Tag: The Hundred Pilates Dubai

Pilates is one of the greatest wellness workouts out there and is steadily gaining popularity in our region. As a tool that helps in improving flexibility and strengthening the core muscles, this wonder workout has something for everyone. At The Hundred Wellness Centre, we not only use pilates as a powerful exercise style but also as a unique physiotherapy program for people recovering from injuries. Our pilates classes in Dubai are greatly focused on its rehabilitative abilities and use it systematically to condition and help our patients’ body function efficiently.

Pilates is generally known for its strengthening capabilities, affecting even the deepest muscles of the core, optimizing its alignment and creating corrective movements and patterns. This capability is leveraged by our trainers to develop a system to prevent and rehabilitate patients who have muscular injuries. In this blog, we will discuss some of the fundamental reasons why Pilates is so effective in injury rehab and prevention.

Core strengthening properties

Many of the common body injuries are caused by muscular imbalances in our body. This could be due to anything from your posture, walking style, sleeping position or sports/workout sessions. An incorrect body movement puts undue stress on your body’s core muscles, weakening them in the process. Such imbalance puts pressure, strains, pulls or tears, leading to injuries, which consists of the deep abdominal muscles along with the muscles closest to the spine.

Pilates is focused on the center or core muscles of your body. By getting trained in pilates, you will be able to stretch and improve your pelvic alignment, which is vital for our movement to avoid most kinds of injuries. Our rehabilitative pilates classes provide the right techniques to help build core strength without aggravating existing injuries.

Mobility and stability

A strong body has to stable and but still very mobile. For body stabilization, it is important to attain optimal mobility. We often quote the example of a tennis player here. In an ideal situation, the tennis player should have deep core strength and stable shoulder girdle, and yet, tremendous mobility of the arm to hit the ball right. Lack of core strength or shoulder stability can easily injure the player.  

Being too mobile (hypermobility) or too rigid (hypomobility) can both impact a body negatively. Stretching programs from pilates are customized to focus on both stability and mobility, giving a perfect combination of both, providing optimal performance and prevent injuries.

Increased flexibility 

Another reason why therapists recommend Pilates for rehabilitation is because of its flexible nature. With an increased degree of flexibility than most conventional exercises, Pilates workouts can be ‘personalized’ for every individual and still be very effective. There are basic exercises to very advanced ones that are used all used for strengthening and maintaining the body positions correctly, thereby maximizing the results.

Concentrated on positive movements 

Pilates as a rehabilitation tool doesn’t just help increase muscular strength or improve overall functioning. This physical ‘therapy’ has the ability to evolve positive body movements- where the patient is able to make a move without feeling any pain. The more the patient is without the pain, the more confident and positive he or she becomes. This drastically improves the quality of their everyday life. This healthy rehabilitative cycle helps patients recover faster from their injuries and of course, stay away from them as well.

Final thoughts

While traditional workout routines are perfect for keeping a healthy body in shape, Pilates for rehabilitation is tuned in such a way that it can be considered therapy. The underlying principles of pilates are perfect for rehabilitation. By combining the movements with proper therapy techniques, Pilates can be used to recover from existing injuries and prevent new ones. At The Hundred Wellness Centre, our pilates classes are headed by classically trained Pilates teachers, who are also well versed in physiotherapy.  With our rehabilitative pilates, we plan to bring complete harmony to your body through continuous therapeutic sessions.

 

Yogalife Middle East joined Walid Tebarki, one of our Pilates instructors at The Hundred Pilates Studio, to discover the natural range of motion, biomechanics and fluid poses that we go through in a Pilates class which resembles very much to Yoga poses and the natural movements of animals.We know that many of Joseph Pilates moves were inspired by the form and movement of animals. He frequented zoos, and encouraged students to watch the way animals move. Some Pilates exercises, like seal, swan, and crab are named for animals.  Here is what Yogalife have discovered with us.

 

 

“… true rhythm and control is observed both in domestic pets and wild animals – without exception.” Joseph Pilates

Pick up the March 2014 issue of Yogalife Middle East Magazine to read this coverage in fine print!
Visit www.thehundred.ae to find out how you can book a Pilates session with us.

Breathing is sooo important and it would serve us well to do it well.  It is the most important element for life, (Without breathing we die fairly rapidly, we can last without food, water, sunshine and love for a relatively long time, but without breathing your toast in 2 mins).

If you struggle with worry and anxiety, you know all too well the toll it takes on your life. You might generate so much anxiety that you: are unable to talk with someone you are close with about a concern, appear more like a deer-in-the-headlights than a sharp candidate at a job interview, are practically paralyzed at the thought of doing a presentation for work, have poor concentration while taking an important exam; the list goes on and on. If you even remotely relate to this, you will want to know about square breathing. Though it won’t fix underlying issues that might be driving your anxiety, it can help you to relax, refocus, and move forward.

 

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This month we interview a dedicated client of ours – Faisal Lutfi – a 29 year old father of 2, a partner in 2 businesses, Sheburger and Allinque Personal Assistance and a Senior Manager of regional and international affairs in Dubai Customs, who is currently, cross-complementing his Cross Fit training regime with Pilates after being diagnosed with a few of spinal injuries. We are delighted to share his results with you.

But before that lets talk a bit about Crossfit and Pilates. Both have their origins in gymnastics. Pilates originated in the early twentieth century by Joseph Pilates, a former gymnast and boxer.The main goal of Pilates is to return our bodies to a functional level, strengthening the muscular system from the core to the periphery, focusing mostly on the small stabilizing and postural muscles.

Crossfit was founded in 1995 by Greg Glassman, a former high school gymnast. Crossfit focuses on the ten aspects of fitness: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.

Continue reading “pilates and cross fit – {real client case study}”

A staple in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya….this Middle Eastern delicious dish is a very simple to create and is a refreshing change to your usual scrambled – benedict – omelet….you name it. The egg is poached in a bed of thick rich tomato sauce and baked in the oven with tangy feta cheese and basil leaves. Your house will smell heavenly, your tastebuds will thank you for a healthy omega-3 breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. Yes, it is very versatile and addictive!

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Many people think of body detox in terms of juice/food cleansing diets but how about considering a  powerful body cleansing process you have available to you all the time, through a combination of a healthy lifestyle and Pilates exercises? Here, The Hundred Pilates Studio in Dubai reveal inspirational studies on the power of breath.

In 1931 Dr Otto H Warburg won the Nobel peace prize for his studies in cancerous cells. He discovered a connection between Oxygen and cancer. He concluded, in a summarized version, that the primary form of cancerous cell is directly related to oxygen-deprived cells. He also suggested that cancerous cells are anaerobic and thrive in an oxygen-deprived environment.

Although toxins are removed from our body in by the Urinary system and Sweating, some of the toxins can only be “burnt up” and neutralised through oxidation, which take place within our muscles and organs by Oxygenated Red blood cells. A build up in toxins is what makes us feel lethargic, and can lead to us feeling unwell. Slow deep breaths also help to activate parasympathetic nervous system which is when the body gets the chance to recuperate, regenerate, and heal.

Joseph Pilates thought that “every last atom of old air should be squeezed from the lungs” so that fresh, invigorating oxygen could flood the body by way of the circulatory system which gets the blood moving and gives us that internal shower ‘feeling’. Exercise helps pump the oxygenated blood all the way through the body to the furthest capillaries, nourishing them and carrying away old debris.

Read more on how to give your body a well-deserved internal cleanse and more fascinating benefits of oxygen in the system…

 

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Staying mobile during Ramadan with Pilates stretches is healthy. While your workout might not be as intense for the month, stretching and working the abdominal and back is necessary to staying supple and prevention of injury in any movement you do – simply taking heavy food trays out of the oven is an example to avoid strain. Posture is the alignment of our skeleton within the body and Pilates teaches us how to consciously discover our natural or neutral alignment throughout the body.  Given enough practice, we transfer these experiences so our everyday life so that our alignment is now subconscious. So without further ado, here are some great pilates exercises to practice at home recommended by The Hundred Pilates in Dubai.

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Now, even if you are not a vegan, or a vegetarian, this much healthier and dairy-free option is a great substitute when you’re craving a cheese dip. It is a delicious, lighter and satisfying dip substitute to processed cheese using healthy cashews instead, yes, cashews! Easy to prepare and so creamy and delicious, this lower calorie and heart healthier alternative dip is also a lighter way to indulge; loaded with B-vitamins, protein and healthy fats, you can actually feel good about enjoying this cheesy, yet cheeseless, delight. Nutritional yeast is considered by many to be the most valuable supplement available and is used as a flavor enhancer as well as a nutritional aid …

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