Pilates An Interactive Workbook: If You're Going To Do It, Do It Right

I can best describe myself as a Seeker of Pilates Excellence. I am 66. I started taking Pilates in 2008 in a more or less passive casual manner twice a week.. Passive means that through mid 2015 I could never name or remember any part of any sequence be it on mat or reformer! Then in Nov 2015, I found a Classical Pilates instructor who, like the author Christina Gadar, is Romana trained. With new inspiration, focus ,and enjoyment, I now take Pilates three times a week (Just like Joseph Pilates said to do!). I strongly strive for excellence in practice. I am always looking for "the perfect" training or memory aide to help me concentrate to learn and retain the Advanced Mat sequence I am now starting to learn, and the Intermediate Reformer Sequence with its various spring settings and repetitions. (Note: I am never going to be an instructor so I do not have the training or training materials that a certified instructor has!) . I find it is relatively easy to find a pilates book providing a two page condensed description of the intermediate or advanced mat sequence, but there is virtually no handy book page rendition of the intermediate reformer series of exercises! Then by chance, again serendipitous chance!, in my search for excellence in Pilates training aides. I discovered Christina's book, Pilates, An Interactive Workbook.I want you to know I have never met or spoken with Christina, and it is only by way of the internet that I in Minnesota would find a way to discover her work! For me it was the perfect time to discover her work. I am at the point in my practice were I am focusing on flow, concentration and dynamics. I have a great teacher but I need a great training aide to complement my practice. Very few teachers take the extreme effort to publish training books and virtually no one makes any training aide for reformer practice. but Christina did! I was extremely delighted to see the Intermediate Reformer sequence portrayed on pages 210-211 of her book. I penciled in below each of the 30 photos the spring count and repetitions. This two page training aide really suits me as I am almost only a visual type learner. it is my "perfect training aide"!In closing, I cannot think of any greater Pilates training combination then this; Christina Gadar's PiIates, An Interactive Workbook, and an inspiring Pilates Instructor. This is almost exactly the prescription for success that Christina states in the introduction to her work!!!

I am a nine year Pilates student. I bring this book to my lessons and my teacher notes down what she needs to remind me about in the different exercises. She writes things like, "keep the right hip anchored, or raise your legs to no more than ninety degrees." She tells me what she is writing and asks what else I want her to write.Just these two things are helping me to remember the form and challenges of each exercise for my own particular case much better than I have in the past, and to correct my body's natural tendencies that promote mis-alignment. I find that in just a few weeks, I am having a much better workout than I was able to achieve in the past nine years. If I have extra time before my lesson, I can review the notes and it is helpful at home as well.I know a lot of professional athletes and dancers do Pilates, but I am not a person who has worked on developing my body as a profession. I just want to keep a strong core as I age and keep my mobility. All my doctors told me that Pilates was the best exercise I could do for myself, and that is what brought me to this discipline. For a person like me, with no professional movement training, who wants to get results, this book will elevate what you are able to achieve working in concert with a good teacher.This book is an outstanding guide for someone who wants to get the most out of their time and money spent with individualized Pilates instruction. I think every teacher who wants to improve their value to their students should suggest this to their students as a way to get the most value from lessons.

This is a wonderful book for Pilates teachers or clients. It provides just the right amount of information, with plenty of room for thinking and discovery individual to each practitioner by way of the "notes" area given to each of the exercises. It is truly a "workbook" of Pilates, beautifully illustrated with photos of the author in perfect form to demonstrate the proper positioning and execution of each exercise. Christina Maria Gadar is a true disciple of Joseph Pilates and has dedicated herself to keeping the traditional method alive, just as she learned it from her mentor Romana Kryzanowska, and with this book she has given us a glossary of the complete intermediate Classical Pilates mat & reformer repertoire. As a Pilates Teacher Trainer, I have provided each of my teachers and apprentices a copy of this book to use as a guide and an inspiration. Thank you for your dedication!

Had Romana Kryzanowska seen this workbook, she would have been proud of Christina Gadar's: Pilates An Interactive Workbook! This clear, concise workbook will provides students and teachers with an easy-to-use reference for the heart and soul of Pilates: the basic and intermediate mat and reformer work. There are many Pilates books on the market, but few succeed in their efforts of clarity and good writing. Christina's dedication to authenticity, staying true to the teachings of her mentor and her obvious passion in teaching shines through this book. A must for students and Instructors!

... when I was training to become a Pilates instructor! It is a marvelously accurate, clear, concise guide to all of the basic/intermediate reformer and mat work, plus Magic Circle exercises and the arm weights and wall series. In other words, all of the essential exercises that instructors use most of the time with most of their clients, and that clients learn and practice often.I highly recommend it as THE formative guide for instructors-in-training and as a reference (and inspiration!) for practicing teachers. It would also make a lovely holiday gift for Pilates devotees!

For the amount of exercises in here within the different aspects of Pilates I like it, however, the description for each exercise is vague and the photographs look like poor photocopies so are difficult to see exactly what you should be doing (especially with the lack of written description)I'm not sure who the book is aimed at, if you are new to Pilates this would be a difficult book to use. I am an instructor & I found it hard to follow in places, which is a shame as it could be great. If it was spiral bound, with clearer descriptions for each exercise with good quality photographs (even better in colour!) it would be a fantastic resource.

Das Buch hat sicherlich seine Berechtigung, allerdings eher um seine Gedanken zu den Übungen zu notieren oder sich Variationen aufzuschreiben. Als Anfänger sollte man es denke ich nicht nutzen um sich die Übungen besser anzusehen -denn diese sind wenig beschrieben- jedoch um mit seinem Pilatestrainer nochmals wichtige Punkte zu klären, zu notieren um die korrekte Ausführung zu kennen und nieder zu schreiben. Jedes andere Pilatesbuch wäre für einen Anfänger meiner Meinung nach besser geeignet vgl. die Bücher von Rael Isacowitz.

As as Pilates teacher and teacher trainer I recognize how complete this book is. It has the best parts of a manual with beautiful photos showing the proper execution of the Classical Pilates exercises and only the basic information in written word. I find this to be important as the user can then write the points of the exercises that stand out to them as either a student or teacher. This book is incredibly valuable to any prospective Pilates teacher or any committed classical student. Well done Christina.

großartiges Buch zur klassischen Pilates Methode für Pilatestrainer

Ottimo