Fitness for the Mind and Body

Illustrated with photographs of a practicing Pilates expert and diagrams that show the muscle groups that get a workout during each featured Pilates exercise, this instructional guide has everything a reader interested in Pilates needs to begin crafting their own personalized regimen. Beginning with an explanation of what Pilates is and the history of how it was developed and going on to discuss modern principles and equipment, this guide emphasizes correct body placement, proper breathing techniques, and injury prevention. Includes a range of basic, intermediate, and advanced Pilates exercises and numerous step-by-step workouts to try.

This lavishly illustrated guidebook is the perfect way to introduce readers to the time-honored art of tai chi. The first chapter offers an account of tai chi's history and philosophical underpinnings, including descriptions of the major schools of tai chi. Subsequent chapters present a series of positions that flow into each other to create several tai chi routines. Each spread of these chapters features a photograph of a tai chi practitioner doing a position, accompanied by a cutaway anatomical drawing of the practitioner in that position. Tips on how to do each position properly are also included.