Customer Reviews

A Pilates' Primer : The Millennium Edition

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This book is a great introduction for beginners and will teach pilates veterans a thing or two. It focuses on the body, mind and personal aspects of finding the perfect pilates workout and understanding how each element of the prgram works. This book is alone enough to teach you about pilates and assist you with your home or gym pilates routine. Pilates is not easy - it takes focus and discipline but the mental spiritual and physical results beat any other exercise program out there. This book will help you help yourself.

This book is helpful for one reason - it's the real Pilates and you actually get to see his photo. So many people jumped on his bandwagon, rennovated his moves, and polished the picture, that it was nice to see what the man was actually talking about. Instead of one book, you get two short books. The first is Pilates' Return to Life Through Contrology (published in 1945; 95 pages) where he describes 34 exercises with 4 photos each (old B&W) and complete step by step written instructions. This is the part of the book that I used to compare with the modern day Pilates video I purchased. Only some of his exercises were included in the video as I suspected, and it was nice to see them all which is the reason I bought the book. I still use the video because I got used to the routine, but I plan :) to start incorporating his other exercises. The second short book (60 pages) is "Your Health" and describes his philosophy of health mixed in with a few real old photos of exercises. I did not get as much out of this part (published in the 1934 mindset), except for the fact that breathing means keeping the belly in instead of out like a balloon (yoga style). After all, if you don't work the muscles around the abdomen to "go in," they "go out," and that's the real gist. Thank you Pilates for teaching us about working the "core," because I can really feel the difference. The killer is that Pilates is easier than crunches, and it's the ONLY thing that really works the abs and makes them feel flat.

I think it is very important that people get to the originals works and ideas before listening to what others say about them. This Pilates works are the core of his Philosophy and must be undertood to fully comprenhend what many Pilate instructors or authors, men and women, are writing or teaching in todays world.
Here Pilates expose his thesis. This method of exercises are looking to re-integrate body and mind into a whole by re-teaching our bodys to be natural again, just as it was meant to be before human enter in the new slavery of modern times.
Don't expect pretty words, poems or trascendental meditation. Expect an argument, a philosophical statement and a contribution to a debate about the role of excersices on human well been. Read it and discuss it on gyms, ballet or dance classes, martial arts schools, with personal trainers, physical educational teachers, family and friends.

This book is a compilation of two original works by the founder of the Pilates exercise system, Joseph H. Pilates. The first book, Pilates' Return to Life Rhough Contrology ("contrology" was the name that Pilates himself gave to his system) provides an overview of the method, including detailed descriptions of the 34 original mat exercises in the system complete with Pilates himself demonstrating via black and white photos. In the second work, Your Health, Pilates lays out some of the basic principles of contrology; concepts covered in this work include posture, body mechanics, and breathing. Those who have never read any of Pilates' original writings before will note that his passion about his work comes across as a certain smugness and conceit; in both books, he makes extraordinary claims about the benefits of the Pilates method and seems convinced it is the only way to attain true health and fitness.

Those who are familiar with Pilates matwork may also note that Joseph Pilates' own descriptions of the exercises (in Contrology) differ somewhat from how these exercises are usually presented today. For example, when lying prone, he often shows the legs raised only a few inches off the floor, whereas today, it is generally recommended to keep the legs at a 45-degree angle relative to the floor. In addition, Pilates often shows his back in a more extreme curve than what is seen in modern teachings. My guess is that these modifications have been made to the system to be more protective of the spine, especially in absence of working one-on-one with a Pilates instructor.

Although I found that Joseph Pilates' writing style was a bit dry and thus sometimes difficult to slog through, it was still fascinating to read about the technique from the founder himself. This book isn't for everyone, but I would definitely recommend it for those looking to learn more about Pilates directly from the horse's mouth.

Joseph Pilates relates his original exercise set and his original philosophies of fitness in this double volume containing the only two books he ever personally published. Edited and updated for the new millennium, the instructions in this book represent the official backdrop of Pilates' writings against which all the newest books by students and teachers must be measured.

I am well pleased with my purchase of "A Pilates' Primer:The Millennium Edition." It is Joseph Pilates own words and philosophy as well as his body enhancing exercises. Exactly what I needed to start me on the right track with Pilates.

I learned my first pilates mat on a specialized gym with a teacher, third in line with Joseph Pilates. Classes were really expensive and I started searching on internet for a video with the original excercises as the ones I learned. I did not have too much luck, until I saw this video and order it. It was the exact same routine that I was taught; so I left the gym and do them at home now. For any pilates course, you should always go to a licensed teacher first because if you don't you might damage your spine. There are certain positions which need help at the beginning and you can't do them on your own. After that, you can buy this DVD with confidence is really good. The purpose of the pilates workout is for flexibility,back problems and posture correction. They are excellent for herniated disk, I have two and after six months practicing pilates the pain was gone for good.

These are the raw, Joseph Pilates exercises in the original form. The illustrated pictures help give an idea of what the exercise should looks like. I've been practicing Pilates under many instructors for years and it is eye-opening to see what the original concept of the exercise should look like. A must for instructors and serious practicers!

I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about the original pilates theory. The book was everything I hoped it would be. The exorcises show the original version and do not show the modified versions that are used in many of today's pilates classes but I was looking to better understand the original theory. Great book -highly recommend for this purpose!

outstanding book about joseph pilates and the pilates system. i use this text in a credit course for pilates mat at smith college