I get a lot of people say to me ‘Pilates — it’s great for your core’. The (exercise) world is full of gimmicks, fads and tag lines— so I often wonder if they actually understand what that means.
As much as I would like say Pilates is more than just exercise (which it is), I have come to accept that Pilates is first and foremost about exercise. It is about body conditioning, strength training and at the ‘core’ of it is the ‘powerhouse’.
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Image sourced from www.fitnessmagnet.com
A few weeks ago I completed a gruelling whitewater course at Penrith whitewater stadium in preparation for a Grand Canyon trip in 2016. This article is about how Pilates training provided me the strength to finish the course without injury and be the last person standing.
Read MoreJoseph Pilates demonstrating on the Wundar Chair - note the similarity to some yoga asanas.
It is common knowledge that muscle imbalance leads to dysfunctional movement and inefficient energy output. This article explores how working muscle balance through exercises such as Pilates can give cyclists more power and energy reserve to push longer and harder on their rides.
Read MoreOn my way to the studio every morning, my senses are assaulted with music of this generation. It stupifies me why I choose main stream radio pop stations as my preferred white noise. Maybe its to snap myself out of the early morning stupor and focus on the hours of teaching ahead of me. Three things comes to mind while the noise persists in the background;
Read MoreWhen I overhear people saying they have just come back from a Pilates stretch class, I never know whether to laugh or cry. I often wonder if I should tell them that whatever they have been doing for the past hour — it’s not Pilates!
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It is true many Pilates instructors do come from a dance background as its a logical segue from dance with both disciplines being about body awareness and movement. However there are many of us like myself that don't fall into this stereotype.
Read MoreThe modern age sees more and more people sitting at desks for prolonged periods and the tri-factor of 1) typing 2) mouse moving and 3) phone answering, is a recipe for tight upper backs and stiff necks. It is common knowledge that muscles become tight from overuse but the lesser known culprit for tightness is inactivity and underuse — thus weakness.
Read MoreSince the advent of the modern day workplace with desk and office chairs, we see more and more people sitting for long periods of time. This has become more apparent with clients having the same old story of tight hips, quadriceps (thighs), hamstrings (back of thighs) and buttocks. I have coined it the ‘lower body atrophy syndrome’, a factor that leads to bad posture and poor movement quality.
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