Pilates is a very popular exercise for getting in shape. We can practice it with a mat and do certain stretches and postures that share many similarities with yoga; complementing the practice with dumbbells, balls, elastics and butterflies, but we can also find specialized centers where the Pilates method is based on the use of certain specialized machines to take stretching to another level.
What is perhaps not so well known is the gyrotonic. Created in 1980 by Hungarian dancer Juliu Horvath, its expansion has not been as popular as that of Pilates, although it is practiced in more than eighty countries. However, like this and yoga, it is based on a series of postures and stretches that are very beneficial to improve the elasticity and flexibility of the body, relieve tension, improve our body design, strengthen the muscles and improve circulation blood; In addition to being very effective in reducing anxiety and alleviating symptoms derived from menopause in women going through this stage.
Gyrotonic combines yoga, dance, tai chi and sports gymnastics. And one of its main characteristics is that it is a method focused on recovery after injury. Indeed, its creator suffered numerous accidents during his career as a dancer and gymnast before founding the practice as a rehabilitation technique. Gyrotonic is therefore ideal for people who have suffered an injury, but also for athletes or anyone wishing to strengthen their muscles.
During a gyrotonics session, machines equipped with pulleys and cranks are also used to help provide resistance. But as in Pilates, there is a version without machines: gyrokinesis, the pillar of which is a series of very fluid and harmonious movements accompanied by specific breathing which is carried out on a stool to end the session on the ground.
Pilates with machines -o reformer pilate– is a method developed by Joseph Pilates at the beginning of the 20th century and suitable for people of all ages and physical conditions.
Benefits of Pilates
Pilates is a sport that many people practice, and for good reason. The advantages associated with these routines are multiple:
- Improves muscle strength in a balanced way.
- Increases flexibility.
- Improves posture and alignment.
- Strengthen it heart (muscles found in the center of the body, such as the abdominals).
- Helps rehabilitate injuries.
- Reduces stress and anxiety.
- Improves breathing.
- Increases body awareness.
Benefits of Gyrotonic
Gyrotonic has a wide range of benefits focused on proprioception, agility and mobility:
- It is very useful, as we have already pointed out, in the context of rehabilitation to recover from an injury; because it will help us regain mobility and agility.
- The result is general well-being, improving the body’s feeling of lightness and agility.
- Tones muscles and improves posture, correcting bad postural habits.
- Increases our cardiovascular capacity.
- Look for decompression of the joints, providing them with more space through circular movements.
- It is also good for blood circulation.
- It is useful to improve our own awareness of the body, to know it better and to know how to observe our anatomy, to be alert and to know how to detect possible ailments.
- It also aims to balance breathing and movement; marking inspiration as expanding or opening and expiration as contraction or closure.
The origins of Pilates
Born in Mönchengladbach in 1883, Joseph Hubertus Pilates was one of the first civilians to become a prisoner of war in Britain during the First World War. The experience of confinement during the war served as inspiration for the exercise table that gave birth to today’s Pilates.
During his internment on the Isle of Man, Pilates began observing cats and intensely analyzing their movements, realizing that their constant stretching was the key to their vitality. Inspired by these movements, he began developing a series of exercises to stretch human muscles and said he tried them on his peers, who were transformed by the results.
After his release in March 1919, Pilates was repatriated to Germany at the age of 36. According to accounts of these years, exercise continued to be his main activity; he spent time supporting the Hannover police in physical training and working with dancers with physical problems. Later, in 1927, he established his first gymnasium, the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium on Eighth Avenue in New York.
The origins of the gyrotonic
For its part, gyrotonic was created in 1989 by the dancer Juliu Horvath, a Hungarian of Romanian origin passionate about sports gymnastics, swimming and rowing. After suffering several injuries and rupturing his Achilles tendon, Horvath had to leave ballet and focus on healing from his pain and injuries. After several years of experimentation, he first created what he called “Yoga for dancers”, with training routines for this sector. But then he perfected it by extending it to the general public with gyrokinesis. Gyrotonics is an evolution of this phenomenon.
