The 12 days of Pilates workout for New Years Eve!

I taught the whole 12 days of Pilates Workout to 10 lovely women for New Year’s Eve! Of course, we did have to celebrate afterwards with champagne and treats. What a fun and healthy way to celebrate the arrival of a new year.

Pacific NW Pilates wishes you a happy, joyful and exciting 2009!

Do abdominal exercises hurt your back?

Do abdominal exercises make your back hurt? They shouldn’t. If you find that your back is sore after doing a series of abdominal exercises (either immediately after or a day or two later), you may want to check to see if you back is gripping while you are doing them.

Here are several tips for helping you learn how to use your abdominals (instead of other muscles) while doing ab exercises (sometimes called crunches or sit ups)

Step One:

Re-educate your body to learn how to find your abdominals without recruiting other, more dominant, muscle groups.

Often when one has weak abdominal muscles, the hip flexor muscles (the muscles at the front of your hip) and back muscles will overwork. Remove the additional challenge of holding your legs in the air, and instead, cue your hips and back to relax.

To do this, place a thick pillow on the ground in front of you and drape your legs over the pillow (or arc). Then actively tell your back and hip muscles to “let go.” You may notice that your back falls into a slight curve so that there is a space between your back and the floor. See if you can maintain this curve during your sit-up and still keep your back and hips quiet! When you do this correctly, you should feel that your abdominals are working more effectively.

Step Two:

The second step is to see if you can do the same thing with your legs up in the air in a supported position. You could do this by placing your legs over a ball (this will be harder since it is an unstable surface). If you need a surface that provides more stability, put your legs over a coffee table or other surface.

Step Three:

The last step is to see if you apply this to having your legs in the air without support. In this position, your hip flexors will have to work in order to hold your legs up against gravity, and your back may need to be placed firmly on the floor (instead of having a curve in it), but your back should still not be working and, overall, you should feel that there is more balance between your abdominals and hip flexors.

Once you have this skill, you should be able to apply it to other abdominal exercises that require more complex movement with your arms and legs.

Good luck.

Happy Holidays from Pacific NW Pilates!

PACIFIC NW PILATES WISHES YOU A BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY SEASON AND A NEW YEAR OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS

Singing and Pilates

Darcy said Pilates breathing and singing breathing is the same except for some funneling of the ribs. So there is some rib stuff, but otherwise it’s the same. Darcy Dillon teaches the Thomas Blaylock Method and it’s made a huge difference for my voice, but it also made it easier for me to understand Pilates breathing.

Creating the 12 Days of Pilates Video!

Much thanks to all our Pilates Angels that helped us with the production of this video project. They all came in (or stayed) late last Friday night until 8:30pm learning the choreography and the music. What a crazy and fun project; I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

A special thanks to everyone who helped:

Choreography by Leslie Braverman
Music production by Carri Bugbee
Lyrics by Leslie Braverman, Carri Bugbee, Melanie Byford-Young and Jean Leavenworth
Videography by Ash Leavenworth
Social Coordinator and champagne provider: Melanie Byford-Young
Morale Booster and Cheat Sheet Designer: Patricia Broome
12 Pilates Elves/the talent (in Teaser order)-
Lynda Schnarr
Kay Stepp
Daphna Kadim
Cheryl Ramette
Virginia Henry
Jill Prevender
Jerai Laird
Sue Thornburg
Kate Manning
Jean Leavenworth
Tracey Hutzenbiler
Lisa Mathews

Special Guest Appearance by Seemore the Santa Skeleton

YOU TOO CAN DO THE 12 DAYS OF PILATES WORKOUT!!

Come and celebrate the end of 2008, and welcome in the new year!
Join us for a FREE, FUN workout followed by champagne and treats.
Learn Pacific NW Pilates’ 12 Days of Pilates Workout! You will receive a special prize for attending, so bring your friends!

The workout is appropriate for any fitness level and is great way to get ready for a happy and healthy new year.

Date: December 31, 2008
Time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Pacific NW Pilates
Sign up online or call us at 503-292-4409

Practicing what we preach

Tis the season when we start to wonder how we are going to fit into that new party dress! As a pilates instructor, I am supposed to be a model of fitness and health, but the reality is that I spend long hours teaching others and doing office work, and relatively few hours taking care of my own fitness needs. Outside of my daily walks with my dogs, I fit in pilates on a catch as catch can basis. Ten minutes here, thirty minutes there, but rarely a whole unadulterated hour where I push myself to do the exercises that are good for me, not necessarily the ones that my body likes to do.

I have clients who come in faithfully to do their private and/or group sessions three to four times a week. Are their lives any less busy than mine? Possibly, but they have clearly made pilates a priority in their lives in a way that I have yet to do. My regime usually consists of the occasional private workout combined with 5-10 hours of teacher training on the weekends. Sometimes that teacher training can be a great workout when we are doing the intermediate or advanced exercises, but just as often, we are doing postural analysis or observing students during their practice teaching sessions, so as a workout routine it is very hit or miss.

So how do we cope as pilates instructors? Yes, we are all very busy. At the end of a long teaching day, doing our own workout feels like the last thing we want to do. Trying to fit it into the beginning of the day would make more sense, if we didn’t feel compelled to answer emails and otherwise try to catch up on all work-related business. What works for me is to actually buy a package of sessions with another instructor. Putting my own money on the line is a great incentive to make that workout time a priority. Fitting that appointment time in is always a challenge, but once it is set, I am committed to it and am less likely to cancel it than I would be if it was just my own workout time.

How do other pilates teachers cope with this issue? I know from talking to many of my students that I am not alone in this paradox–how do we as pilates instructors keep pilates in our own busy schedules? I am looking forward to hearing some good ideas!

Your expert opinion is requested

This question was sent and responded to through email, but we thought others might be interested!

Hi All-Knowing Pilates Instructors-

Hi Lulu!
How are you doing? Snowed- in? This is just WRONG in Portland.

Anyhow…as you know the new V2 Max Plus™ is awesome! The all- in- one unit is definitely great for a small space. That said, the STOTT PILATES® cadillac is a great piece of equipment too. Here are a few things to consider:

The V2 Max Plus, overall, is a little bit bigger than the Cadillac. (30 in. wide x 97 in long x 16 tall- from the floor) versus the cadillac (36 inches wide x 89 in long x 25.5 tall-from the floor).

You gain many new exercise options with the V2 Max Plus that you couldn’t, otherwise, do with just the Cadillac and STOTT PILATES Reformer. Also, I believe, many of these exercises are more functional then the Cadillac exercises that you will be missing.

You can do the majority of the Cadillac exercises on the V2 Max Plus minus the hanging exercises and the trapeze work. Keep in mind, the hanging exercises (walkover, for example) cannot be executed without high ceilings. Overall, I think you would find that you can do many more V2 Max exercises with ALL your clients then the Cadillac exercises that use the hanging bars.

So, I guess if it were me, I would purchase the V2 Max Plus and another Reformer instead of 2 Reformer and a cadillac.

Hope that helps. Let us know when you are purchasing equipment, we may be able to get you a better price. Carole can help you with the order. Also, let me know if you would mind if I posted your question to our blog- I think others might find it helpful- thanks.

Response from Lulu Blake:

Leslie,

How do I work with someone with scoliosis?

From Melanie Byford-Young

Hi Jeff,
Great questions about your client.