body is detoxified, there is no rest in sight. Now it is time to get sculpted properly. But what exercise program is the best? The Fitness market is overflowing with all kinds of different fitness classes and techniques. From dancing classes that supposedly will keep you in shape, like the latest trend on “fitness pole dancing”, to elegant sounding  fitness classes like “Pure Barre“, an exercise technique that supposedly mixes weight training with Pilates and ballet, and apparently shows record-breaking results. Or is it after all just pure weight training that will make us essentially look good?

One thing is for sure. Balance is the magic word. And that’s no news to anyone of us. We all know it but it just doesn’t sound exciting and enticing enough.

Eating with measure and working out on a regular schedule, be it running, tennis, dancing or weight training. Most important for all of us fitness junkies is to have fun with whatever technique we decide on and to avoid getting hurt in the process. Overstretched ligaments are no fun!