no pain, BIG GAINS with PILATES!
Once favored by rock divas, actresses and supermodels, the stretching and strengthening exercise method developed by Joseph Pilates (pih-LAH-teez) has become the latest training rage for male professional athletes.Designed to increase flexibility and improve posture, balance and coordination, Pilates focuses on strengthening the body's core or midsection.
"Since I've done Pilates, I'm much better looking and 4 feet taller," says Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA Championship. "Seriously, I'm now so stretched out and have such great posture that I look and feel like a different person."
Developed in the early 1900s, Pilates consists of 500 exercises, all initiating from the muscles in the abdomen, lower back, hips or buttocks. The cost of a private Pilates session with a properly licensed instructor is comparable to or slightly more expensive than a personal training session.
For athletes, the benefits include more efficient movement as well as better endurance, speed and quickness.
No longer just for women
As mainstream as the Pilates method of developing core muscle groups has become, male professional athletes interested in adding it to their training programs still must get past the stigma that this is largely a women's exercise.
Kidd, the Nets superstar point guard, gave his wife, Joumana, a longtime Pilates devotee, a hard time when she told him it might help in his rehabilitation of a broken ankle a few years ago. After weeks of making fun of Pilates, Kidd finally tried it.
"I immediately discovered how tight I was," Kidd recalls. "After one session I was energized. From that point on I was convinced it was a great workout."
For Kidd, Pilates is all about finding the edge. He estimates 30% of his strength and flexibility training comes from Pilates. "Pilates has made me quicker, more explosive," he says.
Rich Dalatri, the Nets strength coach, has been instrumental in introducing the exercise method to the entire team.
"Pilates is rejuvenating, restorative, invigorating," he says, "maybe because it gets the blood flowing through every inch of the muscles. It's so internal. It puts you in tune with your body. It puts you in a different state."
The Nets have invested in Pilates equipment for their weight room. The players are so dependent that throughout the NBA playoffs in 2002, a leading Pilates company shipped special equipment to the team's hotel on road trips.
Patience pays off
Pilates' founding father always proclaimed, "In 10 sessions, you will feel the difference. In 20, you will see the difference. And in 30, you'll have a whole new body."
Schilling, the Arizona Diamondbacks star pitcher, agrees. "The first three weeks, I was really disappointed," says Schilling, who incorporated Pilates into his offseason training program last winter. "I wasn't sweating. I wasn't winded, which is what I associate with true exercise.
"Then in the fourth week I started to understand the Pilates terminology, the idea of working from your center. By the third month I was more powerful and flexible than ever before. And I'd lost 15 pounds."
Hannah Gallagher, Schilling's Pilates instructor, says, "He's a man. He's used to hard-core workouts, where you throw up afterward. Pilates is not that. It is an equal balance of stretch and strength."
After years of the no-pain, no-gain school of thought, male professional athletes say they appreciate the kinder, gentler, holistic aspect of Pilates.
For Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl offensive guard Ruben Brown, Pilates is all about preventing injury.
"I'm a big guy with a gut," the 6-0, 300-pound Brown says. "I was always battling back strain. Plus, I'm 30 years old now. I'm tired of lifting weights, taking the pounding."
The last two offseasons Brown has done Pilates three times a week.
"My first session, it shook me up," Brown says. "It shook everything up. It still does.
"And man, those Pilates women are competitive. They want to see if they can get the big, strong football player to wimp out. I told myself, 'Hey, ladies, I can do that, too.' "
How has his body responded to Pilates?
"I came out of the season injury-free," he says. "I used to feel like crap after practice and games but not since Pilates.
"I learned how to breathe through my muscles. My posture is better. I can run more fluidly. And I increased my bench workouts."
'Profound impact' on Mediate
For PGA Tour pro Rocco Mediate, Pilates is all about strengthening his back — and prolonging his career. After major back surgery in 1994, Mediate says he wasn't the same. He couldn't bend over for long periods of time to practice his putting, and his back always went out after lengthy plane trips.
Enter Pilates in November 2001.
"After a week I was turned around," he says. "After two I felt like I'd never felt before."
Mediate has since sold his weights and has completely outfitted the workout room in his Ponte Vedra, Fla., home with several pieces of Pilates equipment. "Pilates never compromises your back," he says. "I've got more motion in my shoulders, midsection and legs. I can repeat my basic swing more often. Pilates is going to add five, six, seven ... years to my career."
Caroline Schmid, Mediate's Pilates instructor, says, "The golf swing is a little one-sided, which can create imbalance in the body. Pilates helps to balance out the body against the forces of the swing. It helps to create less torque in the spine because you learn to swing from your center and not from your limbs."
Mediate's wife, Linda, also has had success with Pilates. She has overcome injuries suffered in three car accidents as well as giving birth to three children: "I couldn't walk unless I put my hand on my back."
She gives Pilates credit for major improvements in her husband's game.
"He used to avoid putting, and now he's a putting machine," she says. "I want to hug Caroline because she has had such a profound impact on Rocco."
The New IT Place
Brookside Head Professional Piper Wagner
It's officially a month into working out at Fitness 360 and if I can't already seen some major changes than I can at least feel like I'm on the right track. Todd's been putting me through the paces on average a good four times a week and we've really started looking at the areas that I'm weak and making sure that I double up on them. For instance he noticed that my bicep and chest were particularily weak and that I should get more definetiion in those areas. For that he put me on a program of incline bench, shoulder raises, lateral raises and plate lifts. No, not the dinner plate. The 45-lbs variety! He had me do this either before or after our customary workout each day for the past week. It's Thursday morning and saying that I'm feeling the burn would be a mild understatement. And that's just while I'm typing here at 6 in the morning!
It's true, I have noticed some small physical changes with my workout and my energy levels - not to mention some added muscle in the target areas. But more importantly what I've noticed at Fitness 360 isn't what's going on becasue of Fitness 360, it's going on INSIDE of Fitness 360. Now I understand 5:00 PM is a pretty peak time to workout, everyone's getting down in the afternoon with work and trying to hit the studio before they head home; however, the doors were just about busting loose last night!
Count 'em down. Lurysol had two clients in the front corner. Ben had the entire Pacific golf team join his group that was already at least a bakers dozen strong, Desmond was working out with a group of four in the back, Christina's girls were working over the heavy bag and Todd was still conducting a small group of his own. You'd think a cozy location like Lincoln Center wouldn't be able to hold everyone and it would be cluttered but to tell you the truth I think people really feed off of the energy level that comes from that type of atmosphere. You really can't afford to slack off because you're partnering up and let's be honest.... who wants to look bad when the 45-year-old-mother-of-two is kicking your butt in medicine ball slams!
Not that that is the only motivation... but it is a good one. I remember the first few times coming to the studio when it first opened and you'd be lucky to see one trainer and more than two clients. Those days are long gone; it truly has become the IT place in the 209.
Targeting Weakness
Got to the studio early today becasue I wanted to get a little cardio in before we started our workout at five. Todd had a pair of ladies working out in the time slot before my usual one and asked if I wanted to join so I thought, "what the hell, I'll double-up today". It was probably the best thing I could have done as the regiment he put them through was far different than anything that we were doing; hey, all the better to work different areas of the body. Besides, that's why I'm writing this blog anyways, so learn everything about Fitness 360 and experience it all.
We finished our session and before I started my five o'clock group Todd spent some time working with me on my "problem areas" and what I should work on and how we could tailor specific workouts for me. One thing that we looked at was that I was currently around 225 pounds, easily the heaviest I've ever been. Knowing Todd's knowledge of diets and nutrition we talked about various reasons why I was so
heavy but still managing to preform all the drills above average, jump well and run well. He surmised that I was carrying way too much weight in my torso and chest area and that toning that up by increasing muscle mass would therefore beging to burn away some of that fat.
During this past summer I had gotten done to a weight of 200 even, mostly thanks to weekends on the Delta wakeboarding and walking the golf courses and weekdays running up to 10 miles at a time. We agreed some of it was a dietary issue but also a cardio and workout thing that we would continue to look at. Todd thought that a weight of 205 to 210 would be perfect for my frame and where I already was with athletics.
On The First Day…
I arrived for my first personal training session with Todd at 4:45 on Monday afternoon. The Lincoln Center studio location was busy as Ben, Lurysol and Todd all were working with a clients in various aspects of training. Ben had a group of three girls on mats working on reverse lunges as Lurysol was in the corner with a woman and Todd ran a group of four people through various circut trainings. I made my way around the gym, trying out the equipment and seeing what was available and of course comparing it to other gyms that I had worked out at. But it's hard to compart Fitness 360 in that way because it's not a gym. It's a personal training studio! I jumped rope, hit a few sets on the bench press and threw some punches on the heavy bag as Todd finished up with his 4:00 clients and called me over to join his group.
There were four of us in his group, a girl and two high school boys and myself. We started right at 5:00 and immediately got into a furious collection of jumping rope, step-ups and leg and ab exercises. We went at a good pace, doing some exercises for time like the "quick feet" and others working on perfect form and taking our own time. Todd observed all four of us at various points making sure that form was good and offering encouragement toward the end of our sets. Numerous times he came over and corrected either my posture or my balance. Having been an athlete my entire life I had done many of the exercises before but working closely with Todd helped me get the most out of them and realize that I had been doing some of them incorrectly. Our session lasted nearly an hour and I must admit I was sore but not exhausted at the end. I knew that was far from the hardest workout we would do but my goal was to simply keep good form and complete each drill without giving up or slowing down.
During the session Todd had noticed that I pronounced my left foot inward while jumping rope so following the session he said wanted to test my hip flexor and my flexability. Laying down on a mat he put me through a number of leg twists and stretches designed to help get some flexibility in my very, very tight left hip. He asked about my previous athleti history and any injuries that would cause it to be that tight - such as my ACL surgery I had while in college. Getting done with that "physical therapy" session I realized how great my hip felt in just twenty minutes of stretching it out. All in all the personal training session was great but really set Todd and Fitness 360 apart from everywhere else was the personal touch. I could have done those drills on my own but probably would not have pushed myself like he did. Observing something in my physical attributes and helping me with it was simply what sold me after one session. I wanted to continue to work out at 360 no matter what but my excitement in doing so has increased greatly with Todd's knowledge and ability to help me reach new levels.
