How Pilates Can Help Improve Your Posture
Posted November 09, 2021
Pilates is a world-renowned exercise technique popular with both men and women of all ages. Pilates as a practice offers numerous physical and mental health benefits, such as increased muscular strength, improved flexibility, and promoted mental health functioning.
What many people don’t realise is that Pilates can also help you improve your posture! As the world becomes more focused on technology, posture has taken a real hit. When you set your body into unhealthy postural habits, it can often become difficult to change due to muscle memory. It is therefore vital that we take steps to ensure our bodies are in prime position for all activities- and Pilates should be a part of this!
Want to know more? Keep reading to find out how Pilates can help improve your posture!
Pilates Promotes Physical Health
As mentioned, Pilates has numerous physical health benefits. When you exercise on a regular basis, your body’s circulation increases. This is beneficial for many reasons- including improved posture!
When your circulation is increased, blood flow improves throughout the body which causes less stress on the heart. Your muscles are better supplied with oxygen and nutrients which leads to improved tone and strength.
What’s more, Pilates helps to promote the strengthening of your abdominal muscles. This is important because our abdominal muscles are one of the most important muscle groups for promoting good posture! When you have strong abdominals, this helps to keep your spine protected- ensuring that it doesn’t slip into poor postural positions.
Along similar lines, Pilates also builds stronger back muscles which adds to better support for your torso. Stronger back muscles help pull the shoulders down which ensures no hunching over takes place.
Pilates Promotes Mental Health
By exercising regularly, not only do you feel great physically but great mentally too! When you exercise on a regular basis, this helps improve your mental health. However, Pilates takes this one step further thanks to the inclusion of mind-body exercises. The practice allows you to focus on your inner body awareness- promoting increased self-awareness.
This in turn helps improve your capacity for handling stress, anxiety, and depression. If you suffer from poor mental health or particularly low moods, this can create bad posture patterns in our bodies. When you are able to manage stress more effectively through practising Pilates regularly, it is easier to avoid these negative postural habits!
Ultimately when it comes down to it, just by exercising daily you are well equipped at improving your posture! However if you really want to go that extra mile, try adding Pilates into your routine (or start a new one!) You will certainly not regret it!
