Yoga and Pilates - what's the difference?
Yoga and Pilates are hot right now and the number of people who are doing Yoga
classes and Pilates
classes for improved fitness and weight
loss is growing.
This article explains what Yoga and Pilates are all about and explores the differences and similarities between them so you can decide which one can help you achieve your goal and fit in with your current level of fitness and lifestyle.
Yoga Basics
Various forms of Yoga have been practiced for thousands of years but in
recent times practicing celebrities like Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Sting,
Rachel Welsh, Candice Bergen and even Ricky Martin have raised its profile
in countries like America, Australia and Britain.
Yoga is principally a life philosophy which encompassed ethical and spiritual
values as well as a series of poses (called 'Asana') which happen
to be very beneficial to the workings of the body and building a mind-body
connection.
Yoga posses were originally invented so Yoga practitioners could hold their
bodies in static positions for long periods while they were meditating, but
because they are isometric (which means they rely on holding muscle tension),
they also help build stronger muscles.
There are many different styles of Yoga practiced around the world, but
the most common styles practiced in Australia include:
- Ashtanga Yoga.
- Bikram Yoga.
- Hatha Yoga.
- Iyengar Yoga.
- Kundalini Yoga.
- Vinyasa Yoga.
Pilates Basics
Pilates was first born in the early 1900's when a man named Joseph
Pilates devised a series of exercises to help injured World War I soldiers
recover from battle injuries.
In time, Pilates became very popular among ballet dancers because it helped
them to maintain strong, lean muscles.
Like Yoga, Pilates has become very popular lately thanks to celebrities
like Jennifer Aniston, Kim Catrall, Cindy Crawford, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Sharon Stone, Uma Therman, Charlize Theron and Hugh Grant who all do Pilates
to stay in shape.
Unlike Yoga however, Pilates isn't a life philosophy, it is simply
a series of exercises designed to improve the strength of our core muscles
around the abdominals, hips and lower back.
There are two basic forms of Pilates, mat-based Pilates and equipment-based
Pilates.
Mat-based Pilates, which is the most popular form of Pilates, is a series
of exercises performed on the floor using gravity and our own body weight
to provide resistance.
Equipment-based Pilates, as the name suggests, uses specially designed equipment
and accessories to provide muscle resistance.
Benefits of doing Yoga or Pilates
Among its many benefits, Yoga is said to:
- Increase flexibility.
- Increase strength and vitality.
- Strengthen the immune system.
- Improve circulation.
- Strengthen and tone muscles.
- Facilitate weight loss.
- Improve balance.
- Help manage chronic health conditions such as asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, depression, back pain, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
- Improve concentration and focus.
- Reduce stress and anxiety.
- Encourage the connection of our physical, mental and spiritual selves.
Among its many benefits, Pilates is said to:
- Help us maintain a strong, flexible spine.
- Provide a greater awareness of our posture.
- Tone and build long, lean muscles.
- Strengthen deep abdominal muscles.
- Help with motivation by engaging our mind and enhancing body awareness.
- Reduce stress, relieve tension and boost energy.
- Help restore postural alignment.
- Promote recovery from strain or injury.
- Increase the range of motion of joints.
- Improve circulation.
- Offer relief from back pain and joint stress.
- Compliment sports training and develop functional fitness for daily life.
- Improve the way our body looks and feels.
- Help women return to their pre-pregnancy figure after giving birth.
- Provide a kinder and gentler way to exercise.
Similarities between Yoga and Pilates
Both Yoga and Pilates are considered to be mind-body exercises.
What all mind-body exercises have in common is that they require the right
balance of mindfulness, correct postures and concentrated breathing to enjoy
all the benefits they have to offer.
Yoga and Pilates both involve "mindful movement". Unlike walking
or jogging, where our movement is automatic, practicing Yoga and Pilates
requires us to be totally focused on what our body and muscles are doing.
Correct postures are very important to both styles and getting these postures
correct takes time and practice.
Differences between Yoga and Pilates
As you can see, there are many similarities between Yoga and Pilates and
they share some common benefits.
But there are also differences.
From a purely exercise perspective, these differences mainly have to do
with how each discipline is practiced and what their primary goals are.
Primarily, Yoga is designed to facilitate serious contemplation. In other
words, it tries to provide an integrated approach towards objective and transcendental
knowledge. Stronger muscles, stress relief and improved circulation are essentially
by-products of practicing Yoga.
Pilates on the other hand, primarily tries to strengthen the core stability
muscles of our body to improve the way we function in our daily lives.
Yoga exercises themselves are typically static poses that are held for a
period of time, say for one minute each for example. It is the holding of
these poses and the transition from one pose to the next that provides stimulation
to our muscles.
Because it involves poses that challenge the whole body, Yoga tends to exercise
almost every muscle in the body while Pilates simply tries to exercise the
deep core stabilizer muscles around our stomach and hips.
To perform Yoga poses and Pilates movements properly and for maximum affect
takes practice, but unlike Yoga poses which not all students can comfortably
get into straight away (because of inflexibility or lack of strength in some
muscles), most Pilates movements can be performed by complete novices (they
just might not be able to do all of the required repetitions right away).
A very important part of Yoga is the deep breathing that is done while holding
each pose and while transitioning from one pose to the next.
Breathing is also a very important part of performing Pilates exercises,
but Pilates exercises are not all static poses, mainly they are movements
which are done for a certain number of repetitions.
In addition, Pilates has only one basic style of breathing, which is called "ribcage
breathing". The purpose of this style of breathing is to stabilize and
protect our spine while we are in different positions by holding our abdominal
muscles tight while still allowing us to take deep breaths.
Yoga, meanwhile, has many styles of breathing that are used for many different
purposes.
For example, there are breathing techniques for relaxation, focus, energy
and deep meditation.
Another difference between the breathing of Yoga and Pilates is that in
Yoga, you use your nose to inhale and exhale while in Pilates, you inhale
through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Finally, Yoga classes often use music and sometimes integrate chanting or
affirmations, which are designed to address the meditative side of the practice.
Pilates classes on the other hand are usually done in very quiet environments
where music, talk and other distractions are kept to a minimum.
The cost and availability of Yoga and Pilates Classes
The cost of doing Yoga or Pilates classes at specialist Yoga
centres or
Pilates studios are roughly the same.
Increasingly, many gyms and fitness centres now offer Yoga and mat-based
Pilates classes just as they offer Aerobic, Pump, Boxercise and Spin classes.
Because there are many more different types of Yoga, some styles aren't
always readily available and you may have to travel a little further to do
them or find them a little more difficult to locate.
Should you do Yoga or Pilates?
The choice between doing Yoga or Pilates is a personal one.
Sometimes this choice may simply come down to convenience and having a Yoga
centre or Pilates studio close to home or work.
If you are lucky and have both available on your doorstep, perhaps you can
try each first before deciding.
Generally speaking, you don't need to be overly flexible or strong
to do Pilates, whereas with Yoga even some of the very basic poses require
a degree of flexibility and strength, so if you are new to exercise or your
current level of fitness is relatively poor, you may find Pilates the best
choice to begin with.
Even if you decide to do Yoga later, you'll benefit from the strong
mid-section that Pilates will give you and this strength will come in very
handy during Yoga classes.
If you are already reasonably strong and flexible and you want a more vigorous
workout that gets you sweating and burning a maximum number of kilojoules
or calories per class and you are looking for more than just exercise out
of your classes, it is more likely that Yoga will be your best bet.
It doesn't need to be an either-or choice
Regardless of whether you decide to do Yoga or Pilates now, long term we
could all benefit from including both in our exercise routine.
In fact, many instructors who are trained in both forms of exercise are starting
to combine Yoga poses and core strengthening Pilates exercises into one class
so that those of us who are time poor can benefit from both during the same
session and at the one location.
Remember, no single training system can give our body all the types of conditioning
it needs. Particularly if you are trying to lose weight and sometime have
trouble with exercise motivation, the best recommendation anyone can give
you is to try everything and regularly do a variety of things and see what
works best for you.
Conclusion
Yoga and Pilates are hot right now and the number of people who are doing
classes for improved fitness and weight loss is growing rapidly.
This article explained what Yoga and Pilates are all about and explored
the differences and similarities between them in an effort to help you decide
which one is the most likely to help you achieve your goal and fit in best
with your current level of fitness and lifestyle.
We hope you enjoyed this article and thank you for visiting weightloss.com.au.
© Copyright Ultimate Weightloss.
This article was written by Scott Haywood.
Scott is the editor of weightloss.com.au. Scott has developed an expertise in fitness and nutrition, and their roles in weight loss, which led him to launch weightloss.com.au in 2005. Today, weightloss.com.au provides weight loss and fitness information, including hundreds of healthy recipes, weight loss tools and tips, articles, and more, to millions of people around the world, helping them to lead happier, healthier, lives.
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