UAE Fitness Archives | 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.

 

 

walid
Today we are delighted to share with you our recent interview with Rashid Saeed – a father, businessman and fitness aficionado, who joined The Hundred Wellness Center after injuring his back during his CrossFit training regime. Rashid is currently being privately trained by Walid Tebarki, one of our Pilates instructors, and is regaining his core strength through a series of specific core exercises using the Pilates ball, Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and Pole. Pilates strengthens the “powerhouse” which is the deep core muscles of the body (abdominal, gluteus and muscles surrounding and stabilizing the spine), and helps to elongate the spine, increasing the elasticity of muscles and the flexibility of joints. CrossFit training relies heavily on the initiation of core muscles in all of its exercises and by complementing it with Pilates there is a much lower risk of potential injuries. Continue reading “pilates, it’s a core thing: interview with rashid saeed”
The Hundred Wellness Center Location Map
The Hundred Wellness Center Location Map

Behind the Zoo, and nestled in the heart of Jumeirah1 is special piece of wellness that we call home. After much hard work, it gives us great pride to finally introduce you all to {The Hundred Wellness Center}. For full contact details, click here.

Elena standing proudly at the finish line after completing her 10k Dubai Marathon journey | The Hundred Pilates Studio
Elena standing proudly at the finish line after completing her 10k Dubai Marathon journey | The Hundred Pilates Studio

Joseph Pilates created his exercises as a way to increase overall fitness for anyone. However, because graceful, flowing movements are part of the full Pilates exercises, and because they build strength without building bulky muscles, they were quickly adopted by dancers and gymnasts. Runners didn’t consider the benefits of Pilates until it was more widespread.

For example, Elena one of our expert teachers at the Hundred Pilates Studio in Dubai who has recently and proudly completed her 10K Dubai Marathon journey, reveals the benefits of cross-training Pilates with her running regime and how it has helped her reach the finish line:

“So I decided to run my first 10k after many years of completely ignoring and excluding running from my everyday routine. Online research and analyzing movement patterns of my clients who started doing Pilates to improve their running technique helped me to understand that my main goal is to prevent a possible injury and enjoy every mile of my 10k journey. Being a Pilates teacher and practitioner for years, I got spoiled by a variety of movements and amazing ranges that the contrology method can bring into your body during the practice. Hence getting into a quite repetitive routine like running was already a big challenge. I ran for a good cause starting my training with Pink 10k application (breast cancer awareness campaign ) that got me from a combination of 2 min jog with 2 min walk to my cherished 10k in 4 month.
I must admit it was HARD and so different from what my body got used to until the moment I relaxed and started enjoying the movements, the same way I enjoy it at the Pilates Studio. Thinking about the proper alignment, moving from the centre, breathing, engaging my core, feeling my limbs being extensions of my belly and my spine and being present in my body every single second with every single step I took.
I had to spend many hours in the studio working with Pilates foot corrector to strengthen my feet and ankles that helped me to distribute the impact and weight bearing more gradually in order to avoid knee/hip injury. I focused on a lot of core work and upper body to keep my posture perfectly supported while running. Not to mentioned how many stretches on different pieces of Pilates equipment I had to do in these 4 months pre-race. I still can’t understand how people jog and only spend only 5-10min doing very basic stretches. My advice is to warm up and STRETCH! And the more sophisticated and varied your stretches are THE BETTER and less chances of injury!” – Elena
Pilates Foot Corrector
Pilates Foot Corrector

While all runners should stretch before they run, some runners’ training programs don’t focus enough on stretching. Strength and endurance training alone won’t provide the progressive stretching that regular Pilates workouts will. Insufficiently stretched muscles can cause many problems for a runner, slowing them down at best, or leading to a serious injury at worst.

Just like stretching, Pilates helps runners focus on their breathing. This benefit is synergistic with the stretching because warming up the core helps the intercostal muscles that connect the ribs. This makes it easier to breathe smoothly using all available lung capacity.

Stretching - the key to injury prevention!
Stretching – the key to injury prevention!
And on a final encouraging advice and note from Elena….
“I always encourage my clients to stay active and cross-train (add new workout varieties) to their fitness routine as I truly believe that movement heels and keeps you young and fully alive. Dedicate yourself to the movement and you will start enjoying your life and appreciating your body so much more!”
Discover how Pilates can help you with your current fitness regime by visiting our website at : www.thehundred.ae

As Pilates instructors we know that the benefits of Pilates are far-­‐reaching. Pilates is so much more than just a series of exercises, it is a mind-­‐body therapy that changes the way we move, think and interact. Far from just toning and sculpting, Pilates alters the way we move and hold our bodies in everything we do.

The benefits of Pilates can be seen clearly in the workplace. The typical office worker is overstressed, out of shape, and run down. They are typically shallow breathers, slouchers and may suffer Occupational Overuse Syndrome. Pilates, with its unique series of exercises, is able to correct all of these things. It teaches us correct movement patterns and breathing technique and improves posture.

Pilates Exercises In the City, bought to you by The Hundred Pilates Studio in Dubai.
Pilates Exercises In the City, bought to you by The Hundred Pilates Studio in Dubai.

Continue reading “a healthier posture with pilates in the uae workplace!”