How do you make sure that you have good alignment in standing exercises?
Maybe you’ve heard that you should stack the pelvis over the ankles, and the ribcage over the pelvis, and the head over the ribcage. Kind of like stacking Jenga pieces on top of each other to create a strong and...
Watch me teach a few mat exercises to my student Bethany. We did
As you watch Bethany do the first couple of...
Today’s book review is going to be especially interesting for those of you owning or running a Pilates Studio. I don’t consider myself a Pilates business pro and I don’t plan on recommending strategies for running your business going forward, but “Profit First for...
Imagine that your students have just shown up to your Pilates class. As you look around the room, you see people of all different abilities and experience. How are you going to teach a class that challenges each student effectively and keeps everyone safe?
Layering is the single...
I addressed this topic already a few years back (as you can tell from this video of my younger self). We always seem to be in this rounded or hunched position all day and sometimes it seems we live our lives this way. It is really important to strengthen the muscles in the backs of our shoulders....
When you add Roll Down on the Reformer to your routine, you can enjoy the benefits of improved spinal flexion, lengthened hip flexors, and strong abdominals.
This exercise is all about scooping, hollowing, and drawing "navel to spine". All the classic Pilates cues can be used here....
Reverse Abdominals (also known as Reverse Knee Stretch or Kneeling Abdominals Facing Back) is a fantastic abdominal strengthener. The arms, shoulders, and hip flexors get quite a lot of work, too.
It should be in just about every new student’s program unless contraindicated. It...
Also called Pulling Ropes, this is one of the few prone exercises on the Reformer and it’s not too hard, so it should make it into almost every Pilates class, especially for beginners.
There are 3 main ways people tend to cheat during this exercise. Let's look at each of them and explore...
Scooter should be a regular in your classes and lessons. It works on so many necessary things all at once! It strengthens your thighs, glutes, hamstrings, lateral hip stabilizers, and adductor magnus. It lengthens your hip flexors (which so many of us desperately need) and improves our...
Sleeper, also known as side-lying footwork, is an excellent series to strengthen the hips and can be very helpful for students with knee problems.
This series is all about activating the lateral hip muscles when working in parallel and the external hip rotators when in external rotation. If your...