Some two years ago, a friend of us (over 65) told us he had been attending Pilates lessons at the Maspalomas Golf Club, and he felt that his health and physical well-being had gained much by them. We had already heard something about the method, so Antonio and I did go and started taking lessons twice a week at the Pilates Centre. That is probably one of the best decisions we ever took. The Pilates method, named after his German born creator Joseph H. Pilates (1880-1967), consists of hundreds of exercises, with many variants, to be done on either a mat or one of the specially designed “machinesâ€, called Reformers.  With the exercises, combined with deep conscious pectoral respiration, you do feel all muscles and ligaments stretching and an increasing flexibility and strength of the whole body, but all happens in a gentle, progressive and pain free way. One of the main objectives of the method is to strengthen the body’s centre - the “Powerhouse†as J. Pilates called it - located in the abdominal and lumbar area, and so protect the vertebral column, improving the body’s balance, the upright posture and - last but not least - the pectoral breathing capacity, amongst other benefits like concentration, coordination and precision of your movements. Pilates is a wonderful method for anyone, but I daresay its benefits are greater still for people of our age, since it helps to fight stiffness of the limbs, osteoporosis, arthrosis or similar undesirable but unavoidable signs of decay… Therefore I feel it is now my turn to recommend the Pilates Centre, within the beautiful setting of the Maspalomas Golf Club. It is well equipped with the latest reformers and run by a professional Pilates instructor, Mauricio Ambiado. He makes you feel relaxed and entertained by constantly varying the exercises and keeps a smiling - though serious - eye on your doing them properly.  For information call: +34 675 844 934, http://www.pilatesmaspalomas.webs.com/ By Rolande Chagrin Chevènement
