Exercise system engages the core: Pilates studio comes to downtown

During World War I, a man named Joseph Pilates developed a form of exercise that centered on strengthening the body’s core, the outcome of his work rehabilitating bedridden patients.

Now Pilates, the exercise system Joe pioneered, has come to downtown Auburn in three equipment-filled rooms of cheerfully-painted space on the ground floor of the old JC Penney’s building, 205 E. Main St., Suite B.

Ruth Stover, co-owner of Corestar Pilates, has taught all exercise formats in health clubs with weights, step aerobics and high-tech classes for 27 years and has taught classes at the Auburn Arts, Parks and Recreation Department.

While the body benefits from that type of work, Stover said, too much involves repetitive movement and people end up going through the motions.

She gestured to some of the equipment to explain how Pilates differs, what it is all about and what it can do for people.

“It’s wonderful exercise for anybody,” said Stover. “Often it’s used for rehabilitation, people who have had injuries, back problems, shoulder injuries, whatever. It allows you to really focus on your form and strengthen the right muscles. Everything we do needs our core.”

Stover said the human body is designed to move so that when a person reaches for something, the core engages. That’s why as a population and especially as people age, they face the cumulative effects of having used their bodies incorrectly for most of their lives.

Engaging the core, Stover said, adds more stability to the spine and holds a good alignment.

“If we train the body here to do that and strengthen those muscles to allow ourselves support in the right position, hopefully that translates over into our everyday life, and we have better movement,” Stover said. “A client said to me the other week, ‘I can even turn and look over my shoulder when I’m driving my car. I can turn more easily.’

“It’s just those little things in our everyday lives that we don’t think about. We don’t move our spine, so part of what we do in every session is we try and move the spine through all its ranges of motion,” Stover continued. “It helps to gain a more fluid movement through the body. There’s rotation, there’s flexion, there’s extension and the body is strengthen in all of those different positions.”

Many exercises are performed on the floor using only a mat. And some involve various pieces of highly specialized equipment unique to Pilates, making use of spring resistance to generate smooth muscular contractions in a variety of positions.

All movements adhere to five basic principles: breathing, pelvic placement, spinal alignment, shoulder girdle stability and head/neck placement.

Corestar also uses bands, fitness balls, weighted toning balls, fitness circles, and more.

“To me it’s a more precise form of movement,” Stover said. “It’s truly a mind-body type of exercise. You really think about what muscles you are engaging before you do the movements. You really focus on precision and control. You don’t do as many repetitions, but the repetitions you do, you get far more out of.”

Corestar Pilates is a full-service Pilates studio, equipped for private and semi-private instruction and well as group mat and small equipment classes. It offers Hatha Flow Yoga and Power Yoga classes.

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