Pilates: Body in Motion

I am relatively new to Pilates. Thankfully, I had beginner's luck, due to the fact that Ungaro's "Pilates: body in motion" was one of the first two books I bought regarding Pilates. The other was not too good, but this one more than makes up for it.In my opinion, Alycea Ungaro should be praised for writing such an useful and clear book. In the introduction, Ungaro says that "Life wreaks havoc on our bodies", due to the fact that "Our routines and habits cause us to consistently overuse specific muscles", but that Pilates can be an antidote to that. She points out that Pilates is "not a mystical cure-all", and that it is not supposed to replace other forms of exercise but rather complement them, in order to help you to "look better, perform better, and, above all, feel better"."Pilates: body in motion" has not only good explanations besides each exercise, but also many photographs that allow the reader to understand how to perform each one correctly, and what to do to avoid the more common mistakes.I think it is also worthwhile to highlight that this book is neatly divided into chapters, one for each program (introductory, beginner's, intermediate, advanced), and one as introduction. That helps the reader to save time, due to the fact that he can find the exercises that correspond to his level quite quickly. What is more, it also gives each person the opportunity to advance at his own pace, something we are not always able to do in a class.On in all, I think that this is an excellent book, and I strongly recommend it to anybody who practices Pilates, or would like to practice it. You won't be disappointed :)Belen Alcat

Based on review in amazon and on the web (and after checking it out in my local library), I bought this book along with " Classical Pilates Technique - The Complete Mat Workout Series English & Spanish (Modified Basic / Basic / Intermediate / Advanced / Super Advanced)  DVD.I am extremely happy with these 2 purchases. These two items complement each other very well.This book contains very good introduction on the fundamentals and the exercises are grouped in stages for - Beginner, Intermediate (I an here now) and Advanced workouts.The book has excellent step-by-step instruction (with photos for each step). There is also a photo summary list for each level of workout (which you can use a quick visual guide while doing the exercise).It also calls out common mistakes and has a step-by-step photo summary of each exercise at the bottom (along with instruction on when to breathe-in and out - very useful!).The DVD is useful to visually see the exercises being performed - but, is not really good to do it along (but, this is really not an issue - bcos you really want to do the exercise in at phase that is comfortable for you). DVD really helps to clarify some nuances that I couldn't get clearly from the book and it really helps you to reinforce the posture and flow of each exercise and transition from one exercise to another. Also, looking at the people perform the exercise and the body they have is really inspiring. The workout sequences match almost 99% between the book and the DVD.Also, I started on Pilates thru this DVD/book (though I had some experience with Yoga before), I am very happy with the workout (and able to see good results). These workouts can be done pretty quickly and provides good posture and high energy level.I highly recommend both this book and the DVD.

I have recently started out with practicing Pilates, thinking that as a dancer it would help with my strength and form (and I also have a weak back and degenerative disk disease, which means that I had to stop pounding myself on the pavement with running). This manual was suggested by many other readers when I was seeking a good instructional book on Pilates. I had already purchased Michelle Dozois' "Pilates for Dummies" DVD, which was my very first introduction to Pilates, and I got through the basics and some of the intermediate moves okay, so I figured it was time to graduate to a more detailed instructional resource. Alycea Ungaro's manual is well-written, with high-quality color photographs of models executing each exercise in perfect form (something I still have yet to work on with the advanced moves). I am already doing the advanced routine (albeit not in full extension for some of the moves, as they are very challenging and require much longer conditioning), but I push myself to struggle through it until I can achieve each exercise with just as perfect form. I've substituted my original treadmill climbing and weights workout for Pilates over the past month, and am already seeing results in my core strength and posture. My back felt strained after the initial introductory workouts to Pilates, but I'm getting stronger and feeling less of that strain after each workout. Overall, I would strongly recommend this manual for a beginning student of Pilates, as it is the clearest and most concise guide out there, I'm sure...although, I am still purchasing Brooke Siler's 2 manuals just for comparison and to see if any new challenging exercises are offered in her books.

Le livre explique bien la base de l'entrainement pilates.

Fitness wise, it's an amazing book... but even the beginners part I feel would be too much efforts than possible for the body of a beginner to take

I'm a 36 year old male who is fairly healthy but neglected core work in his 20s in favour of building the guns and pecs. As a result, my mobility has suffered, paired with sitting at a desk all day, has lead to me experiencing quite a lot of back pain/issues for years.Just started Pilates after concluding that a look of my back pain was as a result of weak core and poor posture. I decided to give this a go before more drastic measures. So far, so good. A couple of weeks ago, I was struggling to get out of bed. I now find that my 'powerhouse' is engaging for this activity and the tightness from before is no longer there. TBH, I'd recommend everyone gives it a go. My wife, who is the mother of our three children, will be using it with me soon! :)As far as the effectiveness of the book is concerned, I'm glad I chose this one. Illustrations are excellent and supported with excellent instructions. I also like the structure of the book which builds upon foundational principles. The user who finishes the book will be working on an 'advanced' routine but by that stage, I expect they will be very strong indeed. I'm still on the intro and am happy to remain there until I master and move to the next stage.

Lo compre porque queria tener el original. Una forma estupenda y segura de aprender a hacer pilates. Lo recomiendo a cualquiera que quiera aprender de verdad.

One of the best books on pilates. With all the most important lessons in a clearly structured manner and with pictures to each exercise. It has 3 sections: beginner, intermediate and advanced, so everybody can start immediately and move on step by step.A great help for all who really like the pilates programm and want to follow it up at home or as an instructor.