The sound of metal sliding smoothly against metal in an even, slow cadence greets you when you enter Studio du Corps in Costa Mesa, Calif.
On one side, people glide back and forth, their hands or feet moving pulleys, springs and bungee cords on what look like long beds from a Marquis de Sade torture chamber.
Others on floor mats hold their bodies taut in graceful movements, extending and then contracting.
In the rear of the room, an instructor helps a woman stretch in a hospital bedlike contraption. The impression you get–intimidating and painful–gives no hint that Pilates-based exercise is in demand.
“In terms of popularity, in public and private health and fitness centers, it has grown 100 percent in the past several years, especially in the upper East Coast and Southwest,” said Ralph LaForge, chairman of the Mind-Body Fitness Committee for IDEA, an international association of fitness professionals.
Far from excruciating, it’s kind to the body when done correctly but can be intense. Pilates is derived from the teachings of the late Joseph Pilates, a former German gymnast and boxer in New York. Over 70 years, the exercise has evolved from a dancer’s rehabilitation therapy to a primary form of psycho-physical conditioning for those who don’t necessarily know the difference between a pirouette and a plie, LaForge said. Purists worry that through improvisation and commercialization, Pilates has lost its integrity.
In the ’90s, few people write off Pilates as a New Age fad, said Rael Isacowitz, owner of On Center Conditioning, a Costa Mesa studio offering Pilates-inspired sessions. People who have ridden their bodies hard for years on the aerobics floor and in rigorous outdoors sports such as running are looking for exercise that is kinder to the bones and muscles and perhaps enriching for the mind, Isacowitz said.
Only a fourth of the clients at Studio du Corps and On Center Conditioning are dancers. The rest include stay-at-home moms, athletes and people undergoing physical rehabilitation.
“The average age is mid-40s, although there are a couple of girls 13 and 14,” said Diane Diefenderfer, who opened Studio du Corps in 1987.
Devotees such as Moya O’Neill, 44, of Laguna Beach talk about looking leaner, longer and sculpted. “My body has changed a lot of because of this,” she said, not missing a beat while sliding on the Reformer platform. “I’m elongated. I stand taller.”
Barbara Wagner, 51, of Newport Beach turned to Pilates-inspired exercise to help her firm up after having babies while in her 40s. She uses it to counter the effect of intense cardiovascular exercise.
“I run three times a week for a total of 12 miles,” she said. “I get tight from running and Pilates stretches my muscles.” These days, Wagner and her husband, Elliott, share a membership at Studio du Corps.
How does Pilates work? “From the inside out, beginning with the deep structural muscles of the diaphragm, pelvis, lower back and buttocks and then working up and out to the muscles of the chest, shoulders, upper back and extremities,” writes fitness trainer Ray Kybartas in his book “Fitness is Religion.”
It is focused on what dancers and martial artists call the “center,” located in the pelvic area and the locus of all movement, Kybartas writes. Awareness of that center enables us to move fluidly.
With sets of stretching, pulling and contracting movements and regular breathing, it gently challenges the body, improves flexibility and develops muscle tone, Diefenderfer said.
It enhances good posture and carriage, helps us become aware of the body as a whole unit, and be conscientious about maintaining a stable core while moving, she said.
Pilates-based exercise can help alter bad posture, from the gymnast-like exaggerated arch of the low back to the collapsed chest, rounded shoulders and protruding stomach found in “gym rats,” said Cathie Murakami, an Encinitas-based instructor who teaches Pilates-based workshops for IDEA. Many of us have bad posture from working long hours hunched over a computer, driving a car or weight training incorrectly.
Some health clubs and studios are offering Pilates-inspired mat classes, which can include use of a substantial rubber band and a rubber ball.
Don’t want to go to a studio? Various videotapes such as “Fit & Flexible: The Balanced Body Method Workout” and the “Stott Core Conditioning” Matwork series allow you to learn at home.
