Celebrities Madonna, Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone have done it. So have basketball star Jason Kidd, pitcher Curt Schilling and offensive lineman Ruben Brown. What they all have in common is Pilates, one of the fastest growing fitness activities in America, according to SGMA International, the trade association for sports equipment manufacturers.

Designed to increase flexibility and improve posture, balance and coordination, Pilates focuses on strengthening the body’s core or midsection.

Once favored by rock divas, actresses and supermodels, the stretching and strengthening exercise method developed by Joseph Pilates become the latest training rage for male professional athletes.

“Since I’ve done Pilates, I’m much better looking and 4 feet taller,” says Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA Championship. “Seriously, I’m now so stretched out and have such great posture that I look and feel like a different person.”

Developed in the early 1900s, Pilates consists of 600 exercises, all initiating from the muscles in the abdomen, lower back, hips or buttocks. The cost of a private Pilates session with a properly licensed instructor is comparable to a personal training session.

For athletes, the benefits include more efficient movement as well as better endurance, speed and quickness.

No longer just for women

As mainstream as the Pilates method of developing core muscle groups has become, male professional athletes interested in adding it to their training programs still must get past the stigma that this is largely a women’s exercise.

Kidd, the Nets superstar point guard, gave his wife, Joumana, a longtime Pilates devotee, a hard time when she told him it might help in his rehabilitation of a broken ankle a few years ago. After weeks of making fun of Pilates, Kidd finally tried it.

“I immediately discovered how tight I was,” Kidd recalls. “After one session I was energized. From that point on I was convinced it was a great workout.”

For Kidd, Pilates is all about finding the edge. He estimates 30% of his strength and flexibility training comes from Pilates. “Pilates has made me quicker, more explosive,” he says.

Rich Dalatri, the Nets strength coach, has been instrumental in introducing the exercise method to the entire team.

“Pilates is rejuvenating, restorative, invigorating,” he says, “maybe because it gets the blood flowing through every inch of the muscles. It’s so internal. It puts you in tune with your body. It puts you in a different state.”

The Nets have invested in Pilates equipment for their weight room. The players are so dependent that throughout the NBA playoffs in 2002, a leading Pilates company shipped special equipment to the team’s hotel on road trips.

Patience pays off

Pilates’ founding father always proclaimed, “In 10 sessions, you will feel the difference. In 20, you will see the difference. And in 30, you’ll have a whole new body.”

Schilling, the Arizona Diamondbacks star pitcher, agrees. “The first three weeks, I was really disappointed,” says Schilling, who incorporated Pilates into his offseason training program last winter. “I wasn’t sweating. I wasn’t winded, which is what I associate with true exercise.

“Then in the fourth week I started to understand the Pilates terminology, the idea of working from your center. By the third month I was more powerful and flexible than ever before. And I’d lost 15 pounds.”

Hannah Gallagher, Schilling’s Pilates instructor, says, “He’s a man. He’s used to hard-core workouts, where you throw up afterward. Pilates is not that. It is an equal balance of stretch and strength.”

After years of the no-pain, no-gain school of thought, male professional athletes say they appreciate the kinder, gentler, holistic aspect of Pilates.

For Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl offensive guard Ruben Brown, Pilates is all about preventing injury.

“I’m a big guy with a gut,” the 6-0, 300-pound Brown says. “I was always battling back strain. Plus, I’m 30 years old now. I’m tired of lifting weights, taking the pounding.”

The last two offseasons Brown has done Pilates three times a week.

“My first session, it shook me up,” Brown says. “It shook everything up. It still does.

“And man, those Pilates women are competitive. They want to see if they can get the big, strong football player to wimp out. I told myself, ‘Hey, ladies, I can do that, too.’ ”

How has his body responded to Pilates?

“I came out of the season injury-free,” he says. “I used to feel like crap after practice and games but not since Pilates.

“I learned how to breathe through my muscles. My posture is better. I can run more fluidly. And I increased my bench workouts.”

‘Profound impact’ on Mediate

For PGA Tour pro Rocco Mediate, Pilates is all about strengthening his back — and prolonging his career. After major back surgery in 1994, Mediate says he wasn’t the same. He couldn’t bend over for long periods of time to practice his putting, and his back always went out after lengthy plane trips.

Enter Pilates in November 2001.

“After a week I was turned around,” he says. “After two I felt like I’d never felt before.”

Mediate has since sold his weights and has completely outfitted the workout room in his Ponte Vedra, Fla., home with several pieces of Pilates equipment. “Pilates never compromises your back,” he says. “I’ve got more motion in my shoulders, midsection and legs. I can repeat my basic swing more often. Pilates is going to add five, six, seven … years to my career.”

Caroline Schmid, Mediate’s Pilates instructor, says, “The golf swing is a little one-sided, which can create imbalance in the body. Pilates helps to balance out the body against the forces of the swing. It helps to create less torque in the spine because you learn to swing from your center and not from your limbs.”

Mediate’s wife, Linda, also has had success with Pilates. She has overcome injuries suffered in three car accidents as well as giving birth to three children: “I couldn’t walk unless I put my hand on my back.”

She gives Pilates credit for major improvements in her husband’s game.

“He used to avoid putting, and now he’s a putting machine,” she says. “I want to hug Caroline because she has had such a profound impact on Rocco.”

By Jill Lieber, USA TODAY

The Pilates Method was developed by German-born Joseph Pilates in the 1920s by combining mind and body work through a controlled sequence of movement. Pilates developed these movements based on his experiences with Zen meditation, martial arts, and other fitness techniques.

Regular practice and mastery of the technique stretches, strengthens, and tones muscle, improves posture, flexibility, and balance, and unites mind and body. Almost nine decades later, the benefits of Pilates continue to be recognized by people who want to take a more controlled low-impact approach to fitness.

The benefits of Pilates are many, and through continued dedication, movements can be mastered and the benefits clearly defined. Regular practice of the method builds a strong, long, and lean body core using deep abdominal muscles. Pilates movements also reduce stress and tension, increase energy, improve circulation and range of motion, strengthen the spine, improve flexibility, promotes back health and speeds recovery from injury.

The old adage, “no pain no gain” is simply not true. A good work out does NOT have to leave you exhausted and sore. No one wants to feel like they can’t walk the day after working out.

Joseph Pilates said, “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” This is another example of the benefits of Pilates; the entire body functions better with regular exercise; besides weight loss and control, endorphins are released that improve ones mood and outlook on life.

Pilates has been proven to be effective and beneficial to people of all ages all over the world. Joseph Pilates also said, “In ten sessions you will feel the difference, in twenty you’ll see the difference and in thirty you’ll have a whole new body.” I can personally attest that you will start feeling more toned after only three sessions, so go ahead and experience the benefits of Pilates for yourself!

By: Subodh Jain

The increasing popularity of Pilates is a wonderful thing, but like the game, Telephone, where the meaning of a phrase gets distorted as it is passed along, as word spreads about Pilates, so have some ideas about it that aren’t serving anybody. Here a few of the myths about Pilates that can send Pilates folks into mild hysteria, if not full-on conniptions.

Myth 1.  Pilates is a derivative of yoga.

Ah, this one is causing endless frustration for both Pilates and yoga practitioners, especially teachers who have students come in thinking that yoga and Pilates are interchangeable. Pilates is as much like yoga as a golf ball is to lasagna. Although Joseph Pilates did study yoga, along with many other fitness and body/mind disciplines, Pilates and yoga are very different.

Myth  2. Pilates is just a quick fix for flabby abs.

Well, the truth in this one is that Pilates is a fix for flabby abs. Pilates is well-known for flattening tummies. The reason that Pilates does focus on working from the core, especially the deeper abdominal muscles, is that toning the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles provides stability and freedom of motion throughout the body. This is one of the reasons that Pilates has been so successful for people who have back pain.

However, Pilates does not stop at abdominal work at all. Structural integration and learning to create a flexible, strong body that can move freely and efficiently are important goals of Pilates fitness. To this end, Pilates works all body parts in a very balanced way, not just the abs.

The Pilates method is also a practice of mind/body fitness. Developing a body that works as a harmonious whole requires much more than a calisthenics or spot reduction approach to fitness. The Pilates principles – control, centering, concentration, breath, flow, and precision all support an integrative mind/body experience through Pilates exercise.

Myth  3. Pilates is easy, for wimps.

Hold it while I count to 10, do my breathing exercises and visualize peace! I’ve been hearing this easy Pilates rumor around lately and it just about sends me into orbit.

I think the idea that Pilates is easy comes from a few places. First, Pilates is very adaptable. It can be easy or very hard, depending on the needs of the individual. The ability to modify exercises for different populations is actually one of the greatest strengths of Pilates. Second, the soaring popularity of Pilates has meant that there are many beginner Pilates classes in practically every gym and studio around the country. This is a good thing, but it also means that people are not necessarily exposed to the intermediate and advanced levels of Pilates. Third, Pilates exercises are often done slowly. There is an emphasis on awareness and control that can make an exercise look easy to the casual observer.

I can think of other reasons that Pilates might seem to be easy. It is a popular form of exercise for pregnant women, it is used in rehabilitation, and people of all ages and sizes can do Pilates. Nevertheless, I assure you that the Pilates method presents ongoing challenges for even the fittest athletes (with whom Pilates is also very popular).

Myth  4. Pilates is mostly for women

Pilates has never been “just for women” and its benefits are certainly not gender biased. After all, Pilates was developed by a man, Joseph Pilates, who is said to have been a rather macho man at that. Joe was a gymnast, a boxer, and a military trainer in his early years, and pictures of Pilates even into his eighties, reveal a very strong, fit physique. Men have always played an important role in maintaining the Pilates work and shaping its evolution. Teachers like Ron Fletcher, who studied directly with Joseph Pilates, and Rael Isakowitz are among the most visible today.

It is true that Pilates is very popular with women, but there is nothing about Pilates that makes it more for women than for men. The adaptability of the Pilates method to different levels of fitness and body types has made Pilates an accessible and effective fitness choice for women. Also, Pilates has attracted a large number of dancers, especially women, and many of them have chosen Pilates as a next career. More women teachers have made Pilates more attractive to women students. Both of these factors may have contributed to a somewhat feminized perception of Pilates. Fortunately, now that the Pilates method is becoming so well accepted in fitness, more men are showing up in studios and training programs.

Myth  5. Anyone can teach Pilates with a little book and DVD study, or a short workshop.

There is an unfortunate truth in this. Pilates instruction is not regulated at the moment and anybody who wants to can claim to be teaching Pilates. But that’s as far as it goes. Pilates is a sophisticated method of exercise and a qualified instructor will have had lot of education and apprentice experience.

The certification to teach Pilates mat exercises is often just a weekend course, but this should be preceded by extensive time spent as a student. Full Pilates certification is much more extensive, requiring the study of anatomy, special populations, teaching skills, and all of the Pilates equipment and mat exercises. Most Pilates instructors have good training, but since the industry is not regulated it is up to the consumer to ask questions and be a discerning student, and the responsibility of prospective instructors to be sure that they have adequate education before teaching a class.