Brooke Siler
This book is quite good.I was interested to read the brief history of Joe Pilates. I also
think she does a good job of describing how Pilates differs from
other similar exercises and the imagery of Pilates and how the
imagery is important. It makes a little more sense to me now, so I'm
glad I read the book.
She lays out a program starting with a modified beginners routine of
seven exercises (most of which you will find in tapes), The Hundred,
The Roll-up, Single Leg Circles, Rolling like a ball, Single leg
stretch, Double leg stretch and spine stretch forward.
She says that once you have learned the modified beginner's routine,
then you should add one beginner exercise at a time, then you can
start adding intermediate & advanced exercises, again one at a time.
She also said that her goal was for you to be able to learn the forms
well enough that you can do the routine on your own without having to
buy equipment, have a coach or go to a gym. And that you should only
have to spend about a half hour 3-5 times per week even if you are
doing the advanced routine.
One thing that I was surprised about was that several of the
exercises that she has classified as intermediate and advanced are
ones that are often included in videos, without nearly the amount of
form description. Like the rollover, the swan dive, spine twist,
swimming, mermaid side bends and Pilates pushups are classified as
advanced. And single straight leg stretch, criss cross, open leg
rocker, corkscrew, the saw and a lot of others are classified as
intermediate. I know a lot of those are in tapes like Crunch Pick
Your Spot, The Method Precision Toning, Pilates for Dummies and Stott
Essential Matwork.
Some of the advanced exercises look incredibly hard. There are some
teaser modifications that look insanely hard.
She also includes the standing arm series,
which uses light (no more than 2 lb) dumb bells. This series is on
The Method Target Specifics and it always seemed like a waste of time
to me. But Siler says several times in the text that none of the
exercises should hurt and that you shouldn't be sore afterwards. So it might be worth another look.
It's a quick read and worth the time if you want to know more about
Pilates. I think that some of the imagery ideas could apply really
well to other exercises as well. The pictures are beautiful and very clear and the form description is comprehensive. This book would be an excellent supplement to your video Pilates workouts.
Instructor comments:
Brooke Siler is a long time student of Romana Kryzanowska, who was Joseph Pilates leading protege whom he chose to continue on his work. She gives
excellent form descriptions and imagery for each pose. She also talks
about what the goal of each exercise is and what to focus on, as well
as modifications and progression in each one.
Loretta S.
6/14/03
