From
http://www.stumptuous.com/crap.html
The Crap List...
Pilates.
Dr. Mel Siff, Olympic lifter, author of Supertraining, and strength authority, says it much better than I can.
Here is an extensive post that he made to the weights-2 email list on the subject of Pilates. Well worth reading! In summary, he writes, "… I was unable to find any quality research which supports the claims of Pilates or shows its superiority over other well-structured multifaceted varied systems of conditioning. All claims to its excellence are based upon comparison with limited bodybuilding regimes and anecdotal testimonials by clients who have had little exposure to the wide world of modern strength science." Moreover, "in every single case where Pilates is compared with other forms of conditioning, it is measured against typical bodybuilding training and never against scientific strength training that has been used for many years in Russia and Europe to produce the world's greatest athletes in many shapes and sizes, all depending on the specific needs of their sports." I've seen the prices that trainers in my city charge for Pilates sessions. For the price of a single session, you could have a month's gym membership and some nice protein shakes. Update: a reader from Brazil wrote me to say that down there, Pilates is promoted as sort of a modified form of yoga, which is essentially what it is. She also said that sessions were very reasonably priced. So I must make a clear distinction: Pilates as it is promoted in North America, as an overpriced alternative to and substitute for strength training, is crap. Pilates literature here goes on about how strength training builds "short, bulky muscles" while Pilates builds "long, lean muscles", which is physiologically impossible (see Page Two of the crap list for more explanation[makedah's note: see below]). However, Pilates as a moderately priced, general fitness protocol for improving flexibility, balance, and body awareness is fine.
This is from 'page 2' of the crap list:
You can change the shape of your muscle depending on how you train it.
Pilates, for example, promotes its product (at least in North America) by claiming that it builds "longer, leaner muscles" as opposed to "shorter bulky muscles". When you read bodybuilding magazines they'll tell you that to get a certain muscle shape you need to do a certain exercise. The truth, as usual, is not quite as exciting or complicated. Muscles are attached to bones by connective tissue, which are called tendons. There's more to the anatomy than that, but this simple explanation will work for now. Anyway, people vary individually in terms of where their muscle attaches to the bone, and how long their muscle bellies are. So you could have long attachments and short muscle bellies, attachments which are higher or lower on the bone, etc. These things are genetically determined, and don't change unless you rip the tendon off the bone, then surgically re-attach it. You can make your muscles bigger or smaller, but you can't change their genetically determined shape or length.
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