If you’re an athlete or training for a major sporting event like a marathon or any field sports like rugby and football or hockey you know what it takes to keep improving past your personal best. You’ll train so much and so hard for even the slightest benefit. It’s the nature of competition wanting to keep surpassing yourself, and giving your best performance each and every time.
The Importance of Tapping into different Training Styles
This is why it’s so important to experience training styles that others are not using. When the traditional athlete trains, they think of coaches, gyms, and the outdoors. Few of them consider the Reformer, and how Clinical Reformer Pilates can activate muscles that traditional exercise sometimes misses.
Many athletes suffer from the same-old-same-old style of training: They have found something that works, so they’re, understandably, sticking with it while they continue to get results. But the body needs go much deeper than that kind of repetition. Having a different physical platform and a different path-of-motion can go a long way for any person that is needing to stretch the muscles and re-establish the core balance necessary to excel.
At the Osteopathic clinic in Croydon we often see patients that are struggling with an injury due to taking part in a sporting event or more often suffering from injury whilst training. As an Osteopath I will also recommend Clinical Pilates, as I know it support my patients on many levels and it’s important to me that the patients are finding a way to prevent injury to avoid the same pattern.
How Pilates supports you whilst Training
Pilates offers a unique take on the diverse needs of the muscles, and helps to promote the firing of deep, intrinsic core musculature. The Pilates Reformer, as many athletes have reported, provides a wide range of different approaches to more classic exercises. Because of the engineering behind the Reformer, “balance muscles” are forced to cooperate and work synergistically, just the way that nature intended. This is a far cry from traditional strength machines or athletic devices aimed at targeting one or two key areas. While that approach has its merits for some, most athletes require a more holistic approach with more muscular involvement.
There are four key areas that a sports person can benefit from Clinical Reformer Pilates
Increases flexibility – If you are training regular and frequently taking part in sporting events your activity will naturally allow your muscles to shorten. It’s the shortened muscles that can cause injury. Reformer Pilates allows you to lengthen your muscles whilst simultaneously building strength preventing you from further injury.
Increases Core strength - This is especially important because a strong core means your body doesn’t have to work as hard and it allows parts of your body like your shoulders and neck to be able to relax. This is crucial when taking part in a marathon or sporting event where endurance is essential.
Increases muscle and balance As mentioned earlier it works on every muscle and helps build awareness of which muscles are working and how to stimulate the right muscles. If you are playing a sport that is particularly using one side of your body more often than the other, for example ‘tennis. or golf.’ Reformer Pilates allows you to strengthen the muscles in the arm you don’t use regular whilst allowing you to relax and stretch the dominant arm.
Increases Mental focus This is an important factor when training for a major sporting event, when your thoughts are paramount to the success of your performance. Clinical Pilates allows you to really focus on breathing and movement. This enables you to stay focused when taking part in stressful and major sporting events.
Long Term Athletic Development
Another concept that coaches are embracing is LTAD, or Long-term Athletic Development. With LTAD the training progresses from general to specific and from basic to complex. Since Pilates is traditionally based in using lighter resistance selections than what we see in more traditional strength-training, and since the multi-angular nature of Pilates is better suited for nearly any sport; Pilates is an excellent choice for coaches and athletes seeking the LTAD style of conditioning.
The Reformer helps to keep the athlete in the prime position for their exercise. It requires the use of more muscles engaging and less momentum, as the muscles contract together to stabilize the moving limbs. With stability being one of the key components in both sport performance and injury prevention, Reformer Pilates is rightfully earning more and more merit in the world of athletic and sport conditioning.
If you would like to experience the benefits of Reformer Pilates then contact our clinic today to book your place.