Graceful Aging with Pilates
The Advantages of Incorporating Pilates into Your Life After 55!
In recent weeks, social media has been saturated with images and videos of people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s competing in fitness competitions, running record-breaking 100-meter dashes, and performing yoga poses better than folks half their ages. Maybe it’s true—60 is the new 40!
For every expectation-smashing senior citizen in your newsfeed, there are dozens who are still struggling with the later-in-life challenges of menopause, osteoporosis, and arthritis. We are happy to say that Pilates is a proven method to help navigate these challenges that always seem to show up earlier than we thought they would, but how?
1. Pilates protects your joints by strengthening your muscles. Joint pain is all but expected to become a daily part of life once we hit a certain number of birthdays, but the reason for that is often because people have neglected building and maintaining muscle strength for so long, their joints have begun to buckle under the pressure of doing so much of the work of carrying their bodies around. Everybody is not going to sign up for the next bodybuilding competition, but the low-intensity, full body workout Pilates offers is ideal for the practitioner of any age.
2. Pilates improves balance. By building the core and focusing on mindfulness, those who frequent the Pilates studio unfailingly experience an improvement in their balance. Good balance means fewer falls and more overall control of the body, a major plus for the aging population. Also, if you’re recovering from surgery, such as a hip or shoulder replacement, you’d be hard pressed to find anything more effective than Pilates in building strength, flexibility, and stability.
3. As documented in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation, an eight-week Pilates exercise program reduced menopausal symptoms and increased lumbar strength and flexibility in post-menopausal women. Additionally, a consistent Pilates regimen helped keep menopausal weight gain at bay.
Are you ready to undo or avoid the common effects of aging? You can! Connect with a certified, award-winning Pilates professional for an assessment and introductory session.