Pilates is nothing without its equipment, from the simple mat to the complicated trapeze. Pilates Equipment is very integral to the program itself. Pilate equipment is what produces the resistance that your muscles overcome. As a result, these resistances are what make your core strong. Here is an overview of the main Pilates Equipment.
Reformer
The reformer is probably the most popular Pilates Equipment. All Pilates practitioners use the reformer and it is available at almost every Pilates Studio in the world. It is basically a sliding carriage that has foot bars, jump boards, leg and arm pulleys. These features allow the exerciser to work on different parts of the body with the same machine. There are two types of reformers: spring reformers and gravity reformers. A Spring reformer uses the springs for resistance. A person is lying on the back and pulling with his/her arms or pushing with his/her legs. The Gravity reformer has the same concept of push and pull. But instead of springs, it uses the person’s own weight.
Cadillac
The second type of Pilates equipment is the Cadillac or the trapeze table. This Pilates equipment looks like a cage, without the bars. Just the frames, and attached along the bars are springs, straps, and extra bars that are used for several types of exercises. For the legs, you can lie down facing the opposite direction of the strap that you are going to use. Then putting the strap around your leg, you pull it down, and the resistance goes through your thighs and calves. Another way to use a Cadillac is to sit down, this time facing the strap that you are to use, and then holding the strap in your hands pull on it while simultaneously lying down, then sit back up again.
Pilates Chair
One other Pilates equipment is the chair, which looks like a bench only slightly higher. It has two bars on each side with spring attached to it. The main exercise is to push on the bars while standing or sitting on the bench, or standing or sitting on the floor.
Easy to use, comfortable and sturdy, the Pilates Chair System is expandable with optional handles and a high back.
Based on Joseph Pilates’ original design and dimensions, the Wunda Chair is classic tool in design and size while offering the widest range of resistance for any single-pedal chair.
Mats
Pilates has a series of mat exercises that improve certain parts of the body. Therefore, the Pilates Mat, is definitely a most popular Pilates tool. Mat exercises are usually taught as to groups. These exercises focus mostly on the trunk and hip, to strengthen then, and on the spine and hips again for flexibility. The mat is probably the least expensive Pilates tool. It is also the most limited, the amt is basically for back protection and doesn’t offer any form of resistance for the user, but still mat exercises are very good ones, especially for those on a budget.
These are only few of the most common exercise equipment that you may see in a Pilates studio. There are, however, other equipment that you might be able to use at home. For example, barrels, wall towers, pilates balls and pilates rings are also the popular pilates tools. However, these are not part of the original Pilates equipment that Joseph Pilates designed initially. Anyway, today all pilates studios use various pilates equipment for the application of the different Pilates techniques.
