For anyone who thinks Pilates is only for women, or just for stretching, take a look at this video of Antonio Brown doing Pilates (on High Chair, Reformer and Ladder Barrel), then read the article about 6 other NFL Wide Receivers who do Pilates. From an article on Stack.com by Maddy Lucier, dated April 17, 2015.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Dr Araújo Provides More Info on SRT
Last month, I wrote a blog, "Pilates and Sitting-Rising Life Expectancy Test." The lead researcher, Dr Claudio Gil Araújo, from Clinimex, Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro, kindly wrote to provide more information on another ref by his research group that was published in the Am J Phys Med & Rehab, "Does flexibility influence the ability to sit and rise from the floor?"
The purpose of this study was to establish whether flexibility influences the ability to sit and rise from the floor. Subjects aged 6-92 yrs performed the Sitting-Rising Test (SRT) and the Flexitest on the same laboratory visit. The SRT evaluates components of musculoskeletal function by assessing the subject's ability to sit and rise from the floor, which was scored from 0 to 5, with 1 point being subtracted from 5 for each support used (hand/knee). The subject's final SRT score, varying from 0 to 10, was obtained by adding the sitting and rising scores. The Flexitest evaluates the maximum passive range of motion of 20 body joint movements. For each one of the movements, there are five possible scores, 0-4, in a crescent mobility order. Adding the results of the 20 movements provides an overall flexibility score called the Flexindex (FLX).
Dr. Araújo's team concluded: Although seemingly simple tasks, the actions of sitting and rising from the floor are also partially dependent on flexibility in male and female subjects of a wide age range. Future studies should explore the potential benefit of regular flexibility exercises for these actions.
Dr. Araújo said the SRT has been used in several other clinical and sports scenarios on about 7,000 people ranging from 5 to 90 years of age in the last 15 years. It is also been utilized in US and Brazilian Army in order to easily identify those with some limitations in non-aerobic physical fitness (those unable to score a perfect 10 at 18-25 years of age). If you need the age and gender norms (pediatric to geriatric populations), Dr. Araújo has offered to provide -- you may contact Any Body's Pilates and we will put you in touch.
Thank you to Dr. Araújo for the follow-on message and information on additional studies.
The purpose of this study was to establish whether flexibility influences the ability to sit and rise from the floor. Subjects aged 6-92 yrs performed the Sitting-Rising Test (SRT) and the Flexitest on the same laboratory visit. The SRT evaluates components of musculoskeletal function by assessing the subject's ability to sit and rise from the floor, which was scored from 0 to 5, with 1 point being subtracted from 5 for each support used (hand/knee). The subject's final SRT score, varying from 0 to 10, was obtained by adding the sitting and rising scores. The Flexitest evaluates the maximum passive range of motion of 20 body joint movements. For each one of the movements, there are five possible scores, 0-4, in a crescent mobility order. Adding the results of the 20 movements provides an overall flexibility score called the Flexindex (FLX).
Dr. Araújo's team concluded: Although seemingly simple tasks, the actions of sitting and rising from the floor are also partially dependent on flexibility in male and female subjects of a wide age range. Future studies should explore the potential benefit of regular flexibility exercises for these actions.
Dr. Araújo said the SRT has been used in several other clinical and sports scenarios on about 7,000 people ranging from 5 to 90 years of age in the last 15 years. It is also been utilized in US and Brazilian Army in order to easily identify those with some limitations in non-aerobic physical fitness (those unable to score a perfect 10 at 18-25 years of age). If you need the age and gender norms (pediatric to geriatric populations), Dr. Araújo has offered to provide -- you may contact Any Body's Pilates and we will put you in touch.
Thank you to Dr. Araújo for the follow-on message and information on additional studies.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Mat Pilates Aids in Blood Pressure Control
While physical exercise has been used in treating hypertension, aka high blood pressure, few methods have proven beneficial in research settings. Researchers at Universidade Federal de Sao Paolo, in Brazil, wanted to evaluate whether Mat Pilates would offer reductions in blood pressure, as do some other resistance exercises.
In a research study published in International Journal of Cardiology (2015; 179, 262-68), researchers enrolled 44 hypertensive, middle-aged women being treated with medication for blood pressure. They were divided into a training group and a control group. The training group performed 60-minute mat pilates sessions twice a week for 16 weeks. The control group maintained daily activities without exercise training.
The training group showed statistically significant improvements for the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure in all moments evaluated (clinical, 24 hour, awake and asleep). The training group also showed improvements in height, waist and hip circumferences, flexibility, right and left hand strengths. There were no significant changes
in the control group. Researchers concluded that hypertensive women using antihypertensive medications can benefit from mat pilates to reduce clinical and ambulatory blood pressure, supporting the recommendation of mat Pilates as a non-drug treatment for hypertension.
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In a research study published in International Journal of Cardiology (2015; 179, 262-68), researchers enrolled 44 hypertensive, middle-aged women being treated with medication for blood pressure. They were divided into a training group and a control group. The training group performed 60-minute mat pilates sessions twice a week for 16 weeks. The control group maintained daily activities without exercise training.
The training group showed statistically significant improvements for the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure in all moments evaluated (clinical, 24 hour, awake and asleep). The training group also showed improvements in height, waist and hip circumferences, flexibility, right and left hand strengths. There were no significant changes
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Take a Mat class with Any Body's Pilates and see the difference Pilates, small classes and individualized instruction can make in your workout, your body and your life.
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