Before I became a professional Pilates instructor, Mat Pilates was my conditioning workout when I was still dancing. It was the perfect warm up and my body was ready for bigger and stronger movements without incurring in cramps etc.. Mat Pilates was not only my training before dance but as I started to become more and more passionate about it for its efficiency, I kept practicing on my own during vacations or weekends, so it became my routine. Sometimes it was hard to remember all the exercises and I decided to buy a book.  At the time I was just very passionate but completely ignorant of all the history behind the method and his founder Joseph Pilates, so I just went through Amazon and one of the first book on the list was “The Pilates body” by Brooke Siler. This book, for me, represented the beginning of my journey in the world of Pilates, when I didn’t even imagine I would have become a “Pilates nerd”, it gave me the ground to create a solid mat Pilates routine. A neat book with a lot of fine illustrations for each exercise. It is entirely about the classical Pilates mat repertoire. Divided into 3 sections, basic, intermediate and advanced, it guides the reader step by step from basic to more challenged exercises.  I still sometimes take a look on its pages to review some exercises and refresh some concepts to teach in the classes or for my personal practice. Right after I bought “Return to Life trough Contrology” and then I became really “serious” about it 😉

FITNESS – 1. Articolo 
Conoscere e avvicinarsi al metodo Pilates – Parte 1 – Suggerimenti di lettura Prima di diventare insegnante di Pilates, praticavo mat Pilates come riscaldamento della lezione di danza. Era l’allenamento perfetto perche’ si preparavano gli addominali e venivano allungate tutte le fasce muscolari prima di passare a movimenti piu’ ampli e forti della danza e in questo modo evitavo crampi o contratture. Poco a poco, ho pero’ cominciato ad appassionarmi sempre di piu’ al metodo e da semplice allenamento, mi ritrovai a praticarlo quotidianamente anche nei weekend o in vacanza. Del resto e’ efficace, lo puoi fare dappertutto e basta avere 30 minuti. Molto spesso non ricordavo tutti gli esercizi e cosi’ ho sentito la necessita’ comprare un libro. Il mio primo libro sul Pilates. Voi penserete perche’ non andare alla fonte e comprare il libro di Joseph Pilates? Ma a quel tempo francamente ero ancora ignorante a riguardo e non sapevo neppure la storia di come era nato il Pilates etc.. e quindi andai su Amazon e mi venne fuori questo libro: “The Pilates Body”, di Brooke Siler che aveva delle buone reviews. Sfogliando quelle pagine introduttive sui principi del Pilates capii che il Pilates era diventato una cosa seria per me e non era piu’ un allenamento e basta, ma la chiave per una migliore connessione con il mio corpo. Detto questo, subito dopo comprai “Return to life through Contrology” del caro Joseph H. Pilates e da li sono diventata una “Pilates nerd” come si dice qui in California.