Winter Pilates - Pleasington/Blackburn

 Christine Smith

  Mind / Body Enabler

Private Pilates Classes for Winter 2013 in the comfort of your Own Home

                                 
Busy running around, work, kids, shopping and finding it hard to work out.  I am a Body Control Pilates/Barreconcept Instructor and am now offering Private One on One sessions all in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

One on One sessions allow you to schedule when you want your Pilates/Barreconcept workout.    No more trying to get to the gym in time for the class.

Daytime and Evening Classes available

Check out Emma at the bottom right. Also the new Pilates Expert on QVC

Settling In

 

Sitting at my new kitchen table, looking back on the last few weeks.  The weeks leading up to the move to the UK went by in a bit of a blur.  We had  a lovely transition period at Suz and Matt’s, lots of fun, I was very sad to leave them.

The first week in the UK had me running around again trying to set up our new home which we are now living in.

Pete and Danny arrived safely.  The whole moving and flying didn’t seem to bother Danny, picked up Pete at arrivals, drove to Pets on Jets and picked up Danny,really simple and easy.

Our new home is beautiful, a view from every window, lots of great walks, walking across the fields is fun but a bit soggy, thank goodness for wellies.  

Classes are in the planning stages these will be  commencing in the New Year, but hoping to get some Taster classes going before that.  Happy now my mats and other equipment have arrived, still seem to have clothes missing which means they are somewhere in storage.

Looking for 1 2 1’s, group Pilates or Barreconcept sessions please call, great time of year to get motivated and moving.

Knees and Barre Workouts

 

Very interesting blog by Burr Leonard on the Bar method and knees.  Lots of benefits

 

Four million years ago, our ancestors stood up and walked on two legs. Now our two knees, which are the body's largest joints, do the job that four knees used to do and they help keep us in balance, which is an issue when you're more vertical than horizontal. Our knees need all the muscles around them to be as strong and balanced as possible.

By systematically strengthening all three muscle groups that run through the knee - the calf muscle, the quads, and the hamstrings - Bar Method students keep it strong and pain free, which may be especially important for runners or participants in other high impact sports. Here's part of a blog from JaMarcus Russell, an American football quarterback, that I happened to run across:

"My current fitness obsession is The Bar Method.  Check out Burr Leonard’s Exercise blog at  http://blog.barmethod.com/. I have Burr’s two CDs and do the workouts at home.  At one point I plan to sign up for classes too – the studio is comfortably close to the Embarcadero Bart station in San Francisco.  The effect on my abs and lower back is astonishing, and my genetically weak knees do not bother me anymore." (Click here to read JaMarcus Russell's his entire blog.)

Even if you are not a serious athlete, the health of your knees is important.  Knees carry the weight of most of our body with every step we take.  Keeping them strong and youthful requires a prretty simple formula: strengthen and balance the muscle groups that extend across the knee joint.

The long calf muscle (the "gastrocnemius") is the first of three that intersect in the knee joint. You can see them toward the bottom of the picture to the left. This muscle enables us to come up onto the balls of our feet in what could be thought of as a "high heels" position. The great thing when it comes to knee stabilization is that the calf muscles extend across the back of our knees, thereby helping to hold them aligned and straight.

If you have an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury, the gastrocnemius can stabilize the back of the knee inits place. This is why physical therapists give calf strengthening exercises to their patients with ACL injuries. The Bar Method’s starts its leg-exercises with heel lifts for this reason.

Above the knee on the back of the body are the hamstrings. The picture above shows this group of muscles (the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and the semimembranosus.) The Bar Method is know for it's “seat-work,” which is really a series of exercises for the backs of your upper legs including the glutes. These exercises target your hamstrings, the third major muscle group that extends across our knees. Feel those kinds of sharp cords that run across the backs of your knees. Those are your hamstring tendons. When your hamstrings are strong, they help hold your knees in place. When these muscles aren’t toned, our knees get less support. A side benefit of strong hamstrings is the beautiful slightly rounded shape of the back of fit thighs of toned hamstrings. 

The quads are the muscles in the fronts of our thigh and happen to be our bodies’ largest muscle group. The quads extend across the front of our knee. The intense, non-impact plies, little knee bends where the muscles stay engaged that we do in a Bar Method class, are tremendously effective to strengthen and balance the quads. The Bar Method’s knee bends are safe because students do them while bringing their heels up off the floor, thereby engaging the calf muscles to lock the knee in place.

Every Bar Method class includes at least three different sets of these plies with the quads at slightly different angles. These multiple positions assure that the quads get worked evenly. The four muscles in the quads include the vastus muscles and the rectus femoris as you can see in the picture to the right. Runners, tennis players and athletes in other sports tend to use their outer quad muscles (vastus lateralis) more than their inner one (vastus medialis). That can ultimately pull their patellas to the side with flexion, causing pain. The Bar Method emphasizes inner quad work to help address this.

This is the fourth in the series of blogs on special challenges we humans face due to our evolutionary journey from four legged creatures to bipeds. Shoulders, backs, and knees changed radically as we stood up, walked, and used our arms to reach over our heads. We can stay supple and healthy by producing and toning muscle around these especially vulnerable areas. 

Barre Concept brand promotional video

BarreConcept - Ultimate 20 minute barre exercise workout

Big Changes

This year so far has been one of exciting changes and new experiences.  I am about to embark on another great adventure.  After living in Canada for 30 years, at the end of September I will be moving back to the United Kingdom.  Not an easy decision to make, but all the signs point that way and who am I to argue with  signs.

We (my OH, myself and the dog) had actually decided that come September we would take our house off the market, but low and behold along came a buyer, and so we are now packing up the house.   At the moment we are arranging transport of the dog, furniture  and stuff is a little daunting, the dog matters the most, I have faith he will love his new home, and I have promised to buy him a raincoat.

Actually getting excited about this new adventure, change is good.

Going to miss a lot of people.  My clients who wrote such beautiful words and made me cry, I have learnt so much from our classes, we have had fun and I have watched them progress, lots of pride there.  Their Seals have become a thing of beauty.  I will consider myself blessed if my new clients in the UK are as wonderful as the ones I will  be leaving.

Very excited as I am now a fully Certified Barreconcept Instructor, so I will be adding that to the list of services I offer over in the UK.  If you are interested in participating in or becoming a Barreconcept Instructor visit www.barreconcept.co.uk.

Meanwhile, packing and  sorting out the house, deciding what goes and what stays.

Pilates for Golfers

PILATES FOR GOLFERS

How to improve your golf game.  Adding Pilates to your life will bring numerous health benefits.

A strong and flexible body is the best piece of equipment a golfer can bring to the game. An average golfer’s spine coils and uncoils 100 – 130 times in one direction over an average 4-hour game. This unnatural twisting of spine over and over again results in lower back pain for 75% of golfers after a game. A golf pro can help correct a golfer’s technique by altering stance, grip and hip turn ratio. But the underlying fault in any golf swing is in the body itself. 

Both golf and Pilates are mind-body activities that share key basic principles. Golf swing principles are fluid motion, precision, accuracy and power; whereas Pilates principles tend to focus on control, concentration, precision, flow of motion and proper breathing techniques. You will feel the difference when you play with a stronger and more flexible body.

Pilates will improve you rotation, improve your flexibility to improve your swing.  Improve coordination, muscular endurance and range of motion.

The Pilates method is an exercise system focused on improving flexibility and strength for the total body while also enhancing posture, balance, and coordination. It is particularly effective in developing core strength from the shoulders to the pelvis, this is vital for 40 plus golfers who want to stay fit and enjoy their game pain free.

Pilates is based on quality (fewer repetitions) rather than quantity. The movement is more focused and intense. It is a safe and effective approach that provides the benefits of stretching, strengthening, and control, while keeping the whole body balanced. It's about focus … keeping the mind connected to the body, mind/body.

Pilates exercises are crucial to every golf conditioning program. Start incorporating Pilates in your golf conditioning programmes and you will see remarkable changes within a month. Pilates is suitable for everyone at all fitness levels. You will be surprised to know that bad swings are usually due to your posture or the way you sit or stand.

BarreConcept

June has been a busy and exciting month.  Continuing to enjoy teaching my fabulous clients who are always open to trying new things, and are loving the results of all the hard work they put in.

One client in particular has lost 7lbs in just over a month and several inches, very exciting for me, I share her excitement, this also reaffirms why I do what I do and am always looking for new ways to help them.

At the beginning of June I ventured off to Ottawa to participate in a Barreconcept Certification Course which was held over 4 days (32 Hours), one of the most in depth courses available, and one I highly recommended.  Emma Newham (Pilates Union) is an amazing teacher, full of insight,inspiration, knowledge,boundless energy and enthusiasm.  This was the first certification course held in Canada, it was so popular word has got around and there will be another one in October.

The group of ladies attending were totally amazing.  We all worked extremely hard.  On the first day Emma put us through a very, very, thorough Barre workout which had us all dripping, thighs shaking and most certainly aware of our butts, which actually seemed higher.  

The course was informative, we were encouraged to think "outside the box" which added another range of different exercises to the ones that were already in the manual.

I am in the process of putting together and taping my practical video after which I am hoping to become a Certified Barreconcept Instructor.   Looking forward to teaching this, so much fun and you can certainly feel everything working.

Participating in a Full Certification and accredited course was a great decision for me, I did look at other courses out there and Emma's was the most in depth course.  I realize there are other courses out there that are much shorter in duration, but to be honest I don't see how anyone could possibly learn the whole repertoire in a one or two day course.   Excellent move on my part and looking forward to being part of the Barreconcept family.

Summer Workouts

I can't believe we are already half way through May, yikes.    Time to get out all those summer clothes, shorts, skorts.

At this time of year it's nice to take workouts outside into the fresh air, below are just a couple (I have quite a few, nice to have a good selection) of the workouts that I like to do .

Walking is always great, grab the dog.  Dogs need on average up to an hour's walk a day, so once you walk the dog everything else that follows is a bonus.   You can walk the dog using Poles, that way you get an added bonus of an upper body and core workout.  Great start to the day.   Of course, walking and poling are carried out using the Pilates principles which will ensure you get the most out of your walk/pole.

I really do have to mention Hula Hooping (check out www.hoopnotica.com).  Totally brilliant, 100 calories every ten minutes, it is a full body high cardio non-impact fat-burning workout that strengthens your core, and calms your mind.   From personal experience I find that it's a lot of fun, you completely loose track of time and feel wonderful afterwards, actually not like exercising at all.  Depending on my mood, I hoop to upbeat music, or, if I need to be more centred, no music just the rhythm of the hoop.  I tend to go from waist to thighs, but if you go to the  Hoopnotica's website they have lots of DVD's you can purchase so you can learn all the tricks, and there are lots.    Hooping can be done outside too, get the whole family involved, guys can do this as well, there are quite a few Male Hoopnotica Instructors out there.

Throw in a Pilates workout sometime during the day to compliment the above, and you are going to look and feel marvellous.

These are just a few ideas to get you moving, just find something that is fun to do and that you find enjoyable.

Hollowing Vs. Bracing By Chris Bourne Pilates Instructor & Biomechanics Coach

Hollowing Vs. Bracing

In the Pilates world we are being taught the hollowing but I would like to introduce to you the bracing technique as I feel this is a more effective way of engaging your core.  I’m not trying to take anything away from Joseph Pilates, as I think he was amazing in designing a fantastic system. But science has developed and we should not ignore this.

So what is the purpose of the core? The main purpose of the core muscles is to stabilise the joints they surround. The main joint they are surrounding as we all know is the spine. They have to stabilise the spine in fixed and moving positions.

Hollowing is creating a concave shape using your core muscles. The Transversus Abdominus (TVA) muscle wraps around the spine, like a corset as it passes between rectus abdominus and the spine.  If the core is hollowing, this puts the rectus abdominus in a mechanically inefficient position and so the TVA effectively has nothing to pull against.  The rectus abdominus is considered to be a flexor of the spine, however its main purpose is to act as part of the hydraulic amplifier mechanism where the TVA and the thoraco lumbar fascia create tension to stabilise the spine. 

I have been teaching Pilates for 9 years, modern and traditional, but I have been teaching bracing for 6 years after thinking about the core and knowing that it’s what I do when I’m participating in my own Pilates sessions, so I started teaching it to my clients. But at that time I didn’t have the understanding behind it, I just knew it worked.

I then was introduced to Biomechanics Coaching, with a company called Intelligent Training Systems, who look at your internal biomechanics and how it works. Bracing is one of the things they highlighted to me and it gives me the underpinning knowledge of why we should brace the core, which is what I would like to share with you!

Bracing has been research by Stuart McGill who is a very well know investigator in the field of exercise science.  He refers to this muscle stiffening and terms it as “abdominal bracing”. (Arch Phys Med Rehabil.2007Jan;88(1):54-62.)

Bracing is to stiffen the abdominal wall with a mild isometric co-contraction of the muscles of the core. With the co-contraction of the muscles there should be no movement in the spine or pelvis and the abdominal wall is neither pulled in nor pushed out. The muscles that are involved in bracing are transverse abdominals, internal and external obliques, rectus abdominals, quadratus lumborum, erector spinae and multifidi, all the core muscles we want to work in Pilates, but are we if we hollow?  McGill has shown that if you hollow, while you do work TVA and multifidus, you tend to switch the others off.

The best way for me to explain how to brace is, imaging someone is about to hit you in the stomach and you will brace your core to take the impact.  There are different percentages of bracing depending on the exercise performed and the individual’s core strength and this is referred to as high and low threshold training.  For me and my clients, we are getting great core strength, keeping the spine stable, lengthening the spine and improving flexibility all in a core stable way.  But don’t just take my word for it, try it yourself right know, hollow your core and feel the tension with your hands then brace like I described and see the difference, especially in your multifidus contraction.  This will help you make your own mind up on which you think is the best way to work your core.

Article used for research” Stuart McGill Abdominal Bracing Exercises and Back Pain”.

Barre Workouts

Over the last 7 months I have added Barre Workouts to my own sessions.   Wow!   No wonder Ballet Dancers have such great  legs and bottoms.   They use all the Pilates principles along with yoga, isometrics, cardio, kickboxing, balance and posture,  trust me, you will feel your thighs burning while doing this workout, and notice after a few sessions how much higher, rounder, and firmer your butt is.  

The two Barre workouts I am using right now are  Emma Newham's Barre Concept, Emma is now the first person to offer Teacher Certification in Barre Concept in the UK, Australia, Canada, and Ireland.   The workout itself is very thorough and you will use every single muscle in your body.  Also, if you are not familiar with Ballet, you will learn quite a few Ballet terminologies as well.   I did Ballet for 3 years when I was 7, but that's a long time ago and I am having to remember the positions.  Emma demonstrates these at the beginning of the DVD.

The Booty Barre by Tracey Mallet is equally as challenging, again using every single muscle in your body, the music is very upbeat and lots of fun.  To be honest I can see myself using these workouts for a very long time, because like Pilates every workout is different.

Both DVD's are getting rave reviews in Fitness Magazines, Newspapers and Television.  Give them a go, you have nothing to loose, but will gain  toned arms, legs, core and butt which is a great thing.   Oh!  and yes you will feel like a dancer

Loving Pilates

Just been thinking about the many ways Pilates enhances my life, how I incorporate it into my activities around the house, and doing other workouts.   Once you have been practising Pilates for a while it becomes part of you and the way to live your every day life,  it is not used solely in workouts, body awareness becomes second nature.      Sitting at the computer, doing dishes, gardening, bending, walking, cooking, ironing (yep, I still iron) etc.

So!  What are you waiting for, give it a try, see why so many people love the way their body feels after participating in a Pilates Class, or  a one on one.  See why so many athletes are now incorporating Pilates into their routines to make them stronger, flexible, less prone to injury, and be more successful in achieving their fitness goals.  You Will Love It.

Winter 2012

Started  the year off as I mean to go on, positive that the Universe will deliver to me exactly what I need, when I need it.

I may not have tons of clients but I love the ones I have and they are thrilled with what Pilates does for their bodies, and minds.

It is my mission this year to spread the Pilates word to everyone who will listen, they really don't know what they are missing, especially the guys out there.

I continually upgrade my skills and you can find me constantly reading everything that is Pilates related.    I include in my classes what I think will work for my clients, and also what I think they will enjoy.  It also helps that I do my own daily practise, I mean, how I can I teach it, if I don't do it, I feel you have to know how it feels in your own body  before you can successfully explain and use the imagery necessary to help someone else understand the movement.

The beauty of Pilates is that it can be incorporated into our daily lives, my clients are always telling me how they remember to use the principles when gardening, dancing etc.  We also have fun, there is nothing quite like finishing a class with the Seal to make you feel like a kid again.  

My other goals this year are to practise more energy healing, Reiki, I do it on myself and those around me but would like to expand so I am now looking for places to volunteer.  I will keep you posted on that.   Also, Body Talk is also wonderful, for those of you who haven't tried either, go for it, you will feel amazing afterwards.

So enjoy what promises to be an enlightening year for everyone.

Namaste
Chris