Pilates strengthens your core, but does it also make you taller?
According to a former Miss World, the exercises added some height on her 5-foot-9 frame.
“I’ve stretched out about half-an-inch through Pilates,” Rosanna Davison, 30, told the Irish Independent.
But don’t confuse “Pilates makes you taller” with “Pilates helps you grow,” explains Dr. Karen Erickson, a New York chiropractor and spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association.
“It won’t lengthen your bones,” she said.
However, poor posture, perhaps caused by hours of sitting hunched over a desk, does make people appear shorter, Erickson explained.
Pilates, which emphasizes strengthening and stretching muscles, corrects posture problems by improving alignment and keeping your spine healthy. This allows you to reverse any damage or natural shrinkage, says Alycea Ungaro, the owner of Real Pilates in TriBeCa.
“Most of us walk around as a constantly compressed version of ourselves,” she says. “(Pilates) would get you to your optimal or original height.”
Aspiring supermodels should understand that the exercise won’t help them reach Glamazon heights.
“It may make you stand taller, but you are still the same height you always were,” says Dr. Louis Peterson of Peterson Chiropractic in Manhattan.
“Pilates makes you taller” isn’t the only myth or misconception surrounding the popular fitness system.
The exercise is famous for working abdominal muscles and promising a tinier waistline, but it isn’t all about core strengthening, says Halle Clarke, the owner of Mongoose Bodyworks in SoHo.
The workout is about moving the body in ways that support and strengthen muscles, so you won’t get the full benefits if you are only looking for a toned tummy.
“Just doing a bunch of core work may not be the answer and it is not all there is to Pilates,” she says.
Another myth is that you need to be flexible to start taking Pilates. This isn’t the case.
“You gain flexibility, but that’s an end product that you should come for,” Ungaro says. “You just need to be able to follow directions.”
But don’t go into a class assuming Pilates is a lazy person’s workout because you’re on a mat, or that you won’t break a sweat.
“It is relaxing when you are finished – not when you are doing it,” she adds.
