The Official Body Control Pilates Manual

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book for Pilates
Review: This book was a great disappointment for me since it was my first on Pilates...not to mention a waste of money.A much better book is Alycea ungaro's book - Bodies in Motion and Brooke Siler's Book- The Pilates Body.Don't bother with this one

Rating:
Summary: Clarifies a lot of things!
Review: This is my fourth Pilates book and I must say that this is the real fundamental resource for the Pilates method.

One major difference that you'll find in this book is that it asks you to prepare and condition your body first before you execute the actual classic Pilates exercises. The book first discusses the ideal posture and proper body alignment that we are born with, its importance in our everyday life, and the reasons why this ideal gets distorted as we grow older. You can also means of assessing your current posture and body alignment here. According to this book, there are generally three types of postural deformities that can be addressed by doing Pilates exercises. For each of the deformities, corresponding corrective exercises are enumerated and described. (This is akin to Anna Selby's Pilates book in that regard - that is an equally good book although not as expansive as this one is.)

Traditional methods would ask you to do "The Hundred" as a means of warming up the body. Before even touching on "The Hundred", though, this book first asks you, and tells you how to: make sure that you correctly locate your powerhouse, ensure that your spine is in neutral, that your pelvic is steady, that you are breathing correctly, and all the other fundamental exercises that you should know to fine-tune your body. I thought I was doing Pilates correctly, but after reading this book, I realized that so much more can be done in attaining optimal results using Pilates, principally by preparing your body for the exercises to come.

Very often, in doing Pilates exercises, one is asked to put one's "navel to spine". This book clarifies exactly what that means, and gives guidance on how to execute this move properly. In addition, Pilates exercises call for lifting or rolling down "vertebra by vertebra". This book also tells you exactly what that means, and points to the body parts that correspond to these areas. Another thing that I like about this book is that it provides visualization tips to execute each move correctly all throughout the workouts.

Lest you think that this book is all about preparatory exercises for Pilates, let me say too the classic Pilates exercises are also included in this book - with new and helpful tips to execute the moves properly. The instructions are presented clearly and not without good humor at times.

This full color, photograph-filled book is segregated into different sections. You have the sections for the beginner, for the intermediate, and for the advanced exercises. You also have sections for selecting which type of workout you should do (exercises included) depending on your lifestyle. Say you are a dancer, actor, sedentary worker, or athlete - flip through these sections and find the workout suitable for you. Say you have a specific body problem - for example, you are knock-kneed, or you have tight ankles, there are also exercises here that can help you.

My only comment about this book is that it assumes that one has mastered the human anatomy. Through the course of the exercises and discussions, references to specific muscle groups are made, most with illustrations and layperson's terms, but a few without. I readily forgive this flaw, though, for I do find myself benefiting greatly from the contents of this book.