Tone Your Body Without Breaking a Sweat

Born in New York City, San Miguel began dancing at 6. Eventually, a knee injury also led her to pilates, but this recommendation came from her doctor in 1958.

She was sent to Corola Trier, who was the first student of Pilates to open a separate studio. For her, "It was love at first sight," San Miguel recalls. "It answered all the questions about body movement, strength and alignment that I always had [and that] my ballet instructors did not address."

A few years later, when San Miguel was thinking about retiring from ballet, Trier suggested she train as an instructor. San Miguel, along with fellow Trier student Kathy Grant (now another of the pilates elders) went directly to Pilates; in 1967, she and Grant were certified as teachers -- the only two to be so by Joseph Pilates himself.

The Core of Pilates

The three basic tenets of pilates (as the practice of contrology became known) focus on the stretch, strength and control of the body. The exercises highlight the abdominal and lower-back muscles, as Pilates believed this is the point from which all movements emanate.

By stabilizing this core or "powerhouse," as it is often referred to, practitioners become attuned to how their bodies walk, run, sit and stand, and have the proper positioning for all these actions.

Fletcher stresses pilates' promotion of complete body awareness. As a dancer, he was already trained to pay attention to how he moved, but when he began practicing pilates, he says, it enabled him to attain an ideal within seemingly simple, quotidian actions such as standing upright and breathing.

San Miguel adds, "It is amazing how the principles of pilates apply to dance, golf, swimming, any physical activity." Amazing, but not surprising, when you consider what pilates fosters -- flexibility, correct alignment, strength and balance, San Miguel points out.

A Slow Burn

Even for more recent adherents, the pull of pilates is still just as strong.

Alisa Wyatt has been practicing pilates for 14 years, and teaching for eight of those from her New York City studio. Similar to Fletcher and San Miguel, a background in dance and a knee injury led her to the practice. A physical therapist showed Wyatt a few simple moves to aid in rehabilitation, and she continued to do pilates occasionally on her own for years.