Youve probably heard of Pilates mat exercises, and have probably heard that it works great, or you probably heard that it sucks because its so hard. Pilates mat exercises, are the bare basics of the Pilates exercise invented by Joseph Pilates in the Early 1910. First of all, your idea of Pilates must have included something with machines that have springs and bands, but Pilates can also be done without machines, just a simple mat, and this is called Pilates mat work, or simple Pilates mat.

Pilates Mat exercises have been considered very beneficial, especially for those who want stronger abdominal muscles and a stronger core. By core I mean the abs and the lower back. Pilates, as Joseph Pilates made it to be, is a low intensity groups of exercises that supposed to strengthen your muscles. Usually, exercises are done with Pilates machines, but Pilates Mat exercises however, have more challenging exercises simply because your body doesnt have to rely on the support of the machine to do the work, making it shoulder the work that you are making it do. These results in a variety of developments, more so, on the abs than any part of the body, and we all know that that piece of fat under the navel is really hard to get to.

The other benefit of a Pilates mat exercise is its sheer lack of exercise equipment. Unlike other Pilates exercises, this only requires you, as the name says, a Pilates mat. And youre ready to go, of course every Pilates exercise requires you some sort of instructor, either a real one, or a video, to tell you what to do, or if what youre doing is correct, which brings us to the question of do I really need an instructor? And the answer is yes, every exercise needs an instructor, even something you might think as simple as a Pilates mat exercise wont look very simple once youre in a hospital bed. Pilates mat exercises can be very advanced body work, and doing it wrongly can as with every type of work out, give you injuries. A Pilates mat instructor has to be certified by a qualified school make sure that your instructor has real qualifications before you take Pilates mat classes.

So when we touch the issue of a Pilates mat instructor, we ask what would be best. A DVD or a real one? Essentially, most Pilates experts recommend a real instructor, an instructor can point out what your doing wrong, can position you correctly if you dont have the right posture, and can personalize the exercise youre doing specifically for your bodys needs. However, there are lots of Pilates mat exercise videos out there that have been getting good reviews recently. Some people might have gone on to saying that its as good as the real instructor, well to each his own, but my suggestion is, if you can afford a real instructor, then get one. Thats the problem with real instructors though, the price, youll have to pay for classes monthly for that, but with a DVD, youll only have to buy it once and then you can use it for years to come. Whats also good with a Pilates mat exercise DVD is its convenience, you wont have to travel to the gym or to class you can just spread your mat on the floor, turn on the DVD and the youre good to go.