Katie Leaver Pilates

  Each of your feet are amazing, I know that I did not appreciate my feet until I had a accident and one of my feet stopped working as well as it used to.  My extreme sport of choice was piggy in the middle with my children on the beach, when I  kick a stone.  This has continued to impact my foot health for over 18 months (well I'm still recovering).   Each of your feet are made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Your feet are the most amazing mobile weight bearing structures around.  When anatomists write about the foot, they often refer to the "bony architecture" of the foot. Now start to think about the structure of your foot as "bony architecture" and you can start understanding how you foot is similar to a vaulted church ceiling. Lots of individual bones precisely placed to fit together in an amazing arched structure.  What is incredible about the foot is that there are three arches at work. You have the arch that yo

I am terrible at this.  I am super competitive and very hard on myself.  I always feel that I should be able to do the hardest level and the maximum amount of repetitions. But experience, training and an excellent tutor has shown me that Pilates should not be like that.  It is better to have a deep connection with your body, tuning in to how you are feeling on a particular day at an exact moment.  The way to go is building a strong core through listen to your body, learning good technique and understanding which muscles you should be feeling.  So how do you really know if you are working your core too hard?   Firstly being able to hold your neutral spine throughout an exercise is a great sign that you are working at the right level.  As soon as you can't keep your core engagement and neutral spine for all stages of an exercise you are probably working too hard.   Can you feel your tummy doming?  Another sign that you are working too hard.   If you can feel your tummy doming you mig

 When I engage my core I think about being a Greek Goddess.  In another life at another time maybe, but seriously ............. Before you engage your core you need to know where you bottom ribs are (stop reading and feel them now).  You also need to know where you ASIS bones are.  They are the nobly bones at the front of your pelvis.  (You will now need to stop reading, stand up and feel the front of your pelvis.)  On each side of you pelvis there are bone close to the surface of your skin that you can feel with your finger tips.  They are your ASIS.  Finally you will need to find your tail bone and pubis bone.  Again you will need to stand up and centrally at the top of your bottom you should be able to feel your tail bone and at the front of your pelvis centrally you can feel your pubis bone.  To engage my core I stand with my feet hip width apart and my pelvis in a neutral alignment.  I take a deep breath in and as I exhale I think about my lower two ribs and my ASIS bones pulling

 Your Core Muscles are like a tin can.  How many times have you thought you were engaging your core perfectly and then realized that your bottom was also squeezed tightly.  I remember thinking that it was impossible to engage my core without squeezing my bum.  However an understanding of what parts of the body make up the core, some brilliant descriptive ques and practice have improved my Pilates and how I am able to control my body. At the top of our core tin can you will find your diaphragm.  I think its most famous for making us hiccup.  The bottom of our tin can is made of a large collection of muscles known as the pelvic floor or (Coccygeus, Iliococcygeus, Pubococcygeus and Puborectalis), you will be able to feel these muscles if you need to hold onto a wee. The Multifidus muscles of the spine make up the rear section of our tin can, you use these muscles when you twist you torso to look behind you and flex your torso from side to side (like you would if you were running around pr

Throughout 2022 I will be spending a few moments each week and in every Pilates class I teach focusing on a particular part of the body.  Teaching exercises to strengthen, discussing functional aspects and why its good to exercise that particular part. My hope is that once clients understand how a particular part of the body works, they can enhance their Pilates practice.  Less copying an instructor and more really connecting and feeling your muscles work.  Taking the time to focus on yourself and how you feel today. The plan as it stands today look like: January  - Really find your core muscles (and exclude your bottom) February - Care for your feet and ankles (don't undervalue them) March - Hip and hip flexors (fun with rollers and other small equipment) April - Glutes, min, med and max (could one of your bum muscles be weak?) May - Abs (oh, no!) June - Obliques (oh, yes!) July - Spin, rotate, articulate and extend your spine August - Quads and knees (how do they connect?) Septem