Body Control (Using Techniques Developed by Joseph H. Pilates) (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), Gordon Thomson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you've ever wondered how ballet dancers get that graceful, calm-looking, perfectly postured stance, one of the reasons is a series of exercises named for the late trainer Joseph H. Pilates. Long a staple of dance studios, his techniques are becoming a staple in gyms as well. Body Control provides an excellent introduction to the Pilates method and easy-to-follow instructions for doing them at home, without the need for special machinery that instructors often use. The book describes 40 different exercises and explains how to relax and breathe correctly while doing them. Even more important, it explains what you may be doing wrong (since some of the exercises could worsen a painful condition if done incorrectly). The very clear illustrations, which mix photographs with line drawings, will allow most people to get the hang of it right away. Because it works muscles you may not ordinarily use that much, these exercises take more effort than you might think. And while they don't promise huge muscles, adherents say the method helps them stand up straighter and move more easily, without pain. Nothing can turn an ordinary person into a ballet star, but these exercises could make you almost as graceful as one.

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: BainBridgeBooks (PA); 1 edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891696009
• ISBN-13: 978-1891696008
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #568,695 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only thing for my low back pain - and mind/body too!, August 25, 2000

By	Cikk "cikk" (Malta) - See all my reviews

A year and a half ago I started getting extremely painful muscle spasms in my low right back, although I was very into physical fitness in what I thought was a well rounded way - as in different aerobic workouts and flexibility work, on an almost daily basis and weights work 3xweekly. Chiropractic helped, but swimming did nothing - this workout did. The explanation of the navel to spine makes you understand how it's totally different to pulling in the tummy the way we all do - stiffening up our whole torso. The hip rolls alone are miraculous for low back pain! I also used the now out of print The Pilates Way, and have now bought The Way Forward (all by the same author) (I also have 3 of their videos but prefer the detailed print instructions). All excellent - if done properly - very gentle but very effective and quite tough.

To the Australian reviewer who found this too @different@ to what he calls the full Pilates method - well, as Brooke Siler confirms in her excellent book The Pilates Body, Pilates' students travelled off all over the world and all developed their own variants, some more therapeutic then others. This is the case with Lynn Thomson's book. It is made to help people with back, neck and postural problems. Lots of isolations where you work on mobilising hips, shoulders, even the feet!, while stabilising the whole body and thereby strengthening it also. I would recommend using this and her other books for quite a while - in my case, a year - before perhaps moving on to B Siler's book, thus ensuring a good stable base for the latter's somewhat tougher and more dynamic method which usually has the whole body in motion although always on the mat.

Last but not least, it's graceful - you end up feeling like a dancer, it instills grace and good posture, whereas some of my past workouts left me feeling like a boxer or something! AND it is such good therapy for the mind, so relaxing - all the concentration leaves you feeling mentally refreshed!

God - I sound like one of these born again types - but really, if I can convert a few people into this method and know that someone, somewhere, is suffering less because of this review, I've done my good deed for the day.

To sum up, I guess I shall probably stick to some form or other of Pilates for the rest of my life - it covers the toning and the flexibility, add in a few brisk walks a week for the cardio and you're set!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book can bring about a significant change in your life., December 16, 1998

By A Customer

Body Control: Using Techniques Developed By Joseph H. Pilates has the potential of creating a highly desireable effect on the lives of readers. The exercises, based on my own experience have promoted better breathing ability for me and a more flexible, swan-like feeling in my body. As a person suffering from a disabling ailment-spinal stenosis, I honestly feel that the exercises depicted in this manual-like book have helped to improve and mitigate my condition. The illustrations shown in these pages are simple to evaluate and the descriptions are adequately demonstrated to promote an ease of operations in following the advice of the authors. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in fitness and self-improvement. I would caution anyone suffering a particular ailment or condition or any torso or inner pain to consult a physician before attempting to follow the Pilates method

Jay Adler

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It!, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

At last, an exercise book which makes sense, is do-able and easy to follow and which works! I noticed results after a couple of weeks and seem to have got rid of persistent back pain. Highly recommended!