The Power of Pilates

Two hundred and twenty pounds, 74 inches and 42 years of poor posture are rigged up with chains and springs, semi-suspended on a contraption that looks like it belongs in a medieval torture chamber.

It’s actually Martin Sherman doing an exercise on the “Cadillac” at a Pilates studio in Venice. The 42-year-old framing-business owner started Pilates training when other treatments for his chronic lower back pain failed, and in his view, it’s thanks to this workout that he is now a picture of health.

“Before, I would always revert to my old way of living and strain my back again. Now I walk differently. I’m using certain muscles I’ve never worked before, and I’m more aware of my body so I’m not reinjuring myself.”

If you haven’t heard of Pilates yet, you will soon. Once known mainly to dancers and celebrities, it is now coming to a neighborhood gym--even a YMCA--near you.

Enthusiasts tout Pilates as a wunder-workout that slenderizes the thighs and keeps the body in youthful retrograde without too much punishment.

“I always leave the studio feeling energized, not tired; centered, not scattered. And taller,” says actress Susan Dey, who works out at a Beverly Hills Pilates studio that is also frequented by such stars as Adam Arkin, Stockard Channing and Gina Gershon.

Who wouldn’t like an exercise program in which much of the conditioning takes place on a sliding bedlike machine, known as the “Universal Reformer”?

Sorry, You Can’t Just Lie There

But before you get too excited about lying down and waking up fit, bear in mind that there’s no new magic here. You’ll break a sweat, probably be sore afterward and definitely have to stick with it to benefit.

The quirky moniker (pronounced puh-LAH-teez) is actually the name of its inventor, Joseph Pilates, a German-born health nut whose lifelong passion for physical fitness stemmed from an asthmatic childhood in the 1880s. It was during World War I, when he was thrown into an internment camp in England that he began testing his oddball exercises on injured soldiers. For those who were immobilized, he rigged up their hospital beds with springs, creating resistance to help them regain their strength. From that experiment sprung the idea of the Universal Reformer.

Pilates went on to design several more spring-based pieces of equipment with adjustable straps and movable bars. When he brought it all to New York in the 1920s, such dancers as George Balanchine and Martha Graham literally jumped on it. It took an additional 50 years for Hollywood to do the same.

“I remember Brenda Vaccaro going, ‘What is this? Yoga in chains?’ ” says Michael Podwal, owner of Ron Fletcher Co. in Los Angeles, a Pilates studio that opened its doors in 1971.

While Pilates was virtually unheard of back then, today there are about 300 facilities in Southern California that offer Pilates-based workouts and at least 1,000 instructors, says Joan Briebart, president of the Physicalmind Institute in Santa Fe, N.M. And the numbers are growing.

Coming Soon to a Gym Near You

“In the next six months, you’ll also start seeing it in health clubs everywhere. Like step and spinning, Pilates classes will just be part of the schedule,” says Elizabeth Larkam, co-founder of Polestar Education in Miami, a company that trains fitness professionals in Pilates-style workouts. The YMCA in Pacific Palisades and the Sports Club/LA in West Los Angeles already offer Pilates classes.

What exactly is Pilates? It includes about 500 exercises, many of them based on yoga and dance, designed to build long, supple muscles, improve posture and increase grace. Rather than lots of reps, each exercise is performed only a few times but with intense concentration on form and precision. You can do them in a mat class or on the Universal Reformer, which intensifies the workout by adding resistance.

When you sign up for a lesson on the Pilates equipment, you generally exercise under the close supervision of a trainer--either individually, or with two to four students at a time. On the Reformer alone, you lie, stand, kneel and sit while your body goes through a wide range of motion. Stretching while strengthening, you feel something like candy in a taffy pull.

You also learn to work the body as one unit instead of an archipelago of misbehaving trouble spots. No pumping or burning here; rather, the idea is to let your muscles sing smoothly as a Roy Orbison croon.

“The springs afford progressive resistance,” explains Ken Endelman, president of Current Concepts, a Pilates equipment manufacturer in Sacramento.

“When you start a movement, the resistance is almost zero; as you extend, the resistance may get up to 25 pounds. That’s totally different from lifting a weight stack which never changes.” Because we face constantly changing weight loads in real life, the springs help build a more functional kind of strength, Endelman says.

Pilates is also highly personalized, which is one big reason for its popularity. Watch Martin Sherman’s trainer, Anne Sotelo, at work: She’s reading his body like a grocery scanner (“a little imbalance in the leg muscles,” “one hip higher than the other,” “some scoliosis”) adjusting the workout to concentrate on his weaknesses, guiding him to get in touch with how he’s moving.

“The internal awareness of how you’re performing the exercise is more important than seeing how buff you get from doing it. That will come later,” says Sotelo, owner of Soma Syntax Studio in Venice. “It’s really not about fitting into some spandex dress. People walk out and say, ‘I’m more graceful, my posture is better--Wow, I have no pain!’ ”

Experts say the benefits range from helping the average exerciser negate the pitfalls of a favorite sport (untwisting the corkscrew of a golf swing before it tweaks the back, for example) to perfecting the performance of an elite athlete.

“If done correctly, Pilates corrects known underlying flexibility imbalances, and by having normal flexibility around the joints, you’re less likely to pull a muscle,” says Dr. Carol L. Otis, chief medical advisor for the Corel Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour.

All-Over Conditioning, Low Risk of Injury

Century City internist Dr. Ronald Sue says Pilates works the body in a balanced way. Because each movement uses many major muscle groups, it is an efficient form of exercise.

A big advantage of Pilates conditioning is that people with painful physical conditions can still use the apparatus. Several physical therapists are using Pilates to rehabilitate people with arthritis, osteoporosis and other conditions. Sue says Pilates is a good way to get in shape without risking injury if you have joint disease or are recuperating from surgery.

One thing Pilates isn’t is a weight-loss technique; because it’s not aerobic, it won’t burn fat. If you want to look like Gina Gershon in “Showgirls,” you’d probably be better off praying for reincarnation or a great cosmetic surgeon. Any honest trainer will tell you that. “Slim tummy, long legs? This will get you toned, but it’s not going to make your legs long,” says Zoe Hagler, who runs a studio in Pasadena.

Moreover, like any fitness regimen, Pilates requires persistence and hard work. “You can’t just lie on the Reformer and expect miracles to happen,” says Hagler. “It’s not something you go to sleep on.”

Despite its “gentle” reputation, many say a Pilates workout rivals any other. “Your legs can be quivering as you go down the stairs,” says Pilates enthusiast Bob Tzudiker. Some may also quiver over the price. Pilates classes can run from $40 to $75 for a private one-hour session. At the recommended two to three sessions a week, that can run as much as $900 a month--out of the range of most fitness buffs.

Pilates, however, is getting cheaper. Home versions of the Reformer, designed to be used with videos or books, now cost as little as $350.

But can you learn Pilates without a trainer? Many say no. The skill of the trainer is also said to make a world of difference. You could actually injure yourself, says Otis, if you have loose joints and your instructor isn’t aware of it and over-stretches you.

Ironically, just as we learn to pronounce “Pilates,” trainers may have to start calling it something else. A New York pilates studio owner, Sean Gallagher, has sued a number of other pilates businesses, claiming they are unlawfully using the name to market their products or businesses. Gallagher says he obtained exclusive trademark rights to the Pilates name in 1992 and is trying to bar others from using the name without his permission. Several lawsuits are pending.

Frankly, most devotees don’t really care what it’s called.

“I want my back to take me well into the 21st century. I do not want to wheel into it,” Martin Sherman says. “I have to do this.”