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www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jbmt
Bodywork and
Journal of
Movement Therapies
REHABILITATION AND CORE STABILITY
Pilates and the powerhouseFI
Joseph E. Muscolino*, Simona Cipriani
7, Long Ridge Road, Redding, CT 06896, USA
Abstract The Pilates method is a comprehensive body-conditioning
method that isdirected toward the development of both the body and
the mind of the individual.Toward this end, the Pilates method
incorporates six key principles: centering,concentration, control,
precision, breath, and flow. The purpose of this paper is
toinvestigate the underlying biomechanical foundation of the
principle of centering.The principle of centering refers to the
concept that all movements of the humanbody emanate from the center
or core or what Joseph Pilates called the powerhouseof the body.
The Pilates method endeavors to strengthen the powerhouse as one of
itsprimary goals. In effect, strengthening the powerhouse is
core-stabilization. Part oneof this article investigates what the
boundaries and components of the powerhouseare as well as the
muscle groups that effect movements of the powerhouse. It
thenexplores the three major effects that Pilates exercises have
upon the health andintegrity of the powerhouse: (1) its effect upon
pelvic posture, (2) its effect oflengthening the spine, and (3) its
effect upon the structural integrity or tone of theabdominopelvic
cavity. The sum total of these effects is to create what may
betermed the Pilates Powerhouse Posture. Part two will then
illustrate various Pilatesexercises and describe their effects upon
the powerhouse.& 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS
Pilates;
Powerhouse;
Core-stabilization;
Contrology;
Exercise
Introduction
The Pilates Method of body conditioning wasdeveloped by Joseph
H. Pilates. Joseph Pilatesbegan to develop his system of body
conditioningduring the First World War (Siler, 2000) andcontinued
to enhance and refine this system overthe next 50 years until his
death in 1967. All told,the Pilates system of body conditioning
containsover 500 stretching and strengthening exercises.These
exercises may be divided into two broadcategories: mat and
apparatus exercises. The firstexercises developed by Joseph Pilates
were mat
exercises, which as the name implies are done on amat on the
floor. Pilates next created a number ofapparatuses that require one
to exercise againstresistance, the resistance being provided by the
useof springs and pulleys.
Upon creation of his method of body condition-ing, Pilates named
it The Art of Contrology.Inherent in this name is Pilates belief
that it shouldbe the goal of a healthy person to attain a
strongmind and use it to gain total mastery or controlover his/her
physical body. Therefore, the PilatesMethod as advocated by Joseph
Pilates is more thanjust a physical regimen for the body; it is
also abalanced regimen for strengthening and condition-ing the mind
as well (Gallagher and Kryzanowska,2000; Pilates, 1945).
Pilates felt that modern society had robbed us ofour natural
physical and mental vitality. He notedthat with the advent of
civilization and sedentary
ARTICLE IN PRESS
*Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-203-938-3323; fax:
1-203-938-9284.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J.E.
Muscolino),
[email protected] (S. Cipriani).URLs:
http://www.learnmuscles.com,
http://www.artofcontrol.com.
1360-8592/$ - see front matter & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All
rights reserved.doi:10.1016/S1360-8592(03)00057-3
Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (2004) 8, 1524
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indoor living, our activities have failed to exercisethe body in
ways that are structured and balanced.Additionally he observed that
our compensatoryefforts via hobbies, activities and recreation,
areall too often performed in ways that are unba-lanced and
ineffective at truly encouraging goodcontrol of the body (Gallagher
and Kryzanowska,2000; Pilates, 1945; Siler, 2000).
Key principles of Pilates
For this reason, Pilates developed a comprehensivemethod of
stretching and strengthening exercisesthat together aim to create a
strong and limberbody as well as a strong will of mind that
cancontrol the body. Certainly, any method as com-prehensive and
diverse as Pilates will have manycore principles. This is true for
the Pilates Method,which may be said to have six key
principles(Liekens, 1997). They are: centering, concentra-tion,
control, precision, breath, and flow.
1. Centering is considered to be the main focuspoint of the
Pilates Method. The center refersto the center or core of the body
and is usuallyknown as the powerhouse.
2. Concentration is important in that it is the mindthat guides
the body; hence focused concentra-tion is necessary when carrying
out Pilatesexercises.
3. Control refers to the fact that when the work ofan exercise
is being done from the center withconcentration, you will be in
control of themovements performed.
4. Precision refers to the precision Joseph Pilatesemployed in
developing each exercise and theprecision with each exercise should
be carriedout. A common saying in the world of Pilates
thatillustrates this is: It is not how many, but how.
5. Breath is of utmost importance because allexercises should be
done with a rhythm to thebreathing for the purpose of obtaining
optimalcirculation of oxygenated blood to all tissues ofthe
body.
6. And finally, flow refers to the graceful andflowing
succession of one exercise to anotherduring a Pilates session.
It is not within the scope of this article to try toexhaustively
cover every one of these six keyprinciples. Instead, this article
narrows its focusin on the concept of Centering. More
specifically,the relationship between the Pilates Method andthe
effect that it has upon strengthening whatis called the powerhouse
is investigated. Then
implications that a strong powerhouse has for thehealthy
structure and function of the human bodyare explored.
Centering and the powerhouse
Perhaps the major tenet of the Pilates method isthe concept of
centering. While Joseph Pilatesbelieved that all muscles of the
body should bestrengthened and stretched (Gallagher and
Kryza-nowska, 2000; Pilates, 1945), he felt that the majoremphasis
should be placed upon the muscles of thecenter, or core, of the
body (Selby, 2002; Siler,2000; Winsor, 1999). He referred to this
region asthe powerhouse of the body. Joseph Pilates himselfnever
set down in writing what the exact para-meters of the powerhouse
were and there does notseem to be exact agreement amongst the
masterteachers of Pilates today.
It is worth mentioning that after the death ofJoseph Pilates,
his student and disciple, RomanaKryzanowska, was chosen by Clara
Pilates to carryon the artistic interpretation and dissemination
ofthe Pilates Method (Siler, 2000). Meanwhile, thearchival material
and trademark of the namePilates became the property of Sean
Gallagher,P.T. In a recent legal decision, the ability totrademark
the name Pilates, and consequentlythe sole right of certification
of Pilates instructorswas lost. This means that there is no longer
onecertifying or governing body that determinesexactly what the
Pilates Method is or is not. As aresult, the practice and method of
Pilates, alongwith the underlying biomechanical basis, has
beendiverging greatly in recent years. There are nowmany techniques
within the Pilates world, someadhering strictly to the system of
exercises devel-oped by Joseph Pilates, and others that
areincorporating changes into this system. This articletries to
address the biomechanical basis of theoriginal Pilates method as
far as is possible.
When most strictly defined, the powerhouse issaid to be the
ycenter of the body. It is the exactpoint between the upper half of
your body and thelower half of your body, between the right side
andthe left side (Winsor, 1999, p. 30). Others havedefined it as a
6-inch band that runs around theentire body and is located just
inferior to the navel.However, many in the Pilates world view
thepowerhouse more broadly and define it as rangingfrom the pelvic
floor inferiorly to the ribcagesuperiorly (Winsor, 1999) (see Fig.
1). Another termthat is of importance to the subject of centering
isthe box (Liekens, 1997). The box is defined by twohorizontal
lines: one running from the top of one
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16 J.E. Muscolino, S. Cipriani
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shoulder to the top of the other shoulder, and thesecond line
running from one hip joint to the otherhip joint (Liekens, 1997)
(see Fig. 2). In effect, thebox incorporates the entire trunk and
pelvis as awhole. The concept of centering may be broadenedbeyond
the powerhouse to include the rest of thetrunk and when this is
done, the box becomesthe center in that the box is a broader center
of thehuman body. Thus the concept of centering refersto
strengthening the center of the body. For thepurpose of this
article, the core powerhouse isdefined as ranging from the pelvic
floor to the
ribcage. However, this will have an effect upon,and will
incorporate to some degree, the largercenter known as the box. What
is clear anduniversally accepted within the world of Pilates isthat
the powerhouse is thought of as the core of thebody from which the
power and strength of thebody is derived (Winsor, 1999). In other
words,the powerhouse is the core center of the body fromwhich
peripheral muscle actions are carried out.
The concept of centering is to create not only astrong
structural powerhouse, but also a flexibleone. Indeed, Joseph
Pilates used to have thefollowing maxim on his business card: A man
isonly as old as his spine is inflexible. With a corecenter to the
body that is strong and flexible,Pilates asserted that the
integrity of functioningwould be improved. That is, the ability to
move andfunction throughout the activities of daily lifewould be
optimized (Pilates, 1945; Siler, 2000),The Pilates method of body
conditioning does notaim to bulk a persons musculature; it aims
tostrengthen and lengthen a persons posture andmusculature
(Gallagher and Kryzanowska, 2000;Pilates, 1945; Selby, 2002; Siler,
2000).
Components of the powerhouse
Using this expanded concept of the powerhousethat reaches from
the pelvic floor to the ribcage, itcan be seen that the body parts
that are containedwithin the powerhouse are the pelvis and
theabdomen; the abdomen being defined as theanterior abdomen as
well as the posterior abdo-men, i.e., the lower back. The joints
that areinvolved with the powerhouse are the lumbar spinaljoints,
including the lumbosacral joint between thelumbar spine and the
pelvis, and the hip joints(femoroacetabular joints) between the
pelvis andthe thighs (see Fig. 3). The muscles of the power-house
are the major muscles and muscle groupsthat are located within this
region; of particularimportance to the purpose of this article will
be themuscles and muscle groups that move the bodywithin the
sagittal plane.
Taking a closer look at the muscles of thepowerhouse, they may
be divided into the followingfive major groups (see Fig. 4):
* Anterior abdominals (also known as spinalflexors). These
muscles include the rectusabdominis, external abdominal oblique,
inter-nal abdominal oblique and the transversusabdominis.
* Posterior abdominals (also known as spinalextensors or low
back muscles). These muscles
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Figure 1 The powerhouse: The powerhouse in Pilates isusually
defined as extending from the pelvic floorinferiorly to the ribcage
superiorly. Effectively, thepowerhouse is the center of the
body.
Figure 2 The box: The box is defined by two horizontallines; one
running from the top of one shoulder to the topof the other
shoulder, and the second line running fromone hip joint to the
other hip joint, i.e., the boxencompasses the entire pelvis and
trunk. Just as thepowerhouse is defined as being the center of the
humanbody, the box is a more broadly defined center of thebody.
Pilates and the powerhouseFI 17
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include the erector spinae group and thetransversospinalis
group, as well as the quad-ratus lumborum.
* Hip extensors. These muscles include the gluteusmaximus and
may also include the hamstringsand the posterior head of the
adductor magnus.
* Hip flexors. These muscles include the iliopsoas,rectus
femoris, sartorius, tensor fasciae lataeand the more anterior
adductors of the thigh atthe hip joint.
* Pelvic floor musculature (also known as perinealmuscles).
These muscles include the levator ani,coccygeus, superficial and
deep transverse peri-neals and others.
Given the structural components of the power-house, it can be
stated that the principal tenet ofworking the powerhouse will be to
affect themuscles and joints of the pelvis and lumbar spine;the
thrust being to not only affect the staticposture of this region,
but also to affect thedynamic strength and flexibility of this
region aswell.
Effects of working the powerhouse
The Pilates method of body conditioning may begeneralized to
have three major effects upon thepowerhouse. First, Pilates affects
the posture ofthe pelvis, which results in postural changes to
thelumbar spine. Second, it works directly upon themusculoskeletal
structure of the spine (the lumbarspine in particular) by
strengthening, stretching,and lengthening the spine. Third, Pilates
affectsthe structural integrity or tone of the abdomino-pelvic
cavity as a whole.
The neutral pelvis and its effect upon thespine
It is often said that the pelvis is the keystone ofthe skeletal
structure of our body. Examining thestructural and functional
considerations of thepelvis, it is seen that the pelvis is a body
part thatis located between the trunk and the thighs. Whenthe
pelvis moves, it may move relative to the trunkat the lumbosacral
joint and/or it may moverelative to the thigh(s) at the hip
joint(s) (seeFig. 5). Muscles that attach from the trunk to
thepelvis move the pelvis at the lumbosacral joint;muscles that
attach from the lower extremity tothe pelvis move the pelvis at the
hip joint(s). Aprimary concern involves pelvic sagittal
planemovements and the resultant sagittal plane effectson the
spine. Unfortunately, there are a plethora ofterms used to describe
the movements of thepelvis. Probably the most common terminology
forsagittal plane pelvic movements and the one thatwill be used in
the article is posterior tilt andanterior tilt of the pelvis (see
Fig. 6).
The posture of the pelvis largely determines theposture of the
spine. The spine sits upon the base ofthe sacrum; therefore, any
change in the sagittalposture of the pelvis will change the level
of thebase of the sacrum. The level of the base of thesacrum will
then affect the curve of the lumbarspine. For example, if the base
of the sacrum werelevel, the spine would be totally straight.
However,once the base of the sacrum is unlevel to anydegree, the
spine must have a curve in it tocompensate. This curve is necessary
to eventuallycreate a level base for the head to sit upon.
Thisrighting mechanism to create a level base for thehead is
necessary to place the eyes and the
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Figure 3 (a) Components of the powerhouse: The powerhouse
contains the pelvis and the abdomen. (b) The jointswithin the
abdomen are the lumbar spinal joints. The pelvis is a body part
that is bounded by the lumbosacral jointsuperiorly and the hip
joints inferiorly.
18 J.E. Muscolino, S. Cipriani
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Pilates and the powerhouse-IIntroductionKey principles of
PilatesCentering and the powerhouseComponents of the
powerhouseEffects of working the powerhouseThe neutral pelvis and
its effect upon the spineLengthening of the spineTone of the
abdominopelvic cavityConclusionReferences
