Heather Andersen, Co-Founder Of New York Pilates, Discusses Optimal Alignment, The Pilates Explosion, and the True Meaning of the “Pilates Girlie”

A hundred percent.

So the way that I think about the Pilates industry, I kind of segment it into three categories.

Okay.

So I think about it as classical and to me, what classical Pilates means is very strictly follows the original order of the exercises from Joseph Pilates, very strictly follows the original exercises, um, And typically, it also is paired with when you're working laying down, you're in a posterior pelvic tilt.

So they'll call it like a tuck or an imprinted spine.

So it's where when you're laying down, your whole low back is pressed into the mat.

So to me, those are the markers of classical Pilates.

And then contemporary Pilates, which is where New York Pilates sits, is... based in the Pilates principles.

So the Pilates principles, obviously classical is also based in the Pilates principles, but the Pilates principles being the breath, flow, coordination, control, those concepts of movement, And then we've taken classical exercises, and in a lot of instances, we've broken them down to their component parts, which makes them a little bit more accessible.

And then we'll layer the different aspects of a more classical exercise together to create sort of a progression inside of an exercise.

And then we'll also... make up new exercises that also fit within the parameters of the Pilates principles and the goals.

It's very alignment focused.

And one big difference is that we typically, if you're laying down doing ab work, we'll use a neutral lumbar spine.

So that means that you have a And your hip points and pubic bone are all in one plane.

So I would say back when I started Pilates, these were the only two camps that existed.

Yeah.

And there was a little bit of like shade thrown between the two camps.

Yeah.

And the reason for that really big delineation is how you're moving in the lumbar spine is because Joseph Pilati originally did all of his exercises in that posterior tilt or imprinted low back.

And I would say more... which also like was a very, very long time ago.

Like the studio is operating in like the forties and fifties in New York.

He didn't have, they didn't have a lot of anatomical research at that point.

And the work that he did was wildly progressive, but yeah, Since then, there has been some research about, a fair amount of research about how your joints work and what's optimal for the shape of your joints and strengthening.

And a neutral spine is generally considered to be more optimal from a strengthening perspective.

Although classically, the exercises were in an imprinted spine.