Why do muscle cells love PILANDES?

Your muscles are half red, half white — half tireless, half not. PILANDES wakes the red ones up. Less doing. More being. That's where the stamina lives.

Do you know about the red and white muscle cells?

And the trans cells, let’s not forget them!

Every muscle has all three types of these cells - or fibres - contained within it.

In fact, the scientists tell us that we have multiple types of these muscle cells/fibres - but they all broadly fall into 3 categories: red, white and trans. Trans fibres can flip their identity, switching between being red or white. Very handy, depending on what you want.

What does this have to do with practising Pilates exercises?

A more exact way scientists describe these fibres is non-fatiguable fibres (red) and fatiguable fibres (white). That’s right – red ones don’t get tired, white ones do. The advantage of white fibres over their red companions is that the white fibres can deliver you explosive power, something you lose as you get older. Pilates will help with that and it's great for balance. We often need large doses of speed and power over relatively short time spans – but not all the time.

Which kind would you like for everyday use ?

Obviously, it’s nice when we don’t get tired. Your physiology is designed around that principle – fully 50% of your muscle fibres are of the red non-fatiguable type. The other 50% consists of the white and trans fibres. So when you add a few more trans fibres to the red fibres you already have, that’s a lot of potential non-fatiguable muscle.

Are you starting to see where this leads us?

The more you recruit these non-fatiguable fibres while practising Pilates, the more stamina you will gain. It will start to feel much easier to maintain positions, and you can practice much longer. One of the tenets of PILANDES practice – you optimise recruitment of the non-fatiguable red fibres in every muscle as you perform Pilates.

In PILANDES we also refer to these fibres by another name – a name that speaks to your experience rather than to science - “being fibres” (red) and “doing fibres” (white). You need both, but in today’s busy world, your fibres get out of balance by overusing the white fibres which suppresses our ability to recruit the red fibres.

Instead of "being" you are doing, Doing, DOING. You get tired and drink a coffee, or shake yourself, or just push on. Being is more, well, being. Present, sensing your Self, your surroundings: the room you are in, who is with you.

Wouldn't it be nice to slow down a little, rejuvenate, feel easier?

I remember a lesson I gave on Teaser at the zen place studio in Futakotamagawa. At first, the woman was trying really hard to make the V-shape with her legs and torso. Using my touch, I got her to start over again. This time – instead of concentrating on the effort – she focused on how her whole body was supporting her doing this movement. Once she got into the V-shape, she suddenly blurted out:

“Oh - I could stay here for a week!”

NEXT: Kindness is a Mat Exercise Too

Stay tuned.

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