Pilates is great for women and men alike however here are some reasons why it is particularly beneficial for men.
Still traditionally men are more likely to work longer hours and be desk-based than women. It is also often still expected that men will do the heavy lifting such as lifting suitcases, therefore men are at a higher risk of low back pain. In our Pilates class for men most of the men are recovering from acute back pain, or learning to manage chronic back pain. Pilates teaches men a set of exercises that they can doing at home daily that help to keep the important stabilizing muscles strong and keep pain away.
Men are more likely than women to lift heavy weights in the gym. Men are also more likely than women to specifically work on major muscle groups such as lats and pecs. In order to balance this out Pilates works on the smaller stabilizing muscles often using body weight and props which include light weights and theraband. Working on the smaller muscles in this way helps to balance out the torque and force production of all the muscles that act on the shoulder to produce efficient movement through range.
Women are more likely than men to attend yoga classes, during which class participants do exercises on one side of the body, and then another. This performing of exercises on one side, and then the other allows them to spot asymmetries. In some cases they didn’t even know that one side was tight while the other was not until they perform an exercise on the right and then the left. By doing Pilates, man can easily spot differences/asymmetries in this way, and once they know what their asymmetries are, it is easy for them to work on addressing them.
Originally published at https://www.perfectbalance.ae on August 24, 2020.
