I heard it in Pilates

Some of things that are said during my Pilates session workouts.

-Client: “Why does my neck hurt?”

-Me : First, the ab muscles are probably weak. Second, after holding up the heavy head the abs get

fatigued and the head gets too low which makes the neck over work. The best thing for this is to

put the head when there is strain and then realize that it takes time and practice to build ab

strength. Eventually you'll be able to hold up head with out any strain on the neck.

After I remind a client to pull the ab muscles in s/he will say “it is in, that's just fat”

Me: This cracks me up. Not because it's funny but because pulling in your stomach muscles has

nothing to do with how big or small your stomach is. Most of the time your abs aren't in as much

as they could be. I know this from noticing it myself during practice. As I watch my client I'm looking

for a certain type of muscle contraction in the abs. If I tell you to pull the abs in again it's because they

have gotten tired and have gone lax.

A client will come in 30 mins late and say "I want to work really hard"

Me: "Working really hard for 30 mins doesn't make up for coming in late 30 minutes"

Come back and read "Confessions of a Pilates teacher"

Try this Ab exercise- all levels

This is a great exercise to understand how the abs control the pelvis. You'll need a small, lightweight prop.

-Lie on back, legs at 90 degree angle (we call it table top) and hold your head in your hands.

-Lift your head and shoulders off the floor, make sure that the shoulder blades really come off the floor.

-This is the hard part, I want you to keep your waist off the floor too, but only a little bit. Keep enough space under the waist to put a finger underneath.

-Now keeping this all together I want you to keep the ball on top of your shins. Your shins must stay parallel to the floor, the ball balance on the shins.

-While holding your head up move the legs forward away from chest keeping the shins parallel to the floor.

-If you lift your feet the ball will fall, the goal is to keep the ball on the shins while moving the legs and not moving the pelvis.

-If you feel you lower back working than the pelvis is moving.

-Your abs are supposed to hold the pelvis steady and strong while the load increases (legs moving forward) on them. In other words don't move the pelvis at all!

Equipment Differences

The different Pilates equipment is used for different reasons. The cadillac is used more for rolling and articulating the spine, the reformer for supportive body alignment, and the wunda chair for challenging stability. The cadillac has a long supportive bed type platform making sitting and kneeling while rolling backwards, or cat stretching easier and easy to understand. The reformer is great for lining up the shoulders over the hips and hips over knees and feet. Many exercises are done lying down on the reformer taking gravity out of the equation of good aligment. The carriage is on a wheeled track which can be moved by pushing from a bar at one end or pulling on pulleys from the other end. The wunda chair is a small piece of equipment that makes any exercise done on it very challenging. Smaller equipment means less support. This equipment is for more advanced clients, good balance is a must when working on the wunda chair. There are 2 barrels, small and ladder. The roundness of the barrels allows for support and feedback into the muscles during spinal sequencing either rounding forward or arching backward as in a back bend.

One of the beautiful things about Pilates is that almost all exercises can be done any piece of the equipment or the mat. Just because a client might not “get” an exercise on the cadillac doesn't mean s/he won't get it on say, the ladder barrel. The reverse is true as well, understanding back extension (arching the back) on the reformer's box will not always translate to the Wunda chair.

Different equipment means the springs can be loaded in different places, this is another reason why a client will understand the same exercise on the reformer but not on the cadillac. Leg circles is easier to perform on the reformer because the springs are connected to a pulley system that connects with the client's legs. On the cadillac the springs are directly attached to the clients legs via loop around the feet. This makes it harder to control the leg circles. Why ? Because the legs can move independently of each other. If one leg is weaker than the other it will show up in how symmetrical the circles are from left to right. If the left leg weaker than the leg is not going down as low as the right or it swings out to the side more than the right. Doing leg circles on the reformer the pulleys work together make it easier to control the size and speed of the circles. The lack of symmetry of leg circles can be hidden because of the pulleys.

Why springs in Pilates ?

Pilates equipment uses coiled springs not weighted plates. The reason is for reducing stress on the body's joints. The coil uncoils gradually increasing the tension on the body part exerting the effort. As the exertion decreases so does the spring's tension. This is different than lifting a weighted plate. The plate doesn't change weight or the tension on the exerting body part. The weight can only be controlled when lifting or lowering faster or slower but the tension will never gradually increase or decrease. A spring will gradually increase or decrease the force or pull on the muscles and joints, thereby causing only incremental stress which can be stopped at any time.

Different pieces of Pilates equipment have different amounts of springs and different tightness of coils. There are usually 5, sometimes 6, springs on a reformer, 2 - 4 on a wunda chair, and at least 6 for a cadillac. The reformer has only 5 hooks for springs but some studios/teachers like to add a 6th one that can switch off with another because sometimes you need a really, really light spring. On a reformer there needs to be at least 2 heavy springs for leg exercises and then the medium and light springs can be various cominations. The reformer springs are loaded underneath the wheeled carriage. The cadillac is a frame based piece of equipment, like a four poster bed with an added frame at top of the four posts. This enables the springs to be loaded from above the client, spring tension can be pulled on or pushed up. The frame can be used for adanced climbing type of exercises. Again the springs are a variety of heavy, medium, light and extra light. The wunda chair is a small piece of equipment.

The resistance of the Springs can be used to support the body or challenge it. Heavy springs don't always mean it is harder to perform the exercise. Light springs can be used to make an exercise harder. For example the bridge is a common exercise on the floor that we do in Pilates on the reformer as well. The floor doesn't move around, it is stable. Put the bridge on the reformer and the floor becomes a unstable carriage. If all 5 springs are hooked on then the carriage feels heavy to push out, it is very stable. Then put only 1 spring on and the same bridge becomes extremely unstable and hard to control. The goal of the exercise will determine what the springs are, this will change depending on which piece of equipment is being used as well.

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Welcome!

I am attempting to start a consistent blog again. It takes more time than one would think.

There are so many details about Pilates that I like to share, I can't even get it out during the

sessions I teach either. So much info and such a short amount of time. Plus, I really don't need

to talk that much in a Pilates session, my client should be working out not listening to me.

I had a happy surprise recently. I talked to someone taking Pilates sessions in Silverlake are of Los Angeles. The place she mentioned, In and Up Pilates is known for teaching the classical style of Pilates. I was a little disappointed to hear her say that. When I mentioned their teaching style she said that they were changing some of their style because new studies show that a tucked pelvic position (like in ballet) is not beneficial to fitness and exercising the abdominals. Wow, I never thought I would hear that !

There is a somewhat silent controversy about what "pure" pilates is. Classical style Pilates has its extremely devoted fans. They tend to put down anything new and updated. To me is not to so black and white. I believe Joseph had a certain intention, as indicated by the name he chose for his method, Contrology. But I believe there is room for technical improvements and new information on how the body is affected and is benefited by movement.