There is a lot of misunderstanding about Pilates and core stability ball exercises ,I get asked lots of questions but the most common one is…'Will Pilates help me lose weight?'

The truth is Pilates is designed to tone and shape your muscles, it is not designed to burn of fat.

If you are over weight you will need a cardiovascular workout. This type of workout is more active and combined together with a good food plan you will start to lose weight quickly.

If you haven't done any cardio work before I suggest you just start of with a cardio exercises for beginners its not going to be easy when you first start out but if you stick with it you'll see some fantastic results very quickly.

When I talk about food plans I say ‘Food Plan' because I hate the word ‘Diet.'

Diet to me means going without what I like and trying to stop eating. You don't stop eating and you don't go without you just need to eat the right foods to help you lose weight.

Now, if you do a cardiovascular workout one day and then have a rest day to let your body recuperate you can then do a workout using a Pilates core exercise ball. By alternating your workout routine in this way, you will help to tone your muscles which will start to pull your body into shape and by combining the two different work-outs and having a good food plan you will see a dramatic change in your body very quickly and also lose the weight. 

I want to talk about is the ‘Core and Core exercises '... Everybody asks me ‘what is the ‘Core' and what does it mean?

If you could stand upright and straight and draw a straight line through your body from the tip of your head down through the centre of your neck, spine, pelvis and then straight down to the ground, dividing your body exactly in half then this is what they call your centre line.. You're Core.

Your Core is kept upright and stable by your ‘Core stability muscles', which include deep abdominal, back and pelvic floor muscles.

Now if your Core stays in line and straight you will stand upright and tall with no back, neck pains or any problems.

However, in the real world it is not like that and people in today's society suffer from injures, over weight, and illnesses which can all throw your Core out of alignment coursing you more ailments and discomfort. Some people don't even have any injures but over time they have started to lean more to one side this then starts to throw their body out of alignment.

With your Core out of alignment your stability muscles start to do there own thing to try and help you keep upright. They end up working unevenly, for instance.. if you put more weight on the right foot because you lean to the right you will put an extreme amount of pressure on the Core muscles and they start to form there own shape to help them perform as best as they can under these circumstances.

This can then cause other problems and lots of unnecessary pain or discomfort.

With Pilates exercises carried out correctly it helps stretch the body and reshape your muscles helping you to realign your Core, intern returning your body to an upright and straight position.