Pilates Benefit #5: Grow Taller

Pilates can help you grow taller!

It’s true! No, no, you’re not actually going to sprout up like a plant or get extra centimetres on top of your head.. But Pilates exercises will improve your posture which in turn will help you to appear taller.

Think of a piece of string shaped in the form of an “S”. If you pull on either end of the string, you lengthen out the “S” shape into an “I” shape.

Now think of that “S” as your spine. Naturally, we have a less pronounced “S” shape in our spines. But through bad posture and weak muscles or imbalances, we squash our natural elongated “S” curvature into an unhealthy squiggly worm-shaped “S”.

With correct strengthening of the muscles that hold the spine in place, we can ensure that we’re stretching out that “S” shape to a safe, strong spinal curvature rather than slouching into the joints and creating unnecessary pressure on certain areas of the spine.

At some stage in our lives, we may have been told to “stand up straight” or “stop slouching your shoulders”. In that moment, we may correct our posture for a short while, but this is not as easy to maintain in the long run. Without the appropriate muscle strength, it’s almost impossible to hold correct posture for long periods of time. Soon enough, we slouch back into that chair-shape we’re so used to spending hours in.

Regular Pilates classes work the muscles around the core and outwards, helping to correct postural imbalances and to carry good posture into our daily lives.

“Instead of losing weight, I’m going to start focusing on growing taller.”

Try this now:

Stand infront of a mirror. Relax your knees. Now, place your hands on your hips and lift your rib cage up, up, up and away from your hips. Careful not to let your shoulders go up! Draw the shoulders down, away from the ears, as you elongate your neck. Hold this posture for at least 1 minute.

As you relax and then repeat this, note how much taller you’ve “grown”.