What Exercise is Best?

What Type of Exercise is the Best?

Running is the best cardiovascular exercise. You need to move every day in order to be fit. Low intensity steady-state cardio is the best way to increase aerobic fitness. HIIT is the only workout worth your time. Running is dangerous. Stretching is important and should be done regularly. Your body needs rest days, or it won’t improve, so definitely don’t exercise every day. Lifting heavy weights is the only way to build strength. Purposeful, controlled movement should be your goal. Tabata is the only workout worth your time. Low intensity steady-state cardio raises cortisol levels, and so shouldn’t be a focus. High-intensity, high-impact cardio is bad for your joints. Definitely don’t lift heavy weights. Stretching is dangerous. Crossfit is the only workout worth your time. Controlled movement is the exact opposite of expert movement, and definitely should not be your goal. You have to do the same workout repeatedly, or else you won’t get better/stronger. High-impact exercise is not bad for your joints, and, in fact, you need it to keep your joints healthy. Do strength training before doing cardio. Don’t repeat workouts, you want to keep your body confused to keep it working hard. Always warm up with cardio before doing strength training.

….And, I could go on. And on. And on.

We are bombarded by conflicting messages about what we should be doing with our bodies in order to stay healthy and fit. And while it is true that movement science continues to develop and discover new things about our incredible bodies, the fact remains:

The Best Exercise For You is The Exercise You’ll Do

Period. End stop.

If listening to all of the magazine articles, day-time talk shows, well-meaning relatives, and aggressive trainers makes you want to crumble into a confused heap on your couch and not move at all, where is the benefit in that? Each and every statement above is true in certain circumstances and also false in certain circumstances. Movement is highly individualized, based upon the unique aspects of your body (and mind), and when it comes right down to it, unless you are training for something in particular, your only rule for movement should be:

Move As Much Of Your Body As Much As You Can

If that means running, great. If it means walking, great! If it means you have a reliable 4-day program of cardio and strength training that you’ll stick to, amazing! 

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that all adults get 30 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity five days a week, or 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise 3 days a week, along with 2 strength training sessions a week.

How should you accomplish this? However you want! Ride your bike, walk with friends, play a sport, pull out the dusty old hand weights, start tai chi, sign up for a class. How you exercise is much less important than actually doing exercise.

If you love embracing the latest fitness trends, and you move happily from step aerobics to spinning to Zumba to crossfit to yoga, etc., go for it! If what gets you off the couch is your favorite Jane Fonda VHS tape from the 90’s, then do that. There is no wrong way to move your body. Fitness trends are businesses that come and go. Your body is your home forever. Find something you like to do, or at least something that you can convince yourself to do regularly, and then do it. 

Yes, we can have very worthwhile conversations about cross-training to avoid overuse injuries, and working around limitations, and how to progress in new movement modalities. But, all of that comes after you’ve already committed to moving in the first place, and none of it has any value if it causes you to get confused and stop moving all together.

Don’t be confused.

Just move.

Three Reasons to Keep Moving Through the Holidays

3 Reasons to Keep Moving Through the Holidays, 

and 5 Ways to Do It

December 2022

The holiday season is here and, with it, all of the joy, stress, business, and chaos that we’ve come to expect. At the studio, Decembers are the time when classes are booked ahead of time with gusto, and remain full-to-overflowing until the day before, when mass cancellations or forgotten schedules result in lower than normal attendance. 

This tells me a couple of things. First, people want to remain active through the holidays. The desire is there! But, ultimately, hectic and unpredictable holiday schedules force people into positions where they feel that  what has to give is their commitment to themselves.

So, in the spirit of making it through the holidays with your health goals intact, here are Three Reasons to Keep Moving Through the Holidays, and Five Ways to Do It.

Three Reasons to Keep Moving Through the Holidays:

1. Maintain Sanity

In a world that constantly preaches that the only value of exercise and good nutrition is aesthetic, it is easy to forget that moving your body allows your head to clear, your priorities to shake out, and your mood to elevate. 

Moving feels good. It makes you happier. It decreases stress and anxiety. It helps you sleep. Moving for mental health should be a motivating factor always, but especially during the holidays. The holiday season is the time to forget about the aesthetic benefits of exercise, and focus on how you need that workout because you know it will keep you sane. 

2. You Will Be Less Likely to Overindulge

Have you noticed that you are less likely to make poor nutrition choices after exercising? It just doesn’t make sense to do something so good for your body and then follow it with nutritional self-sabotage. 

During the holidays, when we’re surrounded with many of our favorite foods, having that constant reminder of movement to keep us from overindulging can prove invaluable. Have the cookie! And enjoy the traditional foods you only get at this time of year. But keep moving to help yourself pass on seconds. 

3. Define Yourself as Someone Who Cares About Your Health

We are all responsible for writing our own stories. If you’ve decided that you’re someone who cares about health and well-being, why would you allow your story to change drastically during the holidays? Health and the holidays can exist mutually without disaster. 

Who are you? Are you the person who stays active, enjoys the holidays, and enters the new year feeling good about yourself? 

Or are you the person who disappears from the gym/studio in December, loses control of yourself over the holidays, and starts January madly googling quick diet fixes and 30 day fitness challenges?

The choice is yours.

Five Ways to Keep Moving Through the Holidays

1. Schedule Your Movement Sessions

Whether it’s at the studio or not, put your movement sessions on your calendar at the beginning of the week. Then, treat those appointments as non-negotiable. Play whatever mind tricks with yourself that you need to play to keep your appointment with yourself. 

When you make a commitment to do something for yourself, and then you give it up at the first hint of difficulty, the deep recesses of your brain are taking notes about how important you are to yourself. Bolster your self-worth by treating yourself with the same respect that you treat others.

If you wouldn’t cancel on your best friend, don’t cancel on yourself.

2. Take Movement Snacks

Yes, the holidays are different. Yes, the holidays offer a unique schedule challenge. Please, please, please realize that it might be impossible some days to get in a full hour of consecutive movement. But this does not mean that you throw in your movement towel! Can you do three sessions of 20 minutes? Six sessions of 10 minutes? It’s just as good!

Movement snacks might look like:

-Taking short walks after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

-Accomplishing a holiday task (baking cookies, wrapping presents, etc.) and then running through a few of your favorite pilates mat exercises.

-Vacuum a room, do some jumping jacks. Vacuum another room, do the 100. Vacuum another room, take a dance break. Vacuum another room, get on the floor and stretch.

-Park at the furthest parking spot for your shopping to make sure you walk to/from, then get home, unload purchases and do your favorite spinal movements. 

-Start your favorite holiday movie while sitting on the floor and do your favorite abdominal exercise followed by stretches.

-Move for 20 minutes before you shower for your holiday brunch. Then come home and take a walk afterwards.

The possibilities for fitting movement snacks into your day are endless!

3. Modify Your Expectations

Some days, despite your best intentions, it might feel like the cosmos is conspiring against you to keep you from accomplishing what you had planned. Give yourself some grace. It happens to all of us. Double down on your commitment to making it happen tomorrow. 

4. Move With Your Friends/Family/Visitors

In December I am constantly getting messages along these lines: “My (insert family member/friend/etc.) is visiting and so I can’t come to class….” 

Here’s my advice if you have visitors coming:

-Bring them with you! Ask which classes your visitors can attend. Your visitor will be thrilled to have a new experience, to get out of the house, and to do something with you.

-Gift your visitor with a duet session! S/he will feel special that you thought of it, and you both get oodles of individualized attention.

-Plan on taking your visitor on a walk rather than scheduling the class and then feeling bad about having to cancel it.

5. Come Up With An Excellent 20-Minute Home Routine

On those days when you need to rely on movement snacks, or when you’ve been traveling, or you find yourself at the end of the day and you need to do something, having a reliable, well-rounded, 20-minute home routine will save your sanity and your self-esteem. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it shouldn’t involve any props, and it must be short and sweet (or down and dirty, depending on your perspective).

Here are three of my quick home routines:

Pilates Mat/Find Your Center:

-The 100

-Roll Up

-Roll Over

-One Leg Circles

-Spine Stretch

-Swimming

GYROKINESIS® Method/Core Strength:

-Arch/Curl

-Spirals

-Side Arches

-Body Circles

-Waves

-Hamstring Stretches

-Psoas Stretches

Get Sweaty:

-20 seconds jumping jacks

-20 seconds lunges

-20 seconds push-ups

-20 seconds walk/rest

Repeat 3 times

-20 seconds running in place

-20 seconds squats

-20 seconds tricep dips

-20 seconds walk/rest

Repeat 3 times

-20 seconds jump-squats

-20 seconds walking lunges

-20 seconds abdominal crunches

-20 seconds walk/rest

Repeat 3 times

-20 seconds boxer’s shuffle

-20 seconds squats with side leg lift

-20 seconds swimming

-20 seconds walk/rest

Repeat 3 times

Bottom Line: The holidays are wonderful! And they can be hard. Both things can be true. Just like how you can feel that there’s no time for yourself, and still find a way to make time for yourself. 

Do not give up on your healthy, active lifestyle because it is December and the schedule gets dicey. Rather, realize that it is when times get busy and hectic that you have the opportunity to prove to yourself that you are committed to prioritizing yourself and maintaining your healthy lifestyle.

Why You May Feel Achy , Sore or Stiff After "Doing Nothing"

We have been primed to expect that our bodies may feel sore after exercise, and while feeling some muscle soreness is not at all an indicator of the effectiveness of your workout, we usually don’t question it. But what about those days when we wake up and feel sore or a bit achy and we can’t attribute it to exercise? When you say to yourself, “but I did nothing at all yesterday!”

It can be confusing and/or distressing to feel like your body has betrayed you by deciding to feel sore for seemingly no reason. It’s all too easy to write these days off as the unfortunate consequence of aging, or an old injury that you just can’t shake, or even an oncoming illness. And while those things could contribute to an unexplained stiff, sore, or achy body, it’s also quite likely that if you think a little more, your past day or days of “doing nothing” might actually offer a very clear explanation for how you’re feeling.

1. Is your idea of “doing nothing” actually doing nothing?

The way we frame our activity in our minds is incredibly important. What do you count as exercise? Activity that is formally labeled as exercise only? Or do you include activities such as gardening and yard work, walking around a new city on vacation, and cleaning the house? 

If you consider “exercise” to consist only of time when you dress for it and break a sweat, then you are probably excluding a whole host of activities that can absolutely result in sore muscles. On those days that you skip your regular workout to spend four hours cleaning out the garage, you should realize that you probably got more movement cleaning the garage than you would have in 30 or 40 minutes of taking your regular bike ride or walk. Yard work requires a huge amount of varied movement that might not appear in your regular workouts, and it’s normal for dedicated gardeners to spend hours in the yard. Ambling around on vacation might not seem like exercise at the moment, but walking all day is absolutely a cumulative activity that you should expect to feel. 

Your “do nothing” day might actually have been a day or two spent full of activity! Don’t discount these days and these activities as times of non-exercise. It might not be the activity that you think of as exercise, but it still counts.

1. “Doing nothing” is actually hard on the body!

Sometimes we really did “do nothing” the day prior to waking up feeling sore, and these would be those days marked by being sedentary almost all day. Think about days spent on the couch feeling sick, or long travel days spent in a car or airplane seat. Days when your body exists in the same position for hours on end. Believe it or not, this is harder on the body than normal movement!

Bodies are wonderfully adaptable, and will, over time, condition to more effectively do what you ask them to do. If you are an inherently active person, your body is conditioned to be up and about, moving in multiple ways, keeping your joints and your muscles balanced and lubricated for action. (The reverse is also true. If you ask your body to get better at sitting and not moving all day, it will!)

On days when you find yourself sitting or lounging excessively (not moving your spine or limbs), staring at a book or a screen for hours (not moving your head and neck), you are actually asking your body to maintain a tiny sliver of its movement potential for a very long duration. If you think of the potential of all or your joints to move in a circle (this is a vast oversimplification, but a good visual to understand the concept), not moving your body is asking your joints to hang out in one teeny, tiny slice of your movement circle pie. But it takes muscles to stay in that pie slice of movement! And by not moving through the rest of your movement pie, you are placing an overwhelming burden on only a few muscles, while completely neglecting the rest. You are actually really, really working those few muscle fibers hard, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that you feel it the next day.

1. Bottom Line: Using your body differently than it is accustomed will understandably result in sore, stiff, or achy muscles. 

Your body gets used to doing what you ask it to do. Getting out of your movement routine will use your body differently than it is accustomed and will result in a greater ask of different muscles in different ways, and this may result in muscle soreness, stiffness, or aches the next day. This can happen via seemingly innocuous but cumulative movement, or due to hardly any movement at all.

The best way to keep your body as protected as possible from unpleasant aches, soreness and stiffness, is to regularly engage in a variety of activities or an activity that asks your body to move in a variety of ways (such as pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method). You want to use as much of your movement pie - for every joint - on a regular basis.

And if you do find yourself constrained to the couch or a travel seat, try to move your joints through their full range of motion at least once or twice during the day. Then expect that you might need a day or two of gentle movement to feel like your body has unwinded, opened, relaxed, and recovered from the strains of being sedentary. 

"New Year, New You!" Um, no thank you!

“New Year, New You!” Um, No Thank You!

December, 2020

We're about to be inundated with all of the January marketing aimed at getting us to spend money on what we've been told we should all want. Namely, to lose 15 pounds, get six-pack abs, and finally conquer eating "clean." Prepare yourself for the "New Year, New You!" ads that can't help but land in our subconscious.

Um, no thank you. 

Whether you’re a fan or not of New Year’s resolutions, this time of year, it’s hard to escape thinking about them. But, we can change how we look at our health and fitness goals, and we can certainly set ourselves up for success without wasting money on fads and trends that usually leave you disappointed and not better off than when you started.

 So, in regard to the health and fitness resolutions that are so frequently at the forefront of the New Year’s list, I humbly offer the following thoughts:

1. Weight Loss is NOT a vain, shallow, or useless goal. 

In fact, for many, it is a very worthwhile endeavor and a necessary step in the quest for better health and fitness. So, if you’ve gained a few pounds staying at home and eating all the snacks this year (me!), or if your doctor has been asking you for a while to try to get that number on the scale down, do not feel bad that weight loss is your 2021 goal.

HOWEVER. 

Keep in mind that for most, weight loss is the result of a simple formula. A caloric deficit is the only way to lose body weight, meaning that you need to use more calories than you take in. Put another way, move more and eat less. That’s it. Really. Be very wary of all the companies trying to sell you a way to shortcut this! 

If you are going to change your diet, confer with a registered dietician, rather than that one friend on facebook, the cable infomercials, or your best friend’s cousin’s mother.

2. There is NOTHING wrong with 2020 you!

 No matter what your goals are, try to get out of the mindset that you need to “fix” something about yourself in the new year. This sets up failure, which is why so many resolutions don’t make it till January 3. 

Whether you’re trying to exercise every day, lose weight, or learn a new language, a more powerful motivator to meet your goals would be, “it makes me happy to be good to my body and mind.”

3. Focus first on the big things that you know you can maintain long-term.

If your goal is to eat better, but you never eat vegetables, maybe start by adding a vegetable to your dinner before you start reading about going keto, or paleo, or South Beach. Committing to a salad dinner once a week is probably going to be more beneficial, and easier to maintain then worrying about what time of day to eat your protein or tackling intermittent fasting.

If your goal is to start exercising, but you never exercise now, maybe start by taking a 15 minute walk every morning before you jump into a gym contract, buy a full cycling kit, or register for that 5k. 

Once you have the big things down (and it takes anywhere from 2-8 months to build a new habit), then it’s easier to start thinking about the specifics, like working on how your shoulder rotates, substituting cauliflower for potatoes, or making dessert a Friday-only treat.

Create momentum with your early success, rather than commit to too much (No more sugar! No more carbs!), which sets you up for early failure.

4. Lead with what you love.

If swimming is your thing, do it an extra day a week. 

If you need friends along to be motivated, get a group together and come to the studio weekly for the barre class, and then follow it with a coffee date. 

If broccoli is the only vegetable you currently like, make you sure you buy it every week and make Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays your broccoli days.

Other movement, additional days, and more vegetables will naturally follow, but you have to start with what you know you can do!

5. Your decisions outside of the gym or studio are paramount.

Unfortunately, one hour a few times a week can’t counteract all of the decisions we make the other 165-ish hours. Exercise and nutrition go hand-in-hand, there’s no way around that. If you’re moving your body like a champ, but eating ice cream sundaes every night at 10pm, you’re probably not going to get the results you want. (Remember that super-simple formula?)

If you’re eating well, but not exercising or sleeping enough, or if you exercise hard 3 times a week, but spend the rest of your time on the couch, same thing.

It’s so, so important to cultivate a love for your body that will make you want to make good choices all day long.

This is where our studio can help! We believe in moving your body because you love it, not in exercising for punishment. Movement is a beautiful experience, not one to loathe. We want you to look forward to your sessions, and to walk out our doors feeling more in love with your body than when you walked in. Once you’ve decided that you’re making changes for your body, instead of to your body, your choices will naturally lead you in the direction you want to go! 

Are you a fan of New Year’s resolutions? If so, what are yours this year?

Hugs and high-fives,

Emma

You Already Go to the Gym. Is Boutique Fitness for You?

Is Boutique Fitness For You?

You already go to the gym (walk/ ride your bike /play golf, etc.). 

Why do you need Pilates?

In any boutique fitness studio setting, there are two different groups of potential clients. The first group is comprised of people who either have previous Pilates experience, or they have undergone some change or realization in their bodies, causing them to know that they need to invest in intelligent movement if they want to continue to move well. They are convinced before they walk in the door that Pilates is for them and, short of a bad experience, they become long-term clients.

The second group isn’t so sure. Maybe they heard from a friend or a relative, or read on-line, that Pilates is something that would benefit them, but they don’t know exactly how. They generally already belong to a gym, or are involved in consistent physical activity of some kind. They walk in the door skeptical, schedule already full, and are not super-eager to add another activity to their regimen. More than anything else, this group of potential clients needs to understand the difference between the activity that they are currently involved in and what the boutique fitness studio offers.

It is important to recognize that boutique fitness isn’t for everyone. It is absolutely true that going to a Pilates and/or GYROTONIC® studio will cost more than going to a big-box gym. The cost of quality equipment plus the cost of quality (on-going) training adds up to make these movement modalities more expensive than some people want to pay. In general, when it comes to movement experiences, you get what you pay for. Here are four reasons why boutique fitness is worth it.

1. In the Pilates studio, you will have the instructor’s eyes on you for the entire session. Pilates and GYROTONIC® trainers focus on private, one-on-one sessions, or small group classes. No instructor, no matter how good, can give intelligent, individualized instruction to a room of 20 (or more) people. The instructor will be watching you to help prevent injury, make sure you are challenged, and determine what exercises would be best for you and your body on that day, based upon the feedback that you will be constantly giving the instructor throughout the session.

2. In the Pilates studio, the instructor cares about how you move, and s/he has the ability to watch you, cue you, correct you, and support you. Lifting your leg is not simply lifting your leg when you are in a boutique fitness studio. Your instructor wants to see that you are lifting your leg using the proper form, technique, and intention, so that you will not hurt your back. Or so that you engage your abdominals correctly. Or so that you can successfully disassociate the movement of your leg from the movement of your pelvis. Or so that you can move your lower body without feeling tension in your upper body. 

Being encouraged to focus on your movement quality, as opposed to focusing on completing a movement objective, is where the magic of boutique fitness lies. As opposed to, say, focusing on hitting a golf ball as far as possible, no matter the method, Pilates class focuses on the body mechanics necessary to accomplish the objective of a long drive. 

The Pilates principles of Breath, Precision, Control, Concentration, Flow, and Centering, guide all movement, and if the principles are not being employed, the movement isn’t Pilates.

3. A Pilates client does not go to Pilates class to be better at Pilates. A Pilates client goes to Pilates class to be a stronger, more efficient mover EVERYWHERE, from walking the dog, to competitive swimming, and climbing up the stairs of historic landmarks when traveling. Lifting weights makes you stronger so that you can lift more weight. Running makes you a better, faster runner. Playing tennis with frequency means that you will be a more skilled tennis player. Doing Pilates makes you better at all of these activities. This is why so many elite athletes practice their sport along with Pilates and/or the GYROTONIC® Method. The benefits of a consistent Pilates practice are too numerous to list, and are highly individualized. What do you do outside of the Pilates studio? Pilates will help with that!

4. Pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method actually work different muscles than you are working at the gym. Typical gym exercises and specific sport training focus on the superficial muscles in the body. These are the muscles that are closer to the skin, the ones you can see when you flex in the mirror. They are larger and span greater distances in the body than the deep muscles. Superficial muscles exert great force and leverage, and are responsible for large range of motion. They are not designed to sustain long-term contraction. Examples of superficial muscles would be the rectus abdominis (that six-pack muscle in your front), and latissimus dorsi in the back, as well as the biceps of the arms and the quadriceps of the legs.

The deep muscles of the body, while almost never the focus in the gym or while training for sport specificity, are very frequently the focus in movement modalities such as Pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method. Deep muscles are smaller, act with precision, exert little leverage or force, but are working constantly to maintain proper body alignment for optimal movement. Examples of deep muscles would be the transverse abdominis (deepest abdominal muscles), the multifidus (line your spine in the back), and your pelvic floor muscles (yes, men have these, too!).

It is important to keep the deep muscles of the body firing and working effectively, so that the superficial muscles are not called upon to takeover the job of the deep muscles. This is increasingly a problem in our society of people spending so much time sitting or slouching over computers. The deep muscles turn off and the superficial muscles try to step in.  Because they are not built for the job of maintaining posture, the superficial muscles spasm and send messages of diffuse pain throughout the body. People then default to a more stationary lifestyle full of more sitting and slouching, and the problems begin to accumulate.*

In most boutique fitness studio sessions, the body is strengthened from the inside out. Both deep and superficial muscles are worked. Attention to posture and alignment is always primary and usually the superficial muscles are then used to challenge the ability of the deep muscles to maintain that proper posture. You will not build big, bulky muscles doing Pilates, but you can have bulky muscles and do Pilates.

Boutique fitness offerings are not a waste of time for any body. The benefits of intelligent, mindful movement abound for every body type, every fitness level, and every sport. Want to be a better mover in every aspect of your life? Pilates and/or the GYROTONIC® Method are for you!

See you at the studio,

Emma

*From Anatomy of Movement, Exercises, by Blandine Calais-Germain

You've Found Pilates, and You Want to Get Better. Think: Coaching, Community, and Consistency.

April is here, and as the buds begin to bloom and the bees begin to buzz, the month of renewal and rebirth sets free our collective, inherent desire to do new things and grow our capacities. However, this well of enthusiasm for learning can quickly be drained if your interest is not nurtured with care.

Whether it’s Pilates or GYROTONIC®, cooking, art, golf, or signing, growing a skill set requires you walk the same path of learning. Coaching, Community and Consistency will get you from daydreaming about being good at something, to being able to say with confidence that you can do it, and do it well.

Coaching:

Getting better at something you know little about is almost impossible without at least some guidance. Even if it’s a periodic check-in with a coach to make sure that your self-teaching is proceeding in the right direction, every athlete needs a coach, every student needs a teacher, every learner needs a mentor. Taking some time to research and find the right coach, teacher, or mentor for you is well-worth it and will pay back high dividends in your long-term success.

When looking for a Pilates or GYROTONIC® instructor, ask questions about her or his training. A “certified” instructor means that the instructor has participated in an organized training program as well as a directed apprentice-teacher program, and has passed a certification exam.

Certification in the GYROTONIC® world is very easy to determine and can be verified at www.gyrotonic.com.  Certification in the Pilates world gets a little dicey. Currently, the only certifying body for Pilates (no matter where or when an instructor trained) is the Pilates Method Alliance, and certification can be verified at www.pilatesmethodalliance.org. (However, this is a relatively recent development in the Pilates world and many very qualified instructors, who have ample experience, trained before the PMA was formed.) Does s/he attend continuing education conferences on a regular basis? What equipment is present in the studio?

Once you have determined that you have found a qualified instructor, give him/her a try and see if you get along. Feel out how the interaction goes, by noting if the instructor is professional, kind, and encouraging. Or, is her/his teaching style punishing? Do you feel comfortable and seen, or do you feel passed over and insignificant?

Community:

Once you’ve found the instructor for you, and you know you’ll be receiving good coaching, look for a community of people who, like you, want to increase their skill set. In a boutique fitness studio, there is usually a community of like-minded enthusiasts ready to welcome you, encourage you, and support you. Let them! Make friends at the studio. Talk about your classes, your weaknesses and your strengths. You might be surprised that the one person in your class who seems to be able to do anything and everything finds bridging really difficult. Or, maybe it took him a whole year to be able to make it through the full Hundred.

Finding a community of those who enjoy what you enjoy, and who are going through the learning process together with you, is essential to keep you on track and not feeling defeated. Showing up to class will continue to be a treat and a joy when you know that smiling faces and friendly people await you. Instead of thinking of exercise as a chore, you will begin to think of it as a gift, to your body and to your mind. That is the best kind of motivation!

Consistency:

To be consistent at something requires elements of both frequency and duration. If you want to become better at push-ups, for example, doing 20 push-ups once every two months will not effectively increase your strength and stamina, and success may seem elusive. Similarly, doing one push-up every day for a week, and then quitting, will not get you much closer to your goals.

With a Pilates or GYROTONIC® practice, frequency means that you must commit to putting in the time, on a regular basis, to not only learn how to move your body, but also for your body to develop the strength and agility necessary to do what you will be asking of it. You will not be able to accomplish this with one class a month.

When new clients come into the studio, one of the first questions they usually ask is, “How many times a week should I be doing this?” There is no correct answer for everyone. Once a week is good, and you will see and feel results. Twice a week is better, and you will see and feel results faster.

But, the truth is that whatever works for your schedule is the best for you. If you have to manipulate everything on your calendar to make classes twice a week happen, it becomes a chore that soon becomes something you don’t want to stress over. Stick with once a week, and when you’re ready to start coming twice, you will know, because it will become a priority that requires zero sacrifice.

Good frequency, however, is nothing without duration. Every January, gyms are flooded with people with the best of intentions, showing up multiple times a week, until they burn themselves out by the end of February. They are motivated and they want to work as hard as they can, as many days as they can, until they realize that it’s not sustainable. Their initial frequency may be too much and they don’t stick around long enough to enjoy any results.

Here’s the thing about both Pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method: You will begin to see and feel results within 10-20 sessions. But, your skills continue to evolve FOREVER. Devoted practitioners of both methods will tell you that there are exercises that finally come to you years after faithfully not giving up. You must accept that the duration is long-term and look forward to witnessing your practice grow and develop.

The Movement Studio offers quality coaching via our excellent instructors, and a fantastic movement community! The consistency component is up to each client. Here are a few ideas on how to keep your practice consistent:

-Bring a friend with you!

-Plan an after-class outing with a friend you’ve met in class.

-Schedule your classes a month in advance.

-Immediately after your next class, write a sentence or two about how great you feel.

-Read your notes the next time you wonder if you have time for your next class.

Congratulations on finding something that you love, you value, and you want to get better at! Keep the three Cs of success: Coaching, Community, and Consistency, in mind, and watch your skill increase.

See you at the studio,

Emma

This February, Four Ideas on How to Nurture Self-Love

It’s February, the month of LOVE.

As an emotion, Love is undoubtedly worthy of its own month. In one breath, love can be both intense and sweet, scarce and omnipresent, and humble and ostentatious. It’s vexingly complicated, and it’s laughably simplistic. We know exactly what it is, and yet we frequently don’t see Love, even when it’s hiding in plain sight.

The emotion is commonly used to describe our feelings about everything from snack foods to ideas, romantic partners, pets, the weather and even people we’ve never met. Twenty-eight days a year to try to figure out what Love is and how to honor it properly seems like a good idea. February, you’re on!

Thankfully, the stores have been ready and waiting for us since the end of December, having whole sections of consumer goods pre-wrapped in red cellophane or topped off with a pink ribbon, guaranteed to fulfill our annual quota of Love. Valentine’s Day cards, heart-shaped boxes of candy, stuffed animals and decorated coffee mugs overflow the seasonal aisle at the grocery store, and our lesson is that to love is to give. More specifically, to love is to give to others.

Giving to others is beautiful. It is noble. It is life-changing and life-affirming. But, it is not the only kind of love that we need to exercise. Self-love is chronically undervalued and misunderstood. And, frequently, it is identified with characteristics like vanity, conceit, or narcissism. Self-love is NOT buying yourself that Valentine’s candy. Nor is it getting a manicure every week, or immersing yourself in inspirational quotes on the regular.

Self-love is an awareness and appreciation of yourself. It is dynamic and, ideally, always increasing. It blooms as you consistently make choices that allow the nurturing of your physical, psychological and spiritual growth. It cannot be bought, and it cannot be hastily achieved. Self-love takes time.

Here it is, February, the month of Love. This February, give some thought to how you can act in a way to nurture your self-love. Below are some ideas to get you started:

1. Practice Self-Care

The better care you take of yourself, the more likely you will increase your self-love. Give your body the nutrition, rest, and exercise it needs to function optimally. Respecting your body’s needs is the best self-care! That doesn’t mean that you should undertake a drastic diet and/or exercise regimen. It simply means to listen to what your body is telling you on a daily basis.

But, also be the adult in the room when your body wants to embrace inertia and a pint of ice cream. Notice when your body feels fantastic and when it doesn’t. Pay attention to how great you feel after a studio session, or a good night’s sleep, or a long walk outside. Start doing more of the things that make your body feel healthy, and soon your body will begin asking you for more!

And, don’t forget that self-care is as much about what thoughts you allow to take root in your mind as it is about what foods you allow into your body. Your mind is like a toddler, feeling and thinking on instinct. Your intelligence is the thoughtful, loving parent who guides and leads with wisdom and experience. Thoughts and emotions come and go. Allow your intelligence to welcome the ones that make you feel healthy and proud, and release (without judgment) the thoughts that don’t. If you have a flash of jealousy or defeat in a studio class, that’s ok. It’s normal. Release it without feeling bad about yourself. Then focus on how good it feels to move your body. How proud of yourself you are that you showed up. How fun it is to be in a room with friends, practicing self-care and supporting one another.

2. Be Selfish In the Short-term in order to be Selfless In The Long Run

Get comfortable establishing boundaries. Understand what you need for you, in order to be able to give to others, and don’t allow yourself to compromise your needs.

So many of the studio’s amazing clients are caregivers to ailing spouses. They come to the studio to nourish their bodies and their minds, in order to maintain the physical and emotional energy necessary to care for their loved ones. They inspire me every day!

New moms also quickly learn that they can’t give 110% of themselves all the time without feeling completely drained. Hormones and guilt combine to create a powerful argument that new moms should never leave the house, never leave the baby, never find a moment of peaceful solace to rest and recharge. This mindset is damaging and leads to a depletion of self-love if sustained for too long.

Taking time for yourself, to do something that makes you feel good in your body and your mind, is never a waste of time. It is never selfish. It is never counter-productive. Planning out the ability to make time for yourself to get to a Pilates or GYROTONIC® class, or take a walk, or meet a friend for coffee, is absolutely essential to your well-being and it will increase your self-love.

You are important. You should be a priority. You are worthy of feeling good and being happy. And when you feel good about yourself, you will give back to your friends, spouse and/or your kids way more than the version of you that constantly runs on empty, feeling overwhelmed and grumpy.

3. Practice Gratitude

The mind may be a wiley toddler, but it can be trained. When you feel yourself going down the mental path of victimhood and burden, gently lead it back on track with this trick. Change, “I have to go to work today,” to “I get to go to work today.” Similarly, “I have to go to the grocery store,” becomes “I get to go to the grocery store,” and “I have to drive my kids around all afternoon,” transforms into, “I get to drive my kids around all afternoon.”

Be mindful of the daily beauty in your life and exercise gratitude for it. Being able to work and be productive, being able to get to the store and walk the aisles, being able to spend time with loved ones, these are gifts! We end many sessions in the studio with a moment of gratitude for the ability to move our bodies. What a gift that is! It deserves a moment of recognition and it should put a smile on your face. Bask in that blessing and allow your immense gratitude to fuel you the next time that you don’t feel like getting out of bed or putting on your shoes to get out the door and exercise your body!

Practicing gratitude for the things that may seem insignificant, and the things that may otherwise feel obligatory, is the best way to quiet your rambunctious mind and invite mental clarity and peace. Such a mind will expand your ability to feel self-love.

4. Forgive Yourself

Forgive yourself for the bad relationship. Forgive yourself for the unkind or unhealthy thought. Forgive yourself for the knee-jerk reaction. Forgive yourself! We are all human and we all make mistakes. The mistakes take on lives of their own if we don’t learn from them, refuse to admit them, but then double-down on bad behavior and a damaging mindset.

You are worthy of your own forgiveness. Learn the lesson embedded in the mistake you made and move on, knowing that you have improved yourself by transforming an unfortunate event or thought into a vehicle for betterment.

The ability to forgive is an act of kindness. Consciously being kind to yourself increases your self-respect and your general feeling of worth. This, in turn, allows your self-love to grow unfettered.

This February, go ahead and give that box of chocolates. Or make the dinner reservations and buy the flowers. But, just as expressing our love this way once a year is not a substitution for acting with love as a guiding principle all year round, know that embarking on a journey to allow self-love to flourish takes more than an occasional pedicure or bubble bath. Self-love develops when you consistently practice self-care, gratitude, self-forgiveness, and the ability to prioritize your own needs.

LOVE ON!

Reference article: “A Seven-Step Prescription for Self-Love”, by Deborah Khoshaba Psy.D., Psychology Today, March 27, 2012.

What Does It Mean To Move With Joy?

Move With Joy is the opening motto of The Movement Studio, and it represents a sentiment that perfectly encapsulates the mission of the studio.

This is not a blood, sweat and tears place. It’s not a squat-till-you-drop place, nor is it a place to use competition with others to further your own wellness goals. The Movement Studio is not about using your mind against your body to beat it into submission. It is a place to discover that your mind and your body are on the same team, and when they pair up, amazing things happen.

So, what does it mean to Move With Joy? It is moving in the absence of fear, in the absence of expectation, for the simple joy of moving your body. I frequently ask clients to remember a time when moving their bodies was nothing but fun. When they didn’t care how they looked to others, when the driving force for their movement was the pure, unadulterated joy of being able to move.

For most, this requires thinking back for decades. Maybe it was as young children, running and dancing with friends or siblings before coaches and instructors and peer pressure took ahold of movement and began to shrink it into an embarrassed, but acceptable and refined, package. Pause for just a second and remember that time. It was fun, right? It made you smile? Laugh? You used to live in that place of physical freedom for hours at a time, didn’t you? Whatever happened to that? Can we recapture that feeling?

Yes. We can.

But, here’s the thing. As much as I, as a movement educator, wish that it was possible, I can’t simply throw my hands in the air and decree, “Move With Joy!”, and make it happen. Because we have all been transformed by decades of mental and physical conditioning, by well-meaning friends and coaches and instructors and teachers, to believe that some movement is correct, and some movement is wrong. That we should always be seeking beautiful movement, as opposed to ugly movement. Maybe we’ve been taught that we should feel ashamed of how our bodies look when we move in a certain way. And, in many cases, injuries have made some movement painful, or even impossible.

The cumulative effect of all of this handicapping of physical movement is that the first step in learning to Move With Joy is to become reacquainted with our own bodies.

It is necessary to know your body, to know what movement comes naturally, what movement doesn’t, and to understand how injuries and/or conditions such as scoliosis, osteoporosis, and others, affect your movement.

Once there is understanding of your body, the physical arena within which you move, areas of inhibition can begin to be liberated. Re-patterning movement and finding ways to move with better bio-mechanical efficiency does not have to be difficult or painful. You will build strength, and you will stretch, and you will move in new and different ways.

This is not to say that medical conditions will magically disappear or that injuries that have haunted you for decades will suddenly heal. It is simply that you will understand your body, and how it deals with its own unique conditions and injuries, better. And, once there is understanding, there can be acceptance. Once there is acceptance, there can be love. Learning to love your body and all that it does (as opposed to all that it can’t do or all that it doesn’t do well) is necessary to being able to Move With Joy.

The second step in learning to Move With Joy is to simply put in the work. Show up to class and pay attention to what your body is telling you.

“Work within the comfort zone of your body. Move without effort and with a smile in your heart. Be kind to yourself and don’t compare to others. Watch what happens - you will grow and your body will evolve.” Juliu Horvath, creator of the GYROTONIC® method.

Be consistent and be determined. Know that movement is life, just as stagnation is death. Progress happens in the body every time you move, and do not be discouraged if you don’t see or feel the results of your work as soon as you would like. Learn to take pleasure in the act of moving, in and of itself, rather than doing the movement only for the purpose of producing a result. Shift your perspective and enjoy the process.

After you understand the body that you move within and you embark on the journey to strengthen and open that body, the last remaining step to Move With Joy is to give yourself permission to move in a joyful manner.

This may sound simple, but it is not easy.

Learning to Move With Joy is an individual journey. No two people are the same and no two people will start at the same place or progress at the same rate. However, showing up in class and being supportive and encouraging of others will be an integral part of your own journey. We frequently afford others the grace and kindness and love that we don’t afford ourselves. Practicing giving freely these values to others will teach your mind to communicate in the language of joy and love, and, inevitably, you will soon begin to talk to yourself in this way.

Give others the permission to move joyfully, without fear of judgment, and encouraged by the understanding and acceptance of our shared humanity. There is no such thing as perfect movement. Every day will feel different from the last. Abilities will come and go. Goals will be reached, and disappointments will be felt. It’s all ok. Continue encouraging your friends to find joy in movement and, in return, they will encourage you.

Moving without the constraints of fear (of injury, of embarrassment, of doing something new) requires that you comes to terms with, and even embrace, feeling exposed, both mentally and physically. It is experienced first as a conscious, mental release, a willingness to step outside of the perceived realm of acceptable movement. And then it is seen. There is a release of the tension that hinders movement and once that tension is finally surrendered, the physical movement takes on a whole new quality. The body opens more. The limbs reach further. And it is almost impossible to keep a smile off of your face.

Understand your body. Love your body. Move your body. This is what it means to Move With Joy.

Moving with joy leads to living with joy, because as we move in our bodies we move through the world. This is why Move With Joy is our opening motto. Because life is movement, and movement is life. And both should be filled with joy!

Keep moving,
Emma

If You Are New to Pilates, Here Are Five Things to Know Before You Start

1. Pilates isn’t easy. But, what’s your definition of difficult?

If you want to provoke a strong, aghast, reaction from a Pilates instructor or enthusiast, simply say something along the lines of, “Pilates is mostly stretching, right?”

Um, no. Not even close.

The truth is that many people find Pilates to be one of the most challenging workouts they’ve ever done. But because proper execution of the Pilates exercises depends so heavily upon a mind-body connection, it is absolutely possible to get through a Pilates class feeling like not much happened, even if your limbs moved in all the right directions.

Translation: You can cheat at Pilates.

Emphasis in a Pilates class is directed towards the small, stabilizing muscles that improve posture, protect joints and optimize biomechanics, and most people, especially those involved in lifelong sports and activities, don’t usually pay those muscles much attention. When these clients enter their first Pilates class and default in their movement to use of the big muscle groups, they can feel like the exercises are easy to complete.

However, once the client is successful at re-patterning the movement, finding and activating the smaller muscle groups, the challenge of the Pilates method begins in earnest.  Clients will feel worked after a Pilates class, but in a completely different way than they feel after, say, a long run or a heavy weight-lifting session.

Therefore, do not enter your first Pilates class expecting to feel completely exhausted when you’re done. You might leave feeling worked from the inside-out, or you might leave wondering if you accomplished anything at all. It is probably best to suspend expectations for your first few Pilates sessions and to keep your mind open to whatever your body might want to share with you.

Are you going to magically drop 30 pounds by attending Pilates classes? No. Are you going to begin to develop a new kind of respect for your body that will lead to making better choices to promote your overall health and wellbeing? Yes.

Rest assured, the Pilates method works. Joseph Pilates famously said, “In 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 sessions you’ll see the difference, and in 30 sessions you’ll have a new body.”

2. Pilates doesn’t get easier. But you will get better at it.

One of the confusing aspects of the Pilates method is that it becomes more challenging with experience. Do not be surprised if there are exercises that are done during your first few classes that you do not connect with at all. It is very common for clients to request heavier springs or more resistance when they begin Pilates classes, but to be quite challenged by the same resistance after numerous sessions. Instructors hear this all the time, “When did this exercise get so hard??”

It is likely the case that for your first couple of classes, your body is learning how to recruit the correct muscles to do the movement. Until you learn how to get in touch with those smaller, inner muscles, the bigger, outer muscles will take over. Absolutely nothing in the Pilates repertoire is “easy” when done correctly, with proper muscle recruitment and intention.

The good news is that you will get better at performing the Pilates exercises! With experience and practice, you will feel your body connecting to the exercises on a deeper level. You will notice how you are able to lengthen through a movement rather than hold it in tension, and you will begin to sense that your body is starting to move as an integrated, harmonious whole, as opposed to being composed of disjointed parts. This is the beauty of Pilates!

3. Pilates is a uniquely personal experience. There is no competition in Pilates.

Once you know the fundamentals of the Pilates method, your journey begins! You will be more in tune with how your body is moving and what it needs in that moment, in that movement. What others in the same class are experiencing will undoubtedly be different. In essence, students of the Pilates method become their own teachers, and the lesson needed by each body will change on a daily basis. There is always something new and different to find, even in movements that you have practiced repeatedly.

Because a Pilates practice is such an individualized experience, a competitive atmosphere runs contrary to the method. Be prepared to feel supported and encouraged in your Pilates class, rather than shamed into performing movements in quality or quantity that your body can’t complete responsibly. Everyone in a Pilates class is on their own journey, moving at their own pace.

4. A consistent Pilates practice will increase your overall happiness.

The objective of a consistent Pilates practice, as stated by Joseph Pilates, is, “to be in control of your body and not at its mercy.” When we move through life feeling that our bodies are holding us hostage, our minds begin processing all experiences and external stimuli accordingly. Whether because of chronic pain or impinged mobility, a blocked body nurtures a blocked mind.

Luckily, the reverse is also true. Once clients begin to connect with their bodies through responsible movement, they begin to feel “in charge” of their bodies as opposed to existing separately from their physical selves. An open, strong body nurtures an open, strong mind.

As clients begin to feel released from the grasp of dysfunctional bodies, they inevitably feel an increase in overall happiness. This state of mind spills over into every area of life, even outside of the studio. Don’t be surprised if friends start to remark how happy you appear, especially immediately after a Pilates session!  

5. Pilates can become addictive - in the best way.

For all of the reasons listed above, practicing the Pilates method can become something that clients can’t get enough of. It feels good to be physically challenged in new ways, to overcome those challenges, and to do it all in a supportive, encouraging environment. Instructors are frequently asked if there’s such a thing as too much Pilates.

Those who have been practicing Pilates for years commonly do at least some exercises on a daily basis, as they are comfortable moving part of their practice to a home environment. However, when clients are starting, it’s better to proceed with classes and/or private instruction so that less ideal movement patterns don’t develop early on, setting up hurdles to overcome in the future.

A once-a-week Pilates practice is great, and the client will see and feel benefit. A twice-a-week Pilates practice will result in faster noticeable results. An ideal Pilates practice depends greatly on the individual client, but consistency is key. Showing up for Pilates every couple of months is better than nothing, but significant results will be difficult to achieve. Conversely, beginning a Pilates practice by coming to class every day can lead to burnout.

Listen to your body when determining how frequently to practice this new method of movement that both your mind and your body will begin to ask for. You want to find the perfect balance of being challenged and benefitted, without feeling overworked.

Move with joy and appreciate the journey!

Emma

Which Class Is Right For Me?

The Movement Studio is opening soon and the schedule is live! You are excited to get your body moving and sign up for a class. Fantastic! But, which class should you try first?

Rest assured, our opening schedule makes it impossible to go wrong. We will start with beginning level classes and increase the ability level of class offerings as our clients progress in experience and skill. Follow the guidelines below to find the perfect class for you.

If you want to learn Pilates and have NO previous Pilates experience, you have three choices. 1) Private or Duet sessions. 2) Pilates Mat classes. 3) Register for a Learn Pilates course.

1. Private or Duet sessions are always going to provide the best environment to learn something new. In a private or duet session you will receive an exclusive level of individualized instruction and hands-on cueing. The opening schedule will make available many private and duet sessions, for clients learning Pilates who wish to eventually transition into a group class and also for clients who wish to continue indefinitely in a private or duet learning environment. Purchase a New Client Package and allow the instructor to direct you towards which class comes next.

2. Pilates Mat classes are not only a great way to learn the fundamentals of Pilates, they are also challenging and fun! If you enjoy group classes and are new to Pilates, mat classes are a great option for you. The Movement Studio will open with at least two mat classes per week. Many Pilates clients maintain a consistent mat practice as mat classes strengthen, stretch and lengthen equally well as equipment classes. If it is your goal to take group equipment classes, beginning with multiple mat classes is a good option. After completing at least 3-5 mat classes, ask the instructor if you may sign up for an equipment class.

3. Learn Pilates is a 5 week course that will be offered beginning shortly after The Movement Studio opens. It is designed for those who want to take group equipment classes, but have never taken a Pilates class. Space is limited and spots are coveted because each session can only accommodate 6 clients and classes are offered at a discounted price. When you sign up for Learn Pilates, you must commit to 5 weeks of one class per week (you will pay $150 for all 5 classes - a savings of $25- even if you cannot attend one or more of the classes). The course will introduce the basic mat and Reformer exercises and at the end of the course the client should feel comfortable signing up for Pilates Reformer 101.  You may only enroll in Learn Pilates one time.

If you have previous Pilates experience but are new to The Movement Studio, you MUST sign up for a private, duet, or mat class BEFORE signing up for Pilates Reformer 101. For your safety, your body and your movement must be assessed by an instructor before you enter a group equipment class.

If you want to learn the GYROTONIC® EXPANSION METHOD, but have no previous experience, you have three options. 1) Private or Duet sessions. 2) Taming the Tiger classes. 3) Register for a Learn the GYROTONIC® Method course.

1. Private or Duet sessions will be the best vehicle for learning the GYROTONIC® Method. In a private or duet session you will receive an exclusive level of individualized instruction and hands-on cueing. However, the opening schedule does NOT make available private and duet sessions in the GYROTONIC® Method, as we do not expect to receive the Pulley Tower equipment until December. Once the equipment has arrived, private or duet sessions will be offered for those who wish to eventually transition into a small group class and also for clients who wish to continue indefinitely in a private or duet learning environment.

2. Taming the Tiger classes will be the ONLY GYROTONIC® option offered on the opening schedule of The Movement Studio. These classes will teach the fundamentals of GYROTONIC® movement with time split between the stools, standing, and mat work on the floor. After at least 3-5 classes, clients will learn enough to successfully transition into a GYROTONIC® 101 class.

3. Learn the GYROTONIC® Method courses will be offered after the equipment arrives. Space is limited and spots are coveted as each session will only accommodate 3 clients and classes will be offered at a discounted price. Much like the Learn Pilates course, Learn the GYROTONIC® Method will be a 5 week course commitment for the price of $175 (a savings of $25). The course will prepare the clients for GYROTONIC® 101 classes by introducing the fundamentals and beginning movement patterns both on stools and on equipment. You may only enroll in Learn the GYROTONIC® Method one time.

If you have previous GYROTONIC® experience but are new to The Movement Studio, please attend at least one Taming the Tiger class and let the instructor know that you would like to enroll in GYROTONIC® 101 (once it is on the schedule).

If you have read the above and are still confused about which class to sign up for, no worries! Please call us at (352) 661-3637 and we will assist you in picking the best class option for you.