Your Ultimate Pilates Body® Challenge: At the Gym, on the Mat, and on the Move

This book is really a sequel to her first book "The Pilates Body" although it could stand alone for people who are already familiar with the basics of Pilates. This book is unique in that it takes the principles of Pilates and applies them to working at home, in the gym, and in everyday life. The section on working at home includes incorporating exercise bands and other easily available equipment. The use of visualization and the emphasis on proper technique is another strong point. After looking at many books on Pilates, I have found those by Brooke Siler to be of the highest quality.

Siler's latest book on Pilates is an excellent resource for those who have been exposed to Pilates. (Although it could be used by a beginner, there are better books to ground you in the material, particularly Siler's first book and those of Alycea Ungaro's.) If you want ways to bring Pilates to your gym routine, she has quite a few ideas for five popular pieces of equipment. If you want to know how to incorporate mat principles into your at home workout, there are ideas for weights and bands. Trying to improve your sports performance? Plenty of insights and specific exercises for four sports. Do you want to spice up your mat routine, but still in the Pilates-realm? Siler offers four different mat routines with exercises not usually seen in retail manuals. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a good portion of the book is devoted to bringing Pilates principles into everyday life- whether driving, waiting in line, carrying your child, standing on the subway or a host of other everyday activities almost everyone finds themselves doing- via her trademarked Invisible Workout. A caveat: Siler is not the first person to have tackled (all of) these subjects. Although not called such, many of the ideas of the Invisible Workout have been used by Denise Austin (somewhere, a Pilates purist is shuddering); Jennifer Kries' lovely book (Pilates Plus Method) also includes sports-specific routines; and Alycea Ungaro's latest book (The Pilates Promise) is based on the concept of "target-toning" using Pilates. None of the above should detract from this book, because Siler does what she does very well and includes a number of fresh ideas and different exercises. Also, this is the first book I've seen that brings Pilates methods to pieces of gym equipment and that uses "Reformer-on-the-Mat" exercises. While such exercises are starting to pop up on DVD (Sarah Picot, Liz Gillies, the Classical Pilates team), it's great to have these in a book for a reference and with such comprehensive instructions. I have criticized Siler's writing style for her instructions as being too wordy and heavy on the visuals. However, I feel it works better here first because she is writing (I believe) to a more experienced audience and two because she seems to have ligthened up a bit, including a number of anecdotes from her personal training that makes her text seem less technical. In short, even if you were put off by her first book, you shouldn't be here. Excellent book- one of the best Pilates purchases I've made.

This is the long-awaited follow-up to Brooke Siler's first manual on Pilates, The Pilates Body. Her first book was my own introduction to Pilates about 5 years ago, and I still recommend it as the starting point for those brand-new to Pilates. However, for those familiar with Pilates and looking integrate its principles into their lives as a whole, I highly recommend Your Ultimate Pilates Body Challenge, a perfect sequel. Siler does not spend as much time delving into the background and basic tenets of Pilates as she did in her previous work. However, she still provides an excellent foundation by reviewing key points about the Pilates powerhouse, posture, and Pilates-style breathing. Furthermore, as it did in her first book, Siler's enthusiasm for the Pilates method shines through on each and every page. She is unfailingly encouraging, with a clear, down-to-eath writing style. Siler is also gifted in her ability to provide metaphors, and the amazing photos and illustrations which accompany her text provide further clarification. Siler offers several methods for expanding your Pilates practice in this book. The first is by taking it to the gym: she describes a program which utilizes common gym equipment for a cardio workout that integrates Pilates techniques. Next she outlines a similar program using home-based equipment such as free weights and bands. In response to demands from her fans, she has also created several programs based on Pilates matwork. She introduces the "Tantalizing Ten," ten Pilates exercises which provide a foundation for the four other programs, including "Adding Abs," "Lean Lower Body," "Perfecting Posture," and "Finding Flexibility." The final two chapters address how to integrate Pilates into other activities. The first, called the "Invisible Workout," details the use of Pilates principles in simple, everyday activities, from driving your car to carrying your children to doing housework. In the last chapter, Siler links Pilates to sports activities, choosing a somewhat odd selection of Sports to highlight use of Pilates techniques: golf, tennis, downhill skiing, and snowboarding. Although I wouldn't suggest this book as someone's first introduction to Pilates, those with some experience with the Pilates method are likely to find this book a valuable addition to their Pilates library.

All Pilates books -- including this one -- invariably show sequences of Pilates exercises. This book also addresses a different question: how would someone aware of the mindful movement patterns of Pilates apply those patterns to other activities: walking on a treadmill, rowing, driving a car, carrying a bag or carrying a child, typing on a computer, etc. How can you have spaciousness in your joints and a relaxed body while performing these stressful activities -- 'tis a very good question to ask! Photographs of individuals doing Pilates exercises and everyday activities are augmented by drawings showing suggested imagery: A photo of someone typing at a computer shows marionette strings supporting the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. This points to an interesting thing: we actually can imagine and do this, but we really do not know how to explicitly address groups of muscles to make this happen. Deep muscles are fundamentally different from the superficials. A mother carrying her child has an imaginary backpack drawn on her back -- with the cue to keep the shoulders and back in proximity to the backpack. Such imagery keeps the small rotator cuff muscles engaged, the upper back straight, and the chest broad and open. It also keeps the back centered over the pelvis -- a balanced position. The most fascinating imagery is where the author adds springs to the drawings. I teach a course about why such resiliency is vital to our body's working efficiently. While we clearly don't have springs inside of our body, Brooke demonstrates that it is indeed possibly to enhance the spring-like nature of our bodies. Serious students of Pilates eventually realize how to bring this kind of awareness to the rest of your life. If this book is able to accelerate this process, that is A Very Good Thing. Most instructors don't address these areas unless a student explicitly asks about them; I applaud Brook for introducing these concepts to students. One last note: the imagery in this book is very good, but it is by no means unique. A good student will use the imagery and inquire why it is effective; a truly wise student will use these images as a starting point to plant and nurture his own garden of imagery. Instructors love it when students start cooking their own images!