Have you tried Pilates? This incredibly beneficial movement can be done on the floor or on reformer machines. Either way you prefer it, pilates can provide benefits specifically to the health of your blood and your heart to help reduce cardiac risk and help you thrive! Here are 5 awesome ways this fun exercise will help get your blood pumping!

1. Pilates helps lift your spirits, reduces mental stress, and improves your life! During cardio workouts, most people put on their headphones and jam, watch TV on the treadmill, and completely tune-out what they’re doing with their body.  Pilates, on the other hand, helps improve your focus to pay attention to what’s going on INSIDE the body during your workouts, so you can take good care of yourself!  Do this enough, and regardless of external stimulus, you will always make smart choices to stay safe and healthy.

2) Pilates connects mind, body, and movement to help boost confidence, and learn to trust AND listen to how your body feels. By paying closer attention to what you’re doing when you move, how you move, what you’re using to move, and how you feel, it becomes easier to adjust, and pace your workouts to stay safe, healthy, and injury-free.

3) Pilates is a system to MOVE well for better health. Pilates isn’t just a bunch of exercises done on a mat or machines for a “workout.”  Your ultimate goal is to take what you learn with Pilates out the door into your daily life activities, and other fitness workouts.

4) Pilates improves core support. Which is much more involved than just working your abs.  Effective use of your core helps stabilize the pelvis floor, improves gait, strengthens the back, takes the stress off hips, knees, and feet, helps shoulder mechanics, and supports healthy movement habits.

5)Pilates posterior-lateral breathing improves breath control. Pilates breathing helps you get more nourishing oxygen INTO your body, and more waste out.  Better breathing habits makes it easier to enjoy cardio training plus you will get better benefits from your efforts.

*Information adapted from Center Works