The ''Callanetics'' exercise programme was created by
Callan Pinckney
Callan Pinckney (born Barbara Biffinger Pfeiffer Pinckney September 26, 1939 – March 1, 2012) was an American fitness professional who created and popularized as well as excelled in the Callanetics exercises.
Pinckney's nine books became inte ...
in the early 1980s. It is a system of exercise involving frequent repetition of small muscular movements and squeezes, designed to improve
muscle tone
In physiology, medicine, and anatomy, muscle tone (residual muscle tension or tonus) is the continuous and passive partial muscle contraction, contraction of the muscles, or the muscle's resistance to passive stretch during resting state.O’Sull ...
. The programme was developed by Pinckney from classical ballet exercises, to help ease a back problem that she was born with.
The theory of callanetics is that the surface muscles of the body are supported by deeper muscles, but popular exercise programmes often exercise only the surface muscles. According to callanetics, deeper muscles are best exercised using small but precise movements. Exercising the deeper muscles also leads to improved posture, which may result in the appearance of weight loss even if very little weight was lost.
Pinckney also recommends exercising with clothing that highlights (however of course not to flatter) the body's natural shape, and exercising in bright light, to show up the body's imperfections to the exerciser.
The video version of the exercise routine was released by
MCA Home Video
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
in November 1986 at a retail price of $29.95 and was a big hit, selling 1 million copies in the United States by January 1990, one of MCA's biggest sellers at the time.
Official Callanetics books by Callan Pinckney
Official Callanetics videos by Callan Pinckney
Official Callanetics DVDs
References
External links
Official Callanetics WebsiteOfficial Callanetics Streaming Video Websitebr />
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