Pilates: Encyclopedia II - Pilates - Limitations and Criticisms

Pilates - Limitations and Criticisms

Pilates is not designed to be a complete physical fitness discipline. For example, in its more original forms, it does not supply effective cardiovascular training.

Pilates largely avoids high impact, high power output, and heavy muscular and skeletal loading. As a result, Pilates is not as effective as other training methods at building maximum strength.

Some doctors have suggested that medical advice be sought by those who have, or who have risk factors for, conditions such as osteogenesis imperfecta, Osteomalacia, osteoporosis, and Paget's disease, before choosing Pilates over other strength exercises.

The marketing claims of some Pilates instructors have been criticised on diverse grounds. Although it is sometimes claimed that Pilates is a rehabilitation technique, or was derived from physical therapies, its methods do not conform well to current physical therapeutic knowledge and doctrine. Although it is sometimes claimed that Pilates avoids the danger of hypertrophic muscles, hypertrophy is not the end result of most strength training, and Pilates cannot avoid hypertrophy from other causes such as disease. A frequent claim made in favour of Pilates is that it produces longer and leaner muscles than other training techniques; but skeptics point out that there is no evidence to support this claim, and any low-impact, high-repetition strength training will result in slender muscles. Skeptics also say that occasional claims that Pilates can make a person taller are refuted by measurements of Pilates practitioners. Critics also point out that modern Pilates instructors sometimes make use of exercises that Joseph Pilates abhorred. Critics charge that this decreases the authenticity of Pilates and suggest that the term Pilates is being used deceptively for marketing advantage.

Historical claims about Pilates are also subject to criticism. Critics allege that Pilates deliberately associated his New York studio with dancers for marketing reasons, and profited enormously from the association of Martha Graham and George Balanchine with his methods, rather than the reverse. Joseph Pilates' emphasis on a smaller number of repetitions of precisely controlled movements requiring strength and coordination is sometimes said to have been pioneering. But this emphasis reflects principles previously advanced by Eugene Sandow, Vladislav Krayevsky, and others. Similarly, the equipment Joseph Pilates invented is sometimes said to be distinctive or unique, but many of the pieces appear to be derived from pre-existing examples:

• The "high chair" is similar to the pommel;
• The "reformer" appears to be a modified rowing trainer;
• The "pedipull" appears to be a modified pulley machine;
• The "Cadillac" appears to be derived from gymnasts' parallel and horizontal bars;
• The "low chair" is a staking pommel;
• The "spine corrector barrel" is a low level pommel horse.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Limitations and Criticisms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki