My Pilates Body 2022

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?)

September - Lumbar spine (how does it connect to your core?)

October - Shoulder girdle (what exactly are we talking about?)

November - Adductors and abductors (where and what?)

December - Triceps and biceps (So we are party ready)

Superman outside my mother in laws house Sep 2021

Comments

When I stretch my hip flexor muscles I feel it in the front of my thighs. Is this right?

The short answer is yes! In my first post I talked about the movement of hip flexion and listed the hip flexors. We have already covered the iliopsoas the main flexor of the hip. Today I am going to talk about the rectus femoris muscle which also assist with hip flexion. The rectus femoris is the large muscles at the front of your upper thigh. If you sit down with a tray on your lap, the tray would be resting on your rectus femoris. It is part of the quadriceps, four muscles on the front of the leg between the pelvis and the knee. Rectus femoris is the only quadricep that reaches over the hip joint as it originates on the front of the pelvis. In class I often reference your ASIS ( A nterior S uperior I lliac S pine), you have two and they are the nobly bones you can feel through your skin at the front of your pelvis. Well you also have two AIIS ( A nterior I nferior I lliac S pine) this is another nobly part of the pelvic bon...

Pilates key principles: Concentration

In a world of attention grabbing, Pilates is a 55 minute window of calm. As a teacher of small group and solo Pilates I can tell if my clients are having a busy mind day. When the mind is elsewhere, movements are not as exact and clients ability to complete a challenging move is compromised. It is OK to have a busy mind, we are not robots, however letting go of your thoughts and concentrating on the movements your body is making will help your Pilate practice to develop. These are my top tips for concentration: 1) Be present, use the repetitive nature of the warm up to connect with every part of your body. Try to visualize each part of your body, be selfish and only focus on yourself. 2) Pay attention to the alignment of your body. The beautiful line from your toe, through your ankle, knee and then into your hip. Maintaining correct alignment will increase the difficulty of an exercise. Why not challenge yourself to completing level ...

Pilates key principles: Control

In Pilates we aim to maintain a high level of control over the movements that we make. As you will have completed some Pilates with me, you will be aware that a small angle change in leg positioning or increased stability through the pelvis can suddenly increase the intensity of an exercise. When thinking about control it is very closely related to precision and you could say that these key principles come hand in hand. You will find that control is improved once you have made multiple attempts at an exercise. Muscles will increase in strength and your muscles will remember the movement of an exercise. Therefore when taking part in a class, stay at a level where you can maintain control. If you work at too high a level you will find it harder to master the control of position and movement and then perfect the exercise. When we have control over a movement we are also able to make the movement using only the muscles connected with tha...

Katie Leaver Pilates

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