The Pilates Body: The Ultimate At-Home Guide to Strengthening, Lengthening and Toning Your Body- Without Machines

I’m new to Pilates and this Pilates book is easy to understand while providing this beginner with plans for workouts that are attainable and challenging, with visuals and instructions for beginners, working towards more advanced routines. I’ve purchased other Pilates books that are difficult to understand, but this book is clear and concise. Each exercise is clearly explained with images of the movements as you progress through each step. The exercises are clearly labeled as beginner to very advanced so you can build upon your routine as you become stronger. There is a flow chart you can follow once you are familiar with the movements. If you are a beginner like me, you can easily turn the pages, following the instructions and images while progressing through the whole body workout. As I’ve been practicing, I’m building strength in my core and this is what I’ve been looking for in an at home routine. This book is well written, illustrated and progresses through the routine with clear instructions.

I am learning pilates and this book has been so helpful in my learning I highly recommend to all who are curious of learning in depth on certain movements and form.

I just lay this on the floor and follow some of the routines. I especially appreciate the little cartoon diagrams in the corner of each page giving you an idea of what should be happening with your body. For instance, the Double Straight Leg Stretch on page 68-69, imagine yourself on the ground on your back, hands behind your head, extend your legs straight to the ceiling, squeeze your inner thighs till no light passes through, anchor your center firmly to the mat and lift your head onto your chest, squeeze your buttocks, for stability in your lower back, and lower your straight legs down toward the mat as you inhale, do not touch your feet to the floor. Squeeze your buttocks tighter and exhale as you raise your straight legs toward the ceiling. The drawing of this shows a person attached to the floor and their legs are pulling a spring I am happy to send you a picture of this. This book is loaded with photos making sure you understand how you should look and be moving. This book is loaded with information on the parts of the body you are working and where you should be feeling it on your body when doing each move. I use the Winsor Pilates Basic 3 DVD Workout Set (Basics Step-By-Step/20 Minute Workout/Accelerated Body Sculpting) and this book shows all of those exercises. So, for those days you don't want to put the dvd on, it's fun to have this book. Besides being a terrific price on Amazon, I rec'd this quickly on Amazon and in excellent, like new condition.

When I was trying to decide which ONE book to buy for learning the Pilates matwork, it was quite overwhelming. There are scads of books out there on the subject - I think I read the Amazon reviews on over 100 books with 'Pilates' in the title. Some were explanations of how to do the original matwork, like this book, and some were spin-offs on Pilates - same name, different program. It seemed that the top two contenders in popularity were this book and the one by Alycea Ungaro, called 'Pilates: Body in Motion'. I bought that one first, and then decided to buy this one to compare. This is my take on it: Ungaro's book 'Pilates: Body in Motion' has much more detailed photographs of the exercises, complete explanations to go with each step-by-step photo, a very full explanation of how-to, what to watch out for, tips, pointers, etc. In contrast, The Pilates Body by Brooke Siler has fewer pictures to guide you through the exercises. There is a full written explanation of how to do each exercise, with basically the same information as the other book, although sometimes she gives instructions that are not found in Ungaro's book (also, Ungaro sometimes gives tips that are not in Siler's book). The advantage in this book, and the reason I recommend buying it ALSO, is that it has more thorough coverage of advanced exercises - many are included here that are not in Ungaro's book. I would recommend that Ungaro's book be used for initial learning, and this book should be added for more explanation on how to do the exercises, plus for additional exercises in the advanced levels. Another thing I like about this book is that all the exercises are in the sequence of the advanced program, so you can just flip through the book in order, and leave out the exercises that are too advanced for you, where-as in the other book, the beginner exercises go together, then a useful sequential beginner routine is shown. After that, the intermediate exercises are shown grouped together, and then the sequential intermeidate routine is shown, but if you want to refere to any of the the detailed teaching pages of the beginner exercises that are also part of the intermediate routine (which builds on and incorporates the beginner routine), you have to flip back to the beginner section, and the same is true when you get to the advanced exercises. In other words, in Ungaro's book, the exercises are grouped by level, whereas in Siler's book, the exercises for the complete advanced routine are sequential, but labeled as beginner, intermediate or advanced, because this is a program that builds on the previous levels. This book can be obtained for a good price 'used' in Amazon, which is how I purchased it. I would recommend both of these excellent books for a more complete understanding of how to do with exercises.

I'm a complete noob in pilates, but not to the fitness in general. Only after 5 days after I receives the books and start doing the basic excersices I found that really helpful to increase my global mobility, strengt and flexibility. I lift heavy wight 3 times per week and run, doing some agressive workout, but I like the peace and calm way to build the powerhouse. I feel that a great form to complete my other form of exercise. The instruction are blear and well writien. It'S straight to the point. The only weakness I see is for people that aren't use to the patern of the human body or are good visualizer, an instructional dvd in the books and you got a great Pilates for dummies parkage. And men don't be affraid to give it a try because you may be surprise on how your powerhause ( core) is drasticly important in your life in general and even in bed and you take control of your body, Man'S up!

Bel libro ma troppo essenziale forse adatto a chi già conosce la materia

Good

Really great book for teachers and practitioners alike. I particularly like the use of imagery.

This is the best Pilates book I have ever had the pleasure of owning. It is clear, concise, and each movement is detailed in a step-by-step breakdown which is easy to comprehend and very useful when instructing others. There are lots of photos and also an 'inside sccop' to each movement giving tips and visuals to help you perform it precisely. Besides the intro which covers the pricipals and key elements to mastering Pilates, the book has four sections which cover Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced Extra. It's just wonderful! Highly recommended.