psych and speech

How many of you here are sick of the neck aches from crunches? Feeling inferior to others at the gym because you can only leg press 30, and the person next to you is pressing 90? How many of you want to be fit, but don’t know how?

Well, there’s no need to despair, there is a way, and that way is pilates.

You may be thinking in your head “why pilates?”

Lets compare it to other working out methods.

Compared to other working out methods, pilates work out your “core” muscles a.k.a. your axial muscles. These muscles are used to help hold your body up and perform your daily tasks. Most work out methods out there make you think you should be bulky, big, with an amazing 6 pack, but according to WebMD, “If we don't concentrate on building a good foundation and a strong trunk or core, we'll end up tight in some places and weak in others, injury-prone, and susceptible to the pitfalls of our occupation or chosen form of exercise.” Another thing, pilates, according to WebMD, makes the individual very aware of their body movements and teaches one to move all muscles synergistically, which is how the body should move. A flexible muscle, is better than a strong one and pilates according to howstuffworks.com “builds true flexibility -- a freedom of movement created without distorting or manipulating the body”.
Most people buy gym memberships and work out incessantly, striving for that bomb bod. People that practice pilates not only think about how big their muscles will be, but while doing pilates engage in their body as well as mind in dynamic tension. According to howstuffworks.com Pilates wanted to increase adherent’s flexibility and strength but also realized that a healthy mind and body are interrelated and dependant. Therefore, while doing pilates, one should be in complete concentration, thinking about the proper position, and the way it makes the body feel. You don’t do that while you’re leg pressing 30 lbs. at the gym.

Why pilates over the gym?

Financially, some people can’t afford spending that 30 dollars every month for a gym membership that only allows you to come Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9. It’s a waste of money! With pilates, you have many ways of choosing how to practice it. You can buy pilates for dummies, which is only $14.00. One price for your whole lifetime, which is half the price you spend for your month membership. If you are wealthier than your average college student, you could go ahead and enroll in private sessions that go for $65 a lesson according to mind-bodyfitness.net. Really, you have many ways you can grab a hold of pilates, whether it be buying a set of DVD’s, going to your gym’s offered classes, or hiring a personal trainer.
Next, you can practice it in the comfort of your own home at any hour of the day. My aunt actually does her “hundreds” which is a pilates move while she watches Oprah, everyday at 3. Pilates can fit into your schedule whenever you want. If some of you are like me and have ADD and never follow through with your working out schedule, then you can plan group sessions at each other’s houses which makes you look forward to bonding with your friends as well as bonding with your body.

Why else?

Have you seen celebrities bodies? According to Pilatesinsight.com “Who in hollywood doesn’t do pilates these days? It seems you can’t flip through a magazine or turn on the TV without hearing someone crediting pilates exercise with their physique.” From Martha Stuart to Jennifer Anniston, everyone is doing it. So what is stopping you?

Aside from the physical exterior well being of pilates, pilates is actually used in rehabilitation studios. Pilates is used everywhere! That’s why I recommend you do Pilates. Lastly, for you nursing students who still don’t know your muscles, Pilates helps you feel the “burn” in those muscles you’ve never really paid attention to, which allows you to memorize where it is at as well as memorize their actions. Well today I have told you about Pilates and why I think you should do it. I hope that many of you were persuaded and hopefully go to the nearest Target or go online and order a Pilates dvd J. Thank you!





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Intro To Psychology
Section 4 -- Travis
Adrienne Velasquez
Reaction Paper: Stress



First off, I wasn’t surprised when I read that stress and health were interrelated, but I was shocked when the book stated that stress is usually what leads to chronic illness. The book also starts to talk about how you need a little bit of stress, they actually made up a term for it “Eustress”. Eustress is defined as healthful stress that keeps us occupied and alert. In hospitals, they actually talk and get to know about the patient because if they don’t hear about their daily hassles, and what may have lead up to say an asthma attack, they would say they neglected the patients.
This then brought me back to the most stressful time of my life, second semester junior year. I had never gone to the doctor as many times as I had back then, nor have I ever had that many excused absences. I had too many time-pressure hassles such as: Multicultural Assembly choreography, practice SAT classes, and college/university picking. The stress built up, but back then, naïve and oblivious to everything, I did not bridge the relation between the amount of stress I had to my low immunity.
So in conclusion, I formulated the question: if the book states that we need stress because its healthy, but a lot of stress leads to chronic illness, how does a college student know where to draw the line of stress so he or she may fulfill their academic needs? In my opinion I feel that with all the deadlines that college gives us, its almost impossible to know where to draw the line simply because we can’t. It is our responsibility to take care and boost up our immune system as much as we can.