Pilates is back in the news again, as we read about Andy Murray using this method of exercise to help give him the tennis edge.

As a Pilates ‘expert’ (yes I’ve put in my 10.000 hours of teaching it!) I know there is a lot of guff talked and taught about this very specific movement method. My biggest shout out is that this is an exercise system that you have to learn with your body, not a class where you turn up and follow the instructor. I’m sure Andy has found that even the fittest individual must start as a beginner to understand the principles applied to Pilates.

In fact, at my studio I often find that the fitter people are the more difficult it is to undo deeply entrenched movement habits like bracing the abdominals, tensing up muscles or breath holding to perform an exercise, things I discourage in a Pilates class. 

Very fit people are often looking for the feeling of a strong muscle reaction or burn to know that their muscles are working hard. Problem is, this just tells us that our surface or global muscles are overworking, doing a lot more than they need to, to achieve the result. If our deeper postural muscles come into play then the global muscles have a back up team. Postural muscles provide the stability for our body so that the global muscles can perform their bigger movements.

It’s not just about your abdominal area, every joint in our body has a group of postural muscles around it, but of course our spine, pelvis and shoulder girdle are the main structures in our body which require stabilising for good movement quality to happen. If our postural muscles are doing their job, the global muscles will fire off better and the sports person will gain a competitive edge. Think of whipping egg whites in a bowl with a whisk. If the bowl is wobbling around all over the place it takes ages to get the whites stiff, but secure the bowl and the effort of whisking is much more efficient. That’s what our postural muscles do.

The feeling of a postural muscle activating can be hard to find for a beginner, no matter how fit or bendy they are. We feel our muscles through the neurological pathways from the muscle to the brain. If a pathway is never used, it takes a while to waken it up so at first the new practitioner may be doing a Pilates preparation exercise and feel nothing at all. At that point I say, keep going but do half as much.

The harder you try, the more your global muscles will over ride the posturals. Keep your concentration on the area and be awake to any sensation you may feel. It’s a bit like bird spotting! I go out walking with my friend and see nothing as a novice….she sees birds and small animals at every turn! She’s aware of what’s going on. 

- Patricia Issitt is a movement therapist and Pilates instructor based in York. Find out more at yorkpilates.com