10 Best Pilates Books

Relax, relieve, restore ―a beginner’s path to healing with restorative yoga Recovering from an injury, an illness, or just interested in a natural way to relax? Restorative yoga focuses on simple poses in supported positions, encouraging deep relaxation so your mind can enter a peaceful, meditative state. Dive in with an introduction to the spiritual origins and rejuvenating benefits of restorative yoga. Find the right position to reduce lower back pain, relieve stress, breathe easier, improve your energy, and even prepare your body for childbirth―all with illustrated instructions to get you into and out of each pose safely and comfortably. Restorative Yoga for Beginners includes: * Take it easy ―Make restorative yoga a lasting practice with simple suggestions on what to wear and what props you’ll need. * Strike a pose ―Ease into 36 essential restorative yoga poses, including labels with the therapeutic benefits of each―and extend your practice for deeper healing with 20 sequences. * Breath of fresh air ―Refresh your vital energy (prana) with breathing exercises and meditations designed to improve your digestion, heart rate, and more. Restorative Yoga for Beginners offers the guidance to begin your yoga practice and bring harmony to your quality of life―one gentle stretch at a time.

Get an in-depth look into the most magnificent machine ever created –the human body! * Over 100 anatomical illustrations of 70 muscles in action, detailed and in full color * Over 75 exercises to increase your flexibility and strength * Expert instructions for exercises for strength training and gym fitness, stretching and flexibility training, yoga, Pilates, and bodybuilding * Learn how each exercise works and understand how it shapes the body, with the science of movement, training concepts, and fitness principles * Perfect for beginners and advanced fitness practitioners alike, this is the must-have exercise reference for fitness enthusiasts Using detailed anatomical illustrations, New Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training provides you with visual insight into what happens to the human organic machine during exercise–muscles and tendons working in concert to strengthen your body’s building blocks. With this basic knowledge of how the body works, you can buff up your body with the book’s 75+ exercises, grouped by body region and involving gym machines, free weights, and body weight/stretching, as well as yoga and Pilates. Included are comparisons of contemporary training options from CrossFit and P90X to Zumba, SoulCycle, TRX, Orangetheory, and more. Each exercise is vividly illustrated by a full-color anatomical illustration of the targeted muscles, together with instructions on execution and technique. By understanding how your body responds to each movement, you’ll be able to isolate specific muscle groups and design the most targeted program possible. Motivate yourself and make your workouts more powerful and effective by seeing how your muscles actually work when you exercise with safe and proper form! ” New Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training is clearly written and designed with highly instructive illustrations. A powerful resource for novice and advanced fitness enthusiasts alike, this book is the Bible of strength and fitness training. It is empowering, and should be in every home and commercial gym.” — Allan Richter, Editor, Discover Life and Energy Times magazines

This second edition of the best selling The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga provides an in-depth look at the philosophy and practice of Yin Yoga with illustrated sections on how to practice Yin Yoga, including detailed descriptions and photographs of over 30 Yin Yoga asanas. This is an updated version of the book that has become the go-to resource for Yin Yoga teachers all over the world and has been required reading in many teacher training programs. All forms of yoga can provide benefits physically, emotionally, and mentally, however Yin Yoga works the deeper levels of the body/heart/mind: the yin tissues of fascia, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones, as well as the energetic channels of the meridians, nerves and blood system. One big difference noticed by students of Yin Yoga is the long-held, passive nature of the posture, which gives time for a deeper journey to unfold, a journey into the meditative aspects of yoga, a bridge to living life mindfully. The second edition includes―a more functional approach to the practice of yoga, emphasizing the concept of targeted areas; the importance of stress in reducing fragility and building antifragility; understanding the nature of creep and the importance of counterposes, with a revised list of effective counterpostures; many new photographs of the postures and their variations for different body types; a more current overview of the physiology of tissues and the energy body reflecting new understanding in the science of fascia and cellular signaling; and many other enhancements. As in the first edition, the book presents comprehensive information on how to do the practice, including how to get into and out of the pose, contraindications and warnings for those who may have trouble with particular aspects of the posture, and other important information. Why we do the practice is discussed by looking at its benefits in three main sections: the physiological, energetic and mental/emotional benefits.

Use posture and body alignment to build strength, achieve peak performance, reduce pain, and find a new sense of confidence with celebrity manual therapist and movement coach Aaron Alexander. Good posture is about more than standing up straight: It can change your mood, alleviate pain, rid your body of stressful tension, and may be the difference between getting that raise you’ve wanted and attracting your ideal mate, or not. But in order to reap all those benefits, the body must be properly integrated. Celebrity movement coach and manual therapist Aaron Alexander offers a revolutionary approach to body alignment to build strength, reduce pain, and put you on a direct path to peak performance that is both fun and accessible. The Align Method centers on five daily optimizations that can be easily integrated into any workout, mindfulness practice, or daily life activity: * Floor Sitting * Hanging * Hip-Hinging * Walking * Nose Breathing A truly aligned life isn’t limited to sweating in a gym or stretching in a yoga studio, and Alexander provides the fundamental principles to optimize your physical and mental process in any situation. Blending Eastern philosophy with Western mechanics, The Align Method brilliantly outlines the necessary tools to leverage the power of your own senses and body language to feel more flexible and confident, and details exactly how to reshape your environment for enhanced creativity and longevity. This is the quintessential user’s manual to feeling better than you ever thought possible, and looking great while you’re at it!

Take a detailed look at your Pilates practice with the superbly illustrated exercises in Pilates Anatomy, Second Edition. Choose from 46 exercises to target a particular body region and delve deeper to stretch, strengthen, and finely coordinate specific muscles. See which key muscles are activated, how variations and minor adjustments can influence effectiveness, and how breathing, alignment, and movement are all fundamentally linked as you work to tone the body, stabilize the core, improve balance, and increase flexibility. Use the Personalize Your Practice section for each exercise to vary your practice and customize your workouts to fit your needs. Here you’ll find modifications to make each exercise more accessible when there are limitations such as tight hamstrings or underdeveloped core strength. Variations provide variety, and progressions are offered to add more challenge to each exercise and serve as valuable stepping stones on your journey to more advanced Pilates exercise. Also included are techniques for breathing, concentration, and self-awareness, providing a unique exercise experience that enhances your body and your mind. Whether you are just beginning to explore the beauty and benefits of Pilates or have been practicing for years, Pilates Anatomy is a one-of-a-kind resource that you’ll refer to again and again. CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. Pilates Anatomy, Second Edition Online CE Exam , may be purchased separately or as part of the Pilates Anatomy, Second Edition With CE Exam, package that includes both the book and the exam.

The surprising story of Pilates –the man and the method. Part biography, part history, and part memoir, “Caged Lion” untangles for the first time Joseph Pilates’s opaque life story and the perilous journey of his exercise program known the world over as Pilates. This is the story of Joseph Pilates, a gifted man who immigrated to the United States at forty-three with no assets or credentials. He not only invented an exercise regimen–which today is practiced by more than ten million people– but in the process, reinvented himself. John Howard Steel brings Joseph Pilates and his eponymous exercise regime to life from his unique perspective as a student, friend, and confidant. Joe’s influence profoundly changed Steel’s life; in turn, Steel was crucial for the survival of the Pilates Method and Joe’s legacy. Steel’s vivid account traces the expansion of Pilates from a small cadre of dedicated adherents, through two periods of near extinction, to the global sensation it is today. Steel describes Joseph Pilates’s years as a prisoner during World War I, Joe’s motivation to discover his system of exercises, his inspirational teaching technique, and the unique attraction of the Pilates Method. It’s quite a story.

First published in 1945, Pilates’ Return to Life Through Contrology contains the authorized, legal, edited, and original Library of Congress version of Joseph H. Pilates’ and William J. Miller’s first complete fitness writings. It details the exercises, poses, and instructions fundamental to the matwork developed by Joseph and Clara Pilates. Based on his concepts of a balanced body and mind, and drawn from the approach espoused by the early Greeks, these are the exercises that continue to sustain a worldwide revolution in fitness strategies and exercise techniques. Joseph Pilates has been nothing short of revolutionary in his impact on the world of fitness and exercise. Readers will learn and view the original 34 exercises that Pilates taught to his students, many of whom have become exercise gurus in their own right. These carefully designed exercises constitute the results of decades of scientific study and research into the variety of physical ills that upset the balance of body and mind.Practitioners of Pilates’ forms and exercises in the 21st century continue to expand upon this earlier work by presenting a variety of creative new approaches involving circular movements, standing postures, and core strengthening exercises using props such as tubes, weights, poles, bands, magic circles, mini-balls, stability balls, foam rollers, and more.Now included in this Revised Edition are 18 additional pages of explanations of what has transpired since the original 1945 work, along with several photo/text sequences of the latest 21st-century enhancements in the Pilates world. There are new descriptive pages of text that first describe the fitness principles evolved from Pilates’ original Contrology work. This is followed by detailed text describing 21st-century evolutionary developments that present the key dancers, choreographers, and leaders in the Pilates Studio and certifying organizations through the present. This section ends with a discussion of evolutionary props and apparatus developments, plus 21st-century sample exercises drawn from our larger new book, Pilates Evolution for the 21st Century. Following this section are three complete prop-based demonstration exercises that include both photographic sequences (four per exercise) and step-by-step instructions for 21st-century Pilates exercises using the magic circle, elastic resistance, and the small fitness mini-ball.

The Pilates® method may be today’s hottest exercise, but it has been endorsed by physicians for almost a century. Originally developed by Joseph H. Pilates to help strengthen and condition muscles, Pilates is the ultimate mind-body exercise for anyone who wants to tone, streamline, and realign their body without the bulked-up results of more conventional workout methods. Now, in The Pilates ® Body, author Brooke Siler–one of the most sought- after personal trainers in the country and owner of New York’s top studio for Pilates training, re:AB–provides a complete, easy-to follow program of Pilates exercises that can be done anywhere, anytime, and without machines. With step-by-step instructions, Siler guides the reader through the complete circuit of mat exercises, each of which is clearly illustrated by photographs, line drawings, and unique visualization exercises. With Pilates you will not only streamline your figure–you will dramatically improve your posture, flexibility, and balance, and enhance your physical and emotional well-being. The Pilates Body shows you how.

The classic program for relieving back pain, revised and updated with the latest innovations in treating pain and maintaining mobility. Dr. Vijay Vad’s Back Rx program has helped readers with back pain, joint pain, arthritis, and related conditions for decades, using a clinically proven mind-body regimen to reduce pain and painkiller usage. In this expanded edition, Dr. Vad explores the extraordinary innovations in managing pain to restore health and wellness not only to your back, but to your entire body. In addition to the stretches that are the touchstone of the program, Back Rx includes new information on • The best overall eating regimen for back pain sufferers, including new guidance on the science of Intermittent Fasting (IF). • Exercise, including high-intensity interval training (HIIT). • The use of medical marijuana and CBD oil (cannabidiol) to relieve back pain. • The safest way to use over-the-counter anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen. • Developments in ergonomics, from furniture to clothes. • An assessment of the future of back pain relief, including the latest advances in stem cell treatment and electronic stimulation. • Introduction of the Back Rx app, a powerful self-help tool to enhance compliance and end your pain once and for all. Including dozens of exercises and poses, all clearly demonstrated in precise photos, Back Rx will put the power to relieve back pain in your hands.