The Pilates Body: The Ultimate At-Home Guide to Strengthening, Lengthening, and Toning Your Body--Without Machines
by Brooke Siler
from Broadway
Thin-but-fit supermodels like Amber Valletta and Shalom Harlow and actresses like Ally McBeal's Courtney Thorne-Smith and Liv Tyler swear by Pilates workouts to keep their figures toned and flexible. The Pilates Body is the latest in a string of books dedicated to this fitness program, which is now soaring in popularity nearly 100 years after it was first developed by Joseph Pilates in Germany in the early 1900s. While today's Pilates studios take advantage of patented and intimidating-looking equipment that costs thousands of dollars (and therefore charge accordingly for private sessions), each exercise in The Pilates Body can be performed with just an exercise mat. While all parts of the body are used in the exercises, the focus is on the abdominals, or "powerhouse," which support the back; this makes Pilates an ideal exercise for those with back problems--or those hoping to prevent them.
Author Brooke Siler, who trained with Romana Kryzanowska, the oldest living protégé of Joseph Pilates, organizes her book impeccably. After discussing proper alignment and ways to modify the exercises for those with neck, knee, or lower back pain, she jumps right into the 60-plus exercises, which are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. What differentiates Siler's book from the other Pilates titles is that she includes a disclaimer about the models: "The models in this book have been training in the Pilates method for years. Although their bodies may seem to represent an unrealistic ideal for many, they have worked hard to achieve their fitness goals. I hope in earnest that they do not intimidate but inspire." Also, each exercise is given a two-page spread of its own, and is accompanied by clear photographs and helpful graphics. For example, for the "inner-thigh lifts," there's an illustration suggesting that you imagine a stack of books on the lifting leg to help you increase resistance. Each exercise also includes what Siler calls "The Inside Scoop," or tips she's learned from training hundreds of clients. These include the main goal of the exercise; simple modifications for beginners; important keys to remember while doing the move; and no-nos to prevent injury. While it's important to concentrate and get the technique of each exercise down, Siler's book is perfect for anyone looking for a simple exercise program that promises results, requires a minimum of time, and can be done at home or while traveling. --Erica Jorgensen
The Pilates® method may be today's hottest exercise, but it has been endorsed by physicians for almost a century. Originally developed by Joseph H. Pilates to help strengthen and condition muscles, Pilates is the ultimate mind-body exercise for anyone who wants to tone, streamline, and realign their body without the bulked-up results of more conventional workout methods.
Now, in The Pilates® Body, author Brooke Siler--one of the most sought-after personal trainers in the country and owner of New York's top studio for Pilates training, re:AB--provides a complete, easy-to follow program of Pilates exercises that can be done anywhere, anytime, and without machines.
With step-by-step instructions, Siler guides the reader through the complete circuit of mat exercises, each of which is clearly illustrated by photographs, line drawings, and unique visualization exercises. With Pilates you will not only streamline your figure--you will dramatically improve your posture, flexibility, and balance, and enhance your physical and emotional well-being. The Pilates Body shows you how.
Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff
by Jim Johnson
from Dog Ear Publishing, LLC
Based entirely on research from peer-reviewed journals and randomized controlled trials, Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff is a complete program to prevent and rehabilitate rotator cuff injuries for athletes and non-athletes alike. In less than 100 pages, readers will learn precisely how the rotator cuff works, what can go wrong with it, and then are guided step-by-step through an evidence-based program that takes just minutes a week to complete. Drawing from the latest rotator cuff research, Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff will be especially useful for those who have been diagnosed with either a partial or full-thickness rotator cuff tear, experience shoulder pain, do upper body weight lifting, play a sport or have a job that involves repeated arm motions above shoulder level, have been diagnosed with "impingement syndrome," or for anyone simply wanting a healthy and properly functioning rotator cuff.
15 Minute Everyday Pilates (Book and DVD)
by Alycea Ungaro
from DK ADULT
No time to exercise? No problem! DK's new 15-Minute Fitness series gives you all the tools you need to squeeze regular exercise into your life. This fantastic new format offers: four detailed gatefolds for easy, step-by-step instruction; a DVD to walk you through each routine; and a fully-illustrated, fully-annotated book to help you perfect your technique. Choose one of four complete mini-workouts each day to target a specific part of the body, and to strengthen, stretch, and build your way to a more toned, more healthy you.
The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance
by Daniel Lyon
from Collins Living
A comprehensive, take-anywhere exercise program designed to improve men's strength, flexibility, balance, and posture
Have years of office work wreaked havoc on your posture? Could your tennis or golf game use a boost? Do you appear or feel older than your age? Or do you carry yourself in a manner that expresses strength, power, and peak performance to everyone around you?
In recent years, Pilates has become a popular exercise program, especially among women. Many books on the subject show lithe female bodies stretched across their covers. Top Pilates instructor Daniel Lyon Jr. aims to break the preconception that Pilates only benefits and appeals to women. "This couldn't be further from the truth," he asserts. "Joseph Pilates was a cigar-smoking boxer, acrobat, and gymnast, and he developed his exercise program from that background for men first." Likewise, Lyon designed this book specifically with men in mind, as the number of male Pilates practitioners -- among them professional athletes, actors, businessmen, and other high-profile personalities -- has rocketed to about three million and continues to grow.
For athletes, working stiffs, and men recovering from injuries, Lyon offers the first comprehensive exercise program of its kind. He walks you through forty "traditional mat" exercises and more than sixty "reformer on the mat" exercises -- each one brilliantly illustrated -- in an inspiring self-guided program that adapts to all experience levels and requires nothing more than floor space, an exercise mat, and the desire to look and feel your best. Using the Pilates method of engaging the strongest parts of the body, or the "powerhouse" (Joseph Pilates's term for the abdominals, hips, lower back muscles, and buttocks), and integrating all other body parts from this core, Lyon's program targets trouble spots for men and helps them achieve strong, lean, masculine physiques.
The Complete Book of Pilates for Men will deliver quick and long-term results to any man who seeks optimal fitness and a competitive edge in all aspects of his life.
Pilates
by Rael Isacowitz
from Human Kinetics Publishers
Strengthen, lengthen, and sculpt your muscles with the full range of Pilates exercises. In Pilates, world-renowned Pilates expert Rael Isacowitz shows you the same repertoire that he has used to train 10 Olympians, including U.S. figure skater Sasha Cohen and diver Wendy Williams, as well as an elite group of professional instructors who work with celebrities and athletes around the world.
Starting with the foundation for all the exercises, Pilates presents an in-depth treatment of mat work, including photo illustrations and detailed breathing instruction to help you perform the movements correctly. A unique set of challenging exercise sequences allows the movements to flow in one continuous motion.
Following mat work, where most books stop entirely, Pilates just gets going. The same depth of instruction and photo illustrations are applied to the full range of Pilates apparatus:
- Reformer
- Cadillac
- Step and ladder barrels
- Magic circle
- Wunda chair
- Ped-a-pul
- Arm chair
With 210 exercises in all, Pilates is the most comprehensive guide available on the Pilates method. A contemporary approach to the work of Joseph Pilates, this is the one book you need in order to improve posture, muscle tone, core strength, and flexibility.
A Pilates' Primer : The Millennium Edition
by Joseph Pilates
from Presentation Dynamics
This edition combines two of Joseph Pilates published works in one volume. Contrology is the complete coordination of mind, body and spirit, wrote Joseph Pilates. In Return to Life, first published in 1945, Pilates defines the concept of Contrology with specific advice regarding posture, body mechanics, correct breathing, spinal flexibility and physical education. He demonstrates his original 34 mat exercises, which are now basic repertoire in Pilates training. Each exercise is demonstrated by Pilates himself at the age of 60 in a series of photos accompanied by detailed instructions. Your Health, originally published in 1934, explains Joseph Pilates early theories about health and fitness. Its a fascinating look into the mind of the man who revolutionized fitness, and whose teachings form the foundation of a discipline now embraced by fitness enthusiasts, health educators, rehabilitation specialists, and exercise trainers around the world. Black and white, paperback, 158 pages.
Your Ultimate Pilates Body® Challenge: At the Gym, on the Mat, and on the Move
by Brooke Siler
from Broadway
In this remarkable new program, Pilates instructor Brooke Siler once again revolutionizes the world of Pilates, reinventing how and where Pilates is performed, to take your fitness to a whole new level. Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, Your Ultimate Pilates Body Challenge takes a fresh approach to Pilates, challenging readers to rethink the way they move and to incorporate Pilates-conscious movements into every aspect of life:
At the Gym: Siler takes you through a fun, rapid-fire circuit of machines that gets and keeps you in your cardio target zone. For the first time ever, you will learn how to use powerful Pilates techniques to maximize your workouts on standard gym equipment (StairMaster, treadmill, stationary bike, etc.).
At Home: Siler steps up the at-home basics by applying Pilates’ principles to work with weights, bands, and non-accoutrement-based exercises.
On the Mat: As so many readers and clients have requested, Siler has created four brand-new mat routines specifically to target abs, lower body, posture, and flexibility, and designed to take experienced practitioners and beginners alike to new levels of body-sculpted accomplishment.
Sports: Siler offers insight into secrets of the world’s best athletes, explaining how to move with Pilates form in individual and team sports. With core strength created in Pilates you can hit better golf shots, ski with less fatigue than ever before, and bring more power to your tennis game.
Everyday Life: Using her trademark “Invisible Workout,” Siler shows you how incorporating Pilates-based awareness and movements into everyday activities—such as restocking the pantry, working at the computer, climbing stairs, or picking up the baby—can tone and strengthen your body.
You will be amazed at how much better you feel when your carriage, breathing, posture, and movements are done Pilates-style. This dynamic book shows how Pilates can actually be the basis for total-body transformation—by simply challenging you to get the absolute most out of everything you already do.
Back RX: A 15-Minute-a-Day Yoga- and Pilates-Based Program to End Low Back Pain
by Vijay Vad
from Gotham
From a noted pioneer in sports medicine comes a breakthrough regimen for stopping back pain once and for all—without surgery.
Eighty-percent of Americans suffer some form of low-back pain—usually due to a herniated disk—but long-term relief is rarely achieved.
As a physician specializing in treating athletes, Dr. Vijay Vad has spent years researching how to cure back pain using medical yoga and Pilates. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, his program requires just fifteen minutes a day for eight weeks to restore flexibility and prevent future injuries.
Offering a proven alternative to invasive surgery, Dr. VadÂ’s Back Rx provides the best of mind/body medicine by giving readers three step-by-step exercise series, demonstrated in 130 precise photographs, for implementing his popular program at home. Even readers with severely limited mobility will rejoice in Dr. VadÂ’s gentle introductory workout. Progressing through his self-paced program, they will discover a new range of exercises, breathing techniques, and tips for self-massage. For those who want to go even further and use this program for more than the treatment of a single injury, an advanced workout is included that puts readers on the road to peak performance.
The perfect combination of modern medicine, Pilates innovations, and ancient yoga postures, Back Rx builds important new fundamentals for lifelong freedom from pain.
Ellie Herman's Pilates Props Workbook: Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide
by Ellie Herman
from Ulysses Press
This book details each prop's unique characteristics and explains how it can enhance Pilates in its own way: the magic circles tone arms, the small ball held between the legs shapes thighs, the foam roller stretches the chest and shoulders, and the large exercise ball builds core stability.
The author guides the reader step by step through photo sequences of specially designed exercises as well as variations on traditional Pilates movements. Each series takes full advantage of the different props' abilities to produce results in less time and with less strain.
A bonus chapter describes the author's Pilates Springboard, an inexpensive and space-saving variation of the classic Pilates Cadillac. This make-it-yourself piece of equipment provides the same full-body workout as large studio equipment but at a fraction of the cost.
Pilates' Return to Life Through Contrology
by Joseph H. Pilates
from Presentation Dynamics
+++
