This book is the first to illustrate the essential connection between the functional anatomy of the body’s core and its application during Pilates’ fundamental core exercises. Focusing on the inherent potential of the human body to stabilize and move, Dr. Evan Osar and Marylee Bussard combine the most current research around core stabilization with six fundamental Pilates principles to offer simple, easy-to-use strategies for relieving discomfort and improving pain-free movement. With more than 290 full-color illustrations, Functional Anatomy of the Pilates Core provides both Pilates practitioners and professional teachers with a comprehensive understanding of how the core functions and how stabilization helps promote health and proper movement patterns through the development of balanced muscles, joint alignment, and core control.
The authors apply current research on neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to reorganize itself by developing new neuronal connections, and on the function of fascia, the matrix-like connective tissue of the body, to explain the six fundamental principles of Pilates—Centering, Concentration, Control, Precision, Breath, and Flow. They show how to avoid muscle imbalances, chronic tightness, and pain by incorporating the principles of functional anatomy during exercise.
Readers learn how to:
• Achieve the alignment, breathing, and control required for developing optimal posture and movement
• Alleviate non-optimal habits that relate to common postural dysfunction, muscle imbalances, and chronic tightness
• Integrate the fundamental Pilates exercises in order to develop a more stable core and eliminate the risks of common injuries while accomplishing one’s health and fitness goals
The book organization is great. Explanation of what is happening in the body and what muscles to focus on during each excercises was very helpful.
Anatomy expert Dr. Evan Osar and Pilates Teacher and bodyworker Marylee Bussard approach Pilates as functional exercise and approach anatomy and movement from the standpoint of biotensegrity (a concept which I cannot explain well in a short review, but check out more on biotensegrity here). The book is written for teachers who already have a good understanding of anatomy and Pilates. This is not a book to read during your teacher training or even first year of teaching.
But once you know Pilates, anatomy, and have been teaching for a while, this book is indispensable. Seriously! Fabulous discussions of motor learning, fascial connections, and breathing. Clear photos of real clients doing Pilates exercises that show breakdowns in core support and how to address them. And best of all, a whole list of cues that can help your clients connect with their bodies within the Pilates system.
For the pilates enthusiast, like myself, this book is fascinating. It tells what each part of your body is and should be doing during any given pilates position. It broadens and deepens one’s understanding of the functioning anatomy of one’s body while executing these positions. The effect of this knowledge is that it inspires one to do better.
Even for the trained professional in pilates, Dr. Osar’s book is instructive. But even as a review, this book belongs in the libraries of the most knowledgeable professional pilates instructor,
Dr. Osar has a gift for taking complex ideas and making them accessible to both the non-professional and the professional. I learned a lot by reading it. I recommend it to anyone interested in functional anatomy or pilates. Dr. Osar’s book is superb!