アスリートもピラティス - 2018.08.22

アスリートは体幹トレーニングは必須！

■The secrets that make Cristiano Ronaldo a physical phenomenon

Resistance training is a vital part of his workouts and he is a devoted disciple of Pilates, which focuses on core strength

thighs but it’s the unseen core strength that gives that ability to leap and then hang in the air so often seen when he scores with headers. And much of that core strength comes from another of the secrets to his longevity – Pilates.

The key Pilates apparatus is the ‘Pilates Reformer’. Via a combination of straps, springs, sliding seat and loops it offers greater resistance that someone’s body weight alone would offer them if they were working on a mat with free-weights. And the focus is on the entire core, building muscles that would have been left out of traditional work-outs.

His promotion of the discipline is limited to a few Instagram snaps but Ronaldo is as convinced a convert to the late German fitness coach Joseph Pilates’s method as anyone.

NBAチャンドラー・パーソンズもピラティス。
■An inside look at how Chandler Parsons got healthy this summer

He occasionally mixes in yoga and boxing, but Pilates has become Parsons’ go-to low-impact workout. He typically goes to Parker’s place on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and says he’s always “crazy sore” the next day.

“It’s about toning, flexibility, strengthening,” Parker says. “It’s finding all those tiny muscles that you didn’t even know you had. When you start working all these teeny-, teeny-weeny muscles, they help all your big muscles. Now you’ve got a fully functioning body.”

“It’s a great alternative workout to make yourself feel uncomfortable,” Parsons says. “You go outside the box and bubble to work out muscles that you never think about during the season.”

Parsons, wearing only a pair of black spandex pants, is clearly uncomfortable at several points during the hourlong session.

“Damn, that’s tough!” he says with a grimace while doing donkey kicks and extending his opposite arm. After finishing a set of crunches with a pair of fuzzy restraints around his knees, he grunts, “That’s 15 and I feel like killing myself.”

But Pilates certainly isn’t all pain for Parsons. There is a good-natured, flirtatious vibe between Parsons and Parker.