Pilates For Triathletes
Now you might think of ‘hard core’ endurance athletes as being solid to the core. But I bet there are very few that actually are, ‘solid to the core’. Some of you may include abdominal/core type exercises into your dry land training, however how effective these are at developing your core is another debate. As multi-sport athletes have you ever thought of incorporating Pilates into your training to enhance your core stability?…. Thought not!!
Once the word Pilates is mentioned, people tend to envisage of group of women lying about on spongy mats not looking like they’re doing much. Well think again, as a growing number of athletes across the widest range of sports now use Pilates for everything from injury prevention to developing core strength, flexibility, suppleness, co-ordination and longer, stronger muscles. More and more sports coaches now employ structural fitness exercises based on Pilates principles.
What is Pilates?
Pilates is a body conditioning technique designed to create inner strength and flexibility without building muscles. It concentrates on strengthening the core postural muscles, namely the transversus abdominus and internal obliques (corset muscles) and multifudus (muscles of the lower back). By learning to keep these muscles stabilised while executing slow, controlled, flowing movements, tight over strained muscles will learn to relax and lengthen and weak muscles will be strengthened. In short, Pilates concentrates on strengthening the core postural muscles to achieve stability in the trunk.
Pilates has been around for many years and was originally developed by a German man called Joseph Pilates. He opened his first Pilates studio in America in 1926 and since then the form of exercise has been taught throughout the world (albeit in slightly different forms) by many, but the one thing that remains consistant are the same principles of developing inner strength and flexibility without bulk. It may take a while to get the hang of Pilates and, at first, may seem like you are doing very little, however the long term gains of Pilates in general, not just in sport, are immense.
What are the benefits of Pilates?
The ability to stabilise the core, while at the same time being able to move the limbs effortlessly, not only reduces the risk of injury (especially to the spine and supporting muscles) but improves posture.
The direct benefits of Pilates for multi-sport athletes can potentially be vast. In swimming a leaner, longer and stronger core will enable you to hold your streamline body position in the water without dropping the legs for a greater length of time. A stronger core on the bike will ensure that you get maximum power transfer to the pedals and that you are able to hold your body position without tiring. On the run, a strong core will able you to maintain your run posture with ease instead of reducing form and placing greater stresses on the body
Most of all, Pilates lengthens and stretches the muscles of the body whilst strengthening them. Lengthening and stretching our muscles is something I’ve gone on about before and is sadly lacking from most of our training plans. However it still remains one the most important elements of training if you are serious about achieving your results, as it greatly reduces the risk of injury form tight or injured muscles.
Injuries do of course happen. After a sidelining injury, gentle and careful Pilates exercises remobilise the body, easing the damaged muscles, tendons and joints back into activity. The rebalancing effects of Pilates can also help to prevent the distortions caused when you try to compensate for the part of the body that has been out of use.
Correctly executed Pilates exercises not only aid in injury rehabilitation but are themselves so controlled and low impact that they are extremely safe. What’s more, the awareness of your body that they develop enables you to avoid the same injuries or problems recurring in the future.
Remember though that Pilates is non-cardiovascular and non-fat burning exercise so we still need to engage in all the other elements of multi-sport training that enable us to achieve. If you don’t believe me that Pilates can make a difference, try it, and as Joseph Pilates once said “In ten sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 you will see the difference, and in 30 you will have a whole new body.”
Happy Training!!
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Tags: Pilates, Pilates For Triathletes, Triathlon Training - General
For people looking to do this at home I can recommend Darcey Bussell Pilates, not an obvious choice for triathletes but its a serious workout and uses her professional background to relate the benefits to sport.
I wanted something to do when work/training mean I cant make a class. Bought it from the online reviews after getting sick of dvds that are aimed at women in their living room.
The only negative is that some of it is on a beach and its hard not to daydream about swimming in the sea.
Classes are the best option as your technique can be corrected by the instructor. These days you’ll probably be able to get a reasonable price for a Pilates 1-1 home visit. Failing that you’ll have to endure that Pilates on a beach DVD!