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Train yourself and your bump towards a natural safe delivery

27/9/2010

 
Photo by Suhel Sheikh
Photo by Suhel Sheikh
Pregnancy is one of the most amazing experiences that women - and women's bodies - can go through.

During pregnancy you will experience a huge number of changes in your body and naturally you may have questions such as how to maintain your fitness levels during your pregnancy, how to best prepare your body for the safe delivery of your baby and what you can do after birth to keep your body in great shape to look after your newborn baby.

According to the latest research, exercising before, during and after your pregnancy provides many potential benefits for you and your baby. Exercising during pregnancy may help reduce the risk of gaining excessive weight, help maintain or improve posture, help improve control and strength of the pelvic floor muscles, improve circulation and digestion, reduce the swelling associated with some pregnancies, increase the 'feel-good' factor and it may also promote a quicker return to your pre-pregnancy shape after delivery.

Gentle Pilates workouts, with a focus on posture and alignment and control of core stability muscles including the pelvic floor, can be ideal for pregnant women who want to continue to exercise through their pregnancy and beyond.

Everybody is different and there is no "one-size-fits-all" workout for pregnancy. However, if you're interested in private Pilates sessions designed specifically for you, please get in touch and we can talk about your requirements.

Thanks to Helen Carpenter-Walters and Pilates Training Solutions for a fantastic Pilates & Pregnancy training course.

Change of season, body change - take a taster Pilates private session from just £20 this autumn*

25/9/2010

 
Autumn offer - 20% off taster class
Autumn has begun and when the days start getting shorter, the temperature plummets and the skimpy clothes get back to the bottom of the drawer, staying in shape is not always a priority.

Yet as the outside world becomes more hostile, now is the perfect time to try a new indoor activity - Pilates workouts at your home or office are the perfect way to stay in shape whilst staying in. Pilates Focus private sessions are fun and challenging and tailored to your specific requirements. I am happy to work with one-to-one or one-to-two, so why not rope in your partner, mum, sister or best buddy and get fit together this autumn?

Try your first private session for less: £20 for a Pilates Focus one-to-one taster session (normally £25), £36  for a Pilates Focus one-to-two taster session (normally £44)

Get in touch to arrange an appointment now!

* Valid until 21 Dec

How to... do the Pilates Bridge

13/9/2010

 
Pilates Bridge
Pilates Bridge
1. Start from semi-supine position, with neutral spine:
  • Check your position before you start and relax your body
  • Take your feel slightly closer than you normally would have them in this position
  • Keep your arms lengthened by your side, palms facing up (or down if you feel you need more support)
2. Breathe in to prepare, breathe out and engage your core muscles
  • Lightly tighten the boxer's belt or corset around your waist and squeeze your pelvic floor (muscles that keep you from going to the loo!) to 30% of the maximum
  • Try this a few times until you're able to keep a 30% contraction as you breathe in as well as when you breathe out
  • Avoid over contracting
  • If you find it hard to do both, focus only on one group of muscles at a time
3. The movement is a curling of the spine until you look like a bridge/ski slope
  • Breathe in to prepare
  • As you breathe out...
    • bring your pubic bone upward to flatten your lower back on the mat,
    • continue curving your spine to lift your bottom off the mat
    • keep going up, raising your torso one vertebrae at a time, stop when you reach the point where your weight is on your shoulder blades (NOT your neck!)
  • Breathe in – hold the position
  • Breathe out – lower the bridge back to neutral with the exact opposite curving of the spine
Visualisations:
  • Draw a straight line from your shoulder to your hip to your knees
Watch points:
  • Keep your core muscles engaged throughout the movement, especially don't let your tummy pop out at the top of the bridge
  • Use your buttocks to help keep you up
  • Keep knees, hips and shoulders in line, lengthen away through the knees
  • Keep your weight evenly distributed across the shoulder blades and feet
  • Avoid pressure on your neck
  • Come up and down evenly on your right and left sides
If you are able to control the movement and keep your core muscles engaged throughout then you can add further challenge by floating your arms overhead as you go up and bringing them back down in synch with your torso.

Give the Pilates Bridge a try and let me know how you go by leaving a comment on this page.

Remember everybody's bodies are different. Consult with your doctor before trying out a new exercise, in particular if you have any conditions or injuries which could be aggravated by certain types of movement.

The Core's the word

4/9/2010

 
Core or Powerhouse
Core or Powerhouse
All Pilates movements initiate from an engaged core or powerhouse. This refers to a gentle contraction of three sets of muscles in your torso which help stabilise your spine and keep you upright:
  • Transversus Abdominis (TA band)
  • Pelvic Floor muscles
  • Multifidus
These deeper core muscles are designed for endurance - a gentle contraction for a long time - since they are meant to keep you upright all day long without getting tired. When the core is not strong, other muscles have to help keep us upright, leading to imbalances such as tight hamstrings (back of the thigh) or hip flexors (groin) and lower back pain.

During a Pilates session we work with these muscles contracted to about 30% of their maximum possible contraction. Why? Because a gentle contraction permits us to isolate the correct muscles, whereas a stronger contraction calls on the more superficial muscles (e.g. the obliques and six-pack) to come help and take over.

Let's take a look at each set of muscles individually and learn to isolate each one at a time.

The TA band is a deep internal muscle all the way around your waist. It attaches at the back to your spine and pelvis and goes round your waist to the front of your belly. Try the following exercise and visualisations to isolate the TA band, you can try this in a standing or semi-supine position.
  • Think of a corset or boxer's belt round your waist, imagine it has 10 notches. As you breathe out tighten the corset or belt all the way to the 10th notch, breathe in to release. Exhale again to contract to the 5th notch, breathe in to release. Last time, breathe out to find the 3rd notch: this is where you want to keep the TA band engagement.
  • Visualise pulling your navel to your spine
  • Imagine someone comes with very cold hands to grab your waist, draw your navel in
  • Remember how you need to pull your belly in to put on a pair of freshly washed jeans
The Pelvic Floor muscles are like a sling attaching from your public bone to your tail bone. They are the muscles you contract to control the flow of body fluids when you're in that too-long meeting at the office! To isolate this group of muscles try the following standing exercise and visualisations:
  • Visualise a handkerchief on the floor between your legs, to pick it up you need to pinch it and lift. As you breathe out, squeeze with your pelvic floor to pinch the handkerchief and lift it all the way as high as it will go. Release on the in-breath. Try it again going to 50% and then to 30%, one breath in and out at a time.
  • Suck your thumb (this produces an instinctive, reflexive tightening of pelvic floor, but, alas, it doesn’t work for everybody)
  • Visualise zipping up a pair of tight jeans
  • Imagine you’re entering cold water and you want to keep your bikini or trunks from getting wet
Multifidus is the hardest one to isolate. It has multiple attachments, linking each vertebra in your spine to the one above it. The exercise below may help you feel this muscle, but don't worry if you don't, it's a tricky one to work all by itself.
  • Lie down in semi-supine position. Breathe out to engage the Pelvic Floor first and keep the contraction as you breathe in. On the next out-breath pull your tail bone towards your spine, but prevent your back from arching. You may feel the sensation of contraction in your lower back, this is Multifidus working.
Practise these isolation exercises in your daily life, or as part of your Pilates workout, to help improve your core awareness and control and send you on your way towards a healthy back and a strong, flat tummy.

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    Helena thinking out loud about Pilates, fitness and anything else related... / pensando en voz alta acerca de Pilates, fitness y cualquier otra cosa que se me ocurra...

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