Books : The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance
List Price: $19.95Amazon.com's Price: $13.57 You Save: $6.38 (32%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: unknown
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.71
EAN: 9780060820770
ISBN: 0060820772
Label: Collins Living
Manufacturer: Collins Living
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: October 01, 2005
Publisher: Collins Living
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Sales Rank: 9720
Studio: Collins Living
Accessories:
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A comprehensive, take-anywhere exercise program designed to improve men's strength, flexibility, balance, and posture
Have years of office work wreaked havoc on your posture? Could your tennis or golf game use a boost? Do you appear or feel older than your age? Or do you carry yourself in a manner that expresses strength, power, and peak performance to everyone around you?
In recent years, Pilates has become a popular exercise program, especially among women. Many books on the subject show lithe female bodies stretched across their covers. Top Pilates instructor Daniel Lyon Jr. aims to break the preconception that Pilates only benefits and appeals to women. "This couldn't be further from the truth," he asserts. "Joseph Pilates was a cigar-smoking boxer, acrobat, and gymnast, and he developed his exercise program from that background for men first." Likewise, Lyon designed this book specifically with men in mind, as the number of male Pilates practitioners -- among them professional athletes, actors, businessmen, and other high-profile personalities -- has rocketed to about three million and continues to grow.
For athletes, working stiffs, and men recovering from injuries, Lyon offers the first comprehensive exercise program of its kind. He walks you through forty "traditional mat" exercises and more than sixty "reformer on the mat" exercises -- each one brilliantly illustrated -- in an inspiring self-guided program that adapts to all experience levels and requires nothing more than floor space, an exercise mat, and the desire to look and feel your best. Using the Pilates method of engaging the strongest parts of the body, or the "powerhouse" (Joseph Pilates's term for the abdominals, hips, lower back muscles, and buttocks), and integrating all other body parts from this core, Lyon's program targets trouble spots for men and helps them achieve strong, lean, masculine physiques.
The Complete Book of Pilates for Men will deliver quick and long-term results to any man who seeks optimal fitness and a competitive edge in all aspects of his life.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
There are many things I love about this book.
1) the illustrations for each move are very nice.
2) the descriptions of the exercises and extensive and detailed.
3) it is the ONLY pilates book I've ever seen which contains all of the reformer on the mat exercises. These are super advanced and rarely featured in books/pilates dvds. (the full reformer on the mat routine is featured on the Classical Pilates Magic Circle DVD... also, Anna Caban's "Core Challenge" does use some of the more basic reformer on the mat exercises). This fact alone makes this book worth having.
As far as the "for men", I'm not sure how true this is... I think the book will probably appeal more to men due to its aesthetic (it's generally "manly" in its color... also, the illustrations are all men). This is probably of some value considering that most pilates books are definitely aimed more towards women. Substantively speaking, the "for men" part of the exercise descriptions can be summed up as follows: "men are less flexible than women". Each exercise mentions special considerations for men, but they are both very general and become repetitive after a while.
Although the "for men" of this pilates book seems to be more a matter of packaging than substance, the book contains excellent descriptions of each exercise and is worth owning for the reformer on the mat exercises alone!
Rating: -
I agree with the reviewer that said that this book could have just as easily been written for women as well as men. I have several books on Pilates, but this one emphasizes strength development more than the others, while not at all downplaying the flexibility aspect. For instance, I had not seen the pushup in any of the other books I have on Pilates. For the number of pages, and exercises contained in this book, it is a great bargain!
Rating: -
This is an excellant guide to pilates with clear illustrations and directions that help show pilates moves.
My wife does pilates and she looks at this book also from time to time, so women can also use this.
Rating: -
So worth the money. The cover and layout of the book are attractive, and the content does not disappoint. The language is clear and intensely helpful, and the sketches of the movements, which actually depict every essential step of each exercise, are some of the most useful I've encountered in books like this. The author really gives you everything you need to progress on your own, at your own pace, and finding new depths to each movement as you go. My body has never looked better. If your kinesthetic sense is such that you can learn well from a book, and you have an interest in Pilates, you should own this.
Rating: -
I've been practicing and teaching Pilates for years, and although I continue to be challenged by the original mat exercises, there are times that my students crave different exercises. I, too, have been increasingly curious about the Reformer on the Mat exercises, and though I've seen bits and pieces in other workouts, I haven't seen one that offers them in a cohesive system. This one does, showing not only the sequence the exercises should be performed in but also the different levels for each exercise (although most of them are quite challenging).
I do still have to shake my head and laugh at the need to market the system for men- anyone who has ever tried the Pilates pushups, Side Bends or Leg Pull Ups should already know that classical Pilates demands- and builds- upper body strength. However, in the text where Lyons notes that some of these exercises are exclusively for men- or individuals with significant upper body strength- I mostly agree. I happily cede the very tricky Headstand variations to male practitioners and instructors, although I will note that they are very similar to a number of movements from the Ashtanga Primary Series.
This is an excellent resource for male or female practitioners and instructors, and if it finally gets people to realize that Pilates is a real workout and not just a souped up abs and stretch routine, so much the better.
Browse for similar items by category:
|
