What is Pilates?
Pilates is an easy-to-learn training method which combines muscle stretching and Yoga with dynamic movements designed to improve muscle tone. The method was designed by Joseph H. Pilates, who combined exercises from different disciplines to create a form of training which could also be used following injury. This is possible through the use of specific machines for easy, safe exercises, which do not place excessive load on the joints or the spinal column. The updated and adapted method is now used medically and for functional re-education. The various exercises have numerous beneficial effects:

• Achieve long, flexible, well-toned muscles
• Improve posture and strengthen the deep muscle system
• Are effective on the whole body, increasing control of each part
• Produce a "total harmony of movements" to create: a flat abdomen, a strong, flexible back, slim, well-toned thighs.

Who is the method suitable for?
Older people wishing to restore their body's flexibility, those in sedentary jobs looking for a way of reviving their muscles and joints, professionals aiming to achieve perfect fitness to optimise their working time, pregnant women looking for exercises to prepare physically and mentally for birth, those requiring practical results from personal training, teenagers trying to improve their posture, those undergoing physiotherapy, those on a diet seeking to improve muscle tone without muscle growth, professional or amateur sportsmen and women who wish to add a method to their training regime to improve their flexibility, and dancers wishing to prevent or recover from injuries.