Group Mat Class Benefits Core Strength 

Who likes Pilates classes? 

If you want to stand taller with greater core control, but loathe sit-ups and tedious repetitions, Pilates is a class you should try. Pilates helps people gently improve their posture, flexibility, strength, endurance and core stability. Attending Pilates classes is a relatively quick way to improve your core health and protect your spine health in everyday functional activities. People who consistently train in Pilates classes see sustainable benefits. It's important to learn Pilates with certified, experienced instructors.  

What is a Pilates class? 

It’s been said that Pilates and proper posture go together like a hand in a glove. This is a fitting description for a group exercise mat class that strengthens and tones your body’s core muscles, as well as improves your balance, breath control and spine stabilization.  

Pilates, originally called “contrology” by its developer, Joseph Pilates, was considered the art of specific, supported, controlled movements. While Joseph served as an orderly in a hospital on the Isle of Man, he attached bed springs to hospital beds to help support the limbs of patients who were recovering from traumatic injuries of war and could not walk. This eventually led to the development of his famous piece of equipment known as the “Cadillac,” and later, another machine called the “Reformer.” Much of his equipment, although slightly adapted, is still in use today.  

Two Stott Pilates Reformers and a Cadillac are available for use upstairs at Willis-Knighton Health & Fitness Center, North, on Greenwood Road. While we currently do not have certified instruction for the in-house Cadillac and Reformers, members who have prior experience with Pilates may use the equipment at their own discretion. Certified instructors guide you through class using hand weights, balls, bands and Pilates rings to provide an alternative to Reformer and Cadillac machines. In some ways, mat classes can be more advanced because you do not have the support of the machines; it is your body against gravity that provides an excellent challenge. 

Pilates recognizes the core, lower back and hips, also known as the human powerhouse, as the key to a person’s stability and overall well-being. Although Pilates shares many of the same moves as yoga, yoga focuses on flexibility and Pilates focuses on the core. These mat classes provide focused movements in a calming atmosphere that creates a mind/body connection. While there are many versions of Pilates, six basic principles relate to the mind-body discipline:  

• Breath 
• Flow 
• Concentration
• Centering
• Control
• Precision

The strong mind-body connection includes breath, flow and concentration that results in centering and equilibrium of the mind. 

When and where do Pilates classes meet? 

Pilates classes are held in the aerobics studios at all four WK Fitness & Wellness Centers in Shreveport and Bossier City. Each class meets for 50 minutes every week. Pick a class, or more than one class if you want to experience the rewards of Pilates multiple times a week. Please note that Covid-19 protocols remain in place and we ask that you bring your own mats, as we no longer provide them.  

Why do Pilates? 

Improvements to posture, flexibility, strength endurance, core stability, mind centering and improved back strength are the rewards of persistent Pilates training. Weekly Pilates classes help our members experience the rewards of this respected, time-tested regimen.  

We encourage you to bring your own mat for sanitary purposes.