With a few moments to myself this morning as well as the NFL playoffs coming up this weekend, and my team just barely sneaking into the playoffs, I looked to an older article over at STACK.com which featured some of the NFL stars who do Pilates! You might have heard that Lynn Swan and John Stallworth did ballet and yoga to help them improve their legendary football abilities in the 1970’s, but now we are seeing more and more athletes turning to Pilates. I myself, Dr. Craig Evans, was unfamiliar about Pilates other than a few times in Chiropractic school I was invited to floor based Pilates classes and rarely went (huge mistake, let my ego cloud my judgement) and then after meeting Dr. Kemenosh, I noticed that he almost religiously does a Pilates workout at Lisa Gadsby’s studio in Philly or at our own office, one to two times per week. He mixes in Pilates, running, and swimming for the most part. Take a peek at the article on Stack, which features a great video of Antonio Brown working out PHI Pilates.
http://www.stack.com/a/wide-receivers-pilates
One of the best statements of all about Pilates is from the Chicago Bears own, Martellus Bennett, who states below on the Stack article:
In an interview with Pilates Style, Bennett, a tight end, noted that the demands of his position take a toll on his joints and his lower back. After his first session, Bennett was hooked, and now he does Pilates up to five times a week. He said, “I can lift 500 pounds, but in a Pilates session, there’s always some different type of motion that’s hard for me to do. That’s what is so great about it.”
Now being around the office and with the ability to use some of Dr. Mark’s equipment, I can truthfully say that after being trained for fun by Dr. Mark’s daughter Jill Kemenosh, some of the movements are harder than I ever imagined you could make body weight exercises.
Noted Links:
Stack Article on NFL Players who do Pilates: http://www.stack.com/a/wide-receivers-pilates
Evolving Pilates of Philadelphia – Lisa Gadsby – http://www.evolvingbodies.com/
Antonio Brown credits Pilates for his footwork: http://www.stack.com/a/antonio-brown-footwork
In the link above over at stack above, Antonio Brown credits his Pilates workouts for his ability to maintain a strong core, better alignment of his body, and some of his ridiculous footwork. Since it needs to be stated, I’m a bit of an Antonio Brown fan boy as a Steeler fan, but his Pilates and TRX work outs look pretty hard too!