Achieving a smaller waistline is one of the main goals of fitness enthusiasts. Besides being picture-perfect, it also provides several health benefits. Research shows that abdominal fat puts you at risk of developing severe conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and liver problems.
Adding Pilates exercises can help you gain a leaner, flatter stomach. This article will discuss a short history and anatomy of pilates and how adding pilates to your workout routine can help you get a smaller waistline.
A Short History of Pilates
German physical trainer Joseph H. Pilates created a series of exercises during World War I to rehabilitate injured soldiers. After arriving in the United States, he opened an exercise studio in New York City. Prominent choreographers Matha Graham and George Balanchine observed Pilates and deployed their dancers to his studio for strengthening and rehabilitation.
Pilates principles of control, concentration, centring, precision, breathing and flowing movements are the exercises’ foundation.
The Anatomy of Pilates
Pilates labelled the rectus abdominis and transverse and the internal and external obliques as the “powerhouse.” Pilates moves involve the deep abdominal muscles more than the basic crunches. The Hundred and Crisscross exercises have the highest transverse abdominis and internal oblique recruitment.
The midsection’s leaner, flatter appearance and smaller waistline can result from exercises that use the powerhouse.
Big Belly Means Big Problems
Your belly fat plays an active role in your body, releasing hormones and other substances. The hormones your belly fat releases activate your body’s stress response, increasing blood pressure, blood sugar, and your risk of heart disease. It also increases your risk of stroke because of high blood pressure.
Belly fat issues go beyond the layer of padding underneath your skin; it also includes visceral fat, the fats lying deep inside your abdomen and surrounding your internal organs.
Excessive visceral fat can be dangerous because of its proximity to the portal vein, which delivers blood to the liver, where it can affect blood lipid production. Experts directly link visceral fat to higher overall cholesterol and bad cholesterol, lower good cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
A study found visceral fat is much more dangerous than having a total BMI in the obese range.
Adding pilates to your workout routine can strengthen your core muscles and increase your body’s fat-burning efficiency.
Ditch Doing Sit-Ups
Fortunately, you can prevent a potbelly by having a healthy lifestyle. You might think sit-ups can help, but it doesn’t help your big-belly problem.
While sit-ups work best if you want to build a six-pack, it doesn’t always help create a smaller waist. When you’re doing sit-ups, your stomach muscles would only harden outwards, giving you a firm potbelly.
Start Adding Pilates to Your Workout
Besides having a healthy lifestyle, pilates is an excellent option if you want to get a smaller waistline. These exercises work all your abdominal muscles, including those in your waist, six-pack, and deep muscles. Besides creating a smaller waist and washboard stomach, pilates also improves your posture and gives you a healthier body.
While gaining a smaller waistline isn’t pilates’ main objective, it can help trim your waistline. Pilates exercises aim to improve your flexibility and strengthen your body.
If you want a tinier waistline, remember it’s not all about the six-pack. We usually neglect the obliques when they do so much. Without them, you cannot twist, bend sideways, or shake your hips.
Besides improving posture and trimming your waistline, pilates and lifestyle changes can also define your external obliques.
Toning a Healthier You
Besides being Instagram-worthy, a smaller waistline can also provide several health benefits. Adding pilates to your routine can help strengthen your core muscles, improve your posture, and increase your fat-burning efficiency.
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