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The Pilates Body: The Ultimate At-Home Guide to Strengthening, Lengthening, and Toning Your Body - Without Machines (平装)
by Brooke Siler
| Category:
Health & Fitness |
| Market price: ¥ 208.00
MSL price:
¥ 178.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Easy to understand and follow, and immensely thorough, this is one of the best Pilates books out there. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 14 items |
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Tom Gabriel (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Brooke Siler has produced a well written, warm, friendly introduction to the world of Pilates mat exercises. I have taken classes in Pilates and explored a couple of other books, and I am convinced that Siler's is easily in the top five, and a worthy addition to any Pilates reference library. Some have complained that the directions and illustrations for the exercises are not as complete as they could be, but I say that this misses the overall style and teaching technique that she uses. The introductory section is lengthy and comprehensive, including directions for the proper technique and posture for all the Pilates moves, which is essential to doing the exercises effectively and safely. It also emphasizes Pilates' overall philosophy of doing the moves utilizing the whole bodily structure rather than isolating certain muscles for the exercises. There are also visualizations for each exercise and in certain instances where necessary (such as the "leg kick" series) she includes directions applicable to the entire series. Brooke Siler is dedicated to empowering the student as much as possible to be in charge of his/her own fitness and health, and that is the focus of the entire book, which is conceived and written with the sure hand of an experienced instructor. She includes interesting photos of Pilates himself (there is one in which, at age 82, he looks more fit than many men decades younger). Comprehensive illustrations for the exercises, friendly, thorough text with an inspiring, can-do attitude make this one of the finest additions to the Pilates information available today, and a book to be bought and used with confidence by beginner and experienced student alike. |
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Patrick Goonan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
I am avid reader and taught physiology at one time. Most of my exercise takes the form of walking, yoga and some light weight lifting. However, I think Pilates makes a nice compliment to these routines. I have also found it useful for avoiding back problems, which has troubled me in the past.
This particular book by Brooke Siler contains clear explanations, useful visualizations and just the right amount of detail to perform each exercise correctly.
I particularly like that this presentation of Pilates can be performed on the mat with no special equipment. It also has exercises for beginner, intermediate and advanced exercises.
This book also contains a full mat routine of 34 exercises and an arm series workout. This is excellent added value material.
Lastly, the book isn't presented with a lot of hype. It encourages a gentle progressive approach. |
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John Gohde (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This book is invaluable for anyone already sold on the value of doing Pilates classical matwork correctly. This book is "the" modern version of the Bible for devotees of classical matwork. And, serves as an excellent adjunct to video workouts. The main part of the book is the detailed description of a long sequence of 34 exercises on the mat, as taught by Joseph Pilates. The book classifies each of these exercises as either beginner, intermediate, or advanced moves. This makes mastering classical matwork, which is physically demanding even for ballet dancers, more manageable. One valuable feature of the book is where thumbnail photographs of all the 34 exercises are provided on one page. This clearly shows that all of Joseph Pilates original matwork exercises work "powerhouse" muscles. In addition, the book also includes photographs of Joseph Pilates at various ages who obviously never suffered from skinny legs, nor ever had that skinny frail look so characteristic of old age, even at 82 years of age. That is the promise of Pilates classical matwork: the long muscular look of a dancer, even in old age. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
The Pilates Body is my introduction to Pilates as a form of exercise. I had heard about Pilates before, mainly in association with the 'apparatus' that Joseph Pilates invented years ago, and have always had a slight regret that I could never try out this method. For some reason, it never occurred to me that anyone can use Pilates. I suppose I was too busy running on treadmills and lifting weights everyday to even look into Pilates seriously.
Brooke Siler's book has almost a perfect score of reviews, in case you haven't noticed. That was the reason I picked this one - the only reason. It was all the same to me, because I had never picked up a Pilates book. Now here I am contributing to that perfect review score. This book is a great intro to Pilates. The book and myself are the only instructors I have, and that's enough for me. As Siler says, if it feels like you're doing it wrong, then you probably are. Pilates, after all, stresses natural movements. In nature, we rarely work only one part of our bodies (i.e. biceps, triceps) at a time. Why, then, do we exercise ourselves in this unnatural, comparatively useless manner?
These exercises are all about balance, control, and flexibility, three concepts that are unexpendable in a human body. Pilates makes you feel as though you are actually working with your body instead of dragging it around with you. It sincerely does change the way you maneuver yourself around in your everyday life. That's a strange concept, one that can only be understood with the practice of this method, and I highly recommend this book as a tool. You'll be concentrating so closely on how much better you feel, that you'll look in the mirror one day and be shocked at how much different you look, especially around the stomach. - That's a ton of fun, a feeling worth much more than fifteen bucks. |
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1 2 Total 2 pages 14 items |
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