Katie Leaver Pilates

 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...

In Pilates your Centre refers to the core of you body and the body's Centre of gravity. For anyone who may have forgotten what exactly makes up the core, please read  Your core muscles are like a tin can .  When thinking about the body's Centre of gravity.  This is an imaginary point where the body's weight is equally balanced, and around this point the body may rotate freely.  As we are all individually built, our Centre of gravity is unique to us.   You will find the the Centre of gravity for a man is slightly higher than for a woman.  Lets think about completing the perfect roll down:  Starting sat up, knees bent to ceiling, legs and feet hip width apart on the floor. You squeeze your core, roll your pubic bone towards the ceiling and your back pockets start to come closer to the mat.  You place your back pockets, then your waist band, each of your ribs and finally your shoulders and head onto the mat in a controlled sequence, keeping your...

 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 ...

 Breathing, or the way you breathe is an important part of the development of your Pilates practice.   As a Pilates teacher I meet lots of clients, all at different stages of their Pilates journey.  When your journey starts, your focus is on core activation and generally just getting through a lesson trying to understand and translate the instructions from your teacher into movement.   Once your core strength begins to develop and all your concentration is not used up in surviving your Pilates class, it is time to start thinking about your breathing.  In Pilates we use a technique called lateral breathing.  When you take in a breath to power movement we ask that you breathe into your ribs raising your chest up and out.  But why?  To take a large breath in you can either breathe into your tummy, or breathe into your ribs expanding them up and out.  It is very difficult (possibly impossible) to breathe into your tummy and engage your ...

 Adductors are more commonly known as you inner thigh muscles.  On my inner thigh I can describe the area as the meaty/squishy part of the leg on the inside of the thigh.  The adductor muscles are responsible for bringing you legs together.  Wherever you are right now, squeeze your legs together, as if you are trying to make yourself into a merperson and only have a single tail.  You should be able to feel the muscles of the inner thigh activate making this pulling together, squeezing motion.  The inner thigh is made of 5 large muscles, I have always thought it is strange for a part of my body that I don't really feel I use a lot to have so many muscles.  The muscles are called adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis and pectineus.   The adductor muscles stabilize your pelvis whilst you to walk, run and jump.   They are generally really important for healthy movement and a pain free pelvis.  So why don't we ...

Have you been in a Pilates lesson and been told to " stabilize  you shoulder girdle"?  What does this really mean? Well the shoulder girdle or pectoral girdle is a verbal reference used to describe the bones of the shoulder.  The shoulder bones are amazing because  they support all sorts of movement in all directions in the shoulder and the arms. Yet the three bones are only connect to the main boney structure  of the body at one point, the top of the sternum (breast bone).   Your shoulder girdle on each side of the body consists of a:  clavicle - also know as the collar bone and you can feel this through your skin along the collar  of your shirt.  It is the clavicle that connects to the top of the sternum (breast bone). scapula - you may know this as the shoulder blade.  It is a triangular shaped bone that is often  visible  on the back of the body.  It is good to remember the at the scapula is free floating a...

 We all have two rotator cuffs which are very important to our shoulder operation, one inside each shoulder.  Your rotator cuff is made of four muscles that provide joint security (I love this term, a tiny little police force living in your shoulder making sure that the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint remains functioning).   Why does your shoulder need a police force?  Well the ball and socket joint of the shoulder is a bit rubbish (and also very good *).  It is not like a caravan and car ball and socket joint where you have a deep strong connection (a bit like the hip).  It is more like a scallop shell and a stick with a bulbus end. It fits ok, but really needs lots of tape and string to keep it together.  Your rotator cuff muscles are the police, the tape and the string that hold this amazing joint together.   The next part is only for reading if you are super interested in the names and actions of the muscles.  The four muscles of ...