Pilates Style

Welcome to the Pilates Style monthly newsletter. Each month we bring you a calendar of the must-know Pilates events around the country, updates on our conferences, Pilates-related news, original feature articles and bonus material from the current issue of Pilates Style magazine. We want to hear from you! If you have, or know of, a Pilates event, or have news to share with your community, email us at newsletter@pilatesstyle.com.

For all those who could make January’s Pilates Style Conference in Los Angeles, you missed some incredible workshops and workouts! For those who did attend, let’s revisit your experience.

If you missed the gathering in L.A., be sure to join us for our New York conference July 19–21. Not only will you enjoy the learning experience of a lifetime, but the socializing and networking are priceless.

See you in New York!

Practice Pilates on a Private Bahamian Island!

Dear Fellow Pilates Devotees,

If you’ve been looking for a very special island vacation that doesn’t compromise your Pilates practice, consider spending a week on a private island in the Bahamas April 24–29, 2008.

Join me, a handful of other enthusiasts and acclaimed British Pilates instructor Christine Sundt on the 96-acre Kamalame Cay island (off Andros) for a week of morning and afternoon Pilates classes that challenge your skills while exploring breathing and core stability. Because of the small size of the group, Christine will be able to give much individualized attention to beginners and devotees alike.

Christine is a professional Pilates instructor and dancer with Britain’s Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet companies. She began dancing at age 3, turned pro at 11, injured herself at 14 and discovered Pilates as part of her rehabilitation. Thanks to the method, she was able to make a full recovery and continue her ballet career. She also trains clients and instructors back home in London.

Kamalama Cay is a quiet, luxury resort just 15 minutes from the capital of the Bahamas, Nassau (a three-hour nonstop flight from NYC, then a 15-minute charter flight to the resort). The 5-night, 6-day event includes twice-daily classes, two massages at the resort’s dazzling 2,000-square-foot over-water spa, two deep-stretching sessions and special healthy meals (for the entire week). Christine will also design special take-home programs for all participants.

The resort features 19 “beach-chic” accommodations ranging from charming marina rooms to Bali-inspired cottages. The site also has a full-service PADI dive shop, and dive excursions can be arranged, as can deep-sea fishing trips.

Cost is $2,100 (pp, based on double occupancy) for accommodations and all beverages (alcohol, minibars, afternoon tea) and an additional $1,200 for the Pilates Week portion, which includes ten 75-minute mat classes, two private hour-long sessions with Christine, two additional stretching classes, and two massages of your choice ($220–280 value). Taxes and transfers not included. For more information, contact the resort at (800) 790-7971 or email info@kamalame.com or visit kamalame.com. Hope to see you there!

Suzanne Gerber
Editor in Chief
Pilates Style magazine

Will the Real Good Posture Please Stand Up?

In last month’s newsletter, we referred to a study we said found that leaning back slightly while sitting was good for the low back. The study’s main researcher, Professor Francis W. Smith, MD, with Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, contacted us to let us know we didn’t get it quite right. Here’s what he had to say about correct posture for low-back health:

The sitting posture is quite simple. Sit on a chair, chest up and open, shoulder blades down, with your knees slightly lower than the angle at your hips, so the angle would be a little more than 90 degrees (actually 135 degrees). This is not unlike sitting on an exercise ball with the knees slightly lower than the hip joint. For some reason the media suggested that you should lean back, and this is incorrect as it would probably cause the pelvis to tilt backward and the lumbar lordosis would be lost.

As I am sitting typing this, I have the normal lumbar lordosis maintained but not exaggerated. I am sitting up straight with my knees at an angle of 135 degrees from the hips. My pelvis is in neutral, neither tilted forward nor back. I am not collapsed in my mid section. According to my wife, a veteran Pilates instructor, I have just described good posture.

I hope this helps. I am a great advocate of Pilates and it would be a pity to mislead your readers.

Escape to Marrakech

Escape with Kristin McGee this spring (May 10–17) to Marrakech for an exotic fitness excursion. Enjoy seven luxurious nights in a 19th-century restored Kasbah while practicing yoga, Pilates, hiking, fitness classes and belly dancing. Take in Moroccan culture and delicious cuisine and enjoy unmatched relaxation and pampering. Ideal for solo travelers, friends or couples. Please mention you were referred by Kristin when registering. For more information: escapetoshape.com; info@escapetoshape.com.

Close-up: Side Plank/Twist
By Linda Farrell (lindafit.com)

The Side Plank position challenges one’s ability to stabilize the entire body from a very small base of support. The Twist further challenges stability by adding a moving rotational component to the mix. Alignment—particularly at the shoulder joint and wrist—as well as coordination, muscular balance and support are critical for proper execution.

Set-up: Sit with your legs to one side, slightly bent at the knees. Place your top foot slightly in front of the bottom one, hips and shoulders vertically stacked, support arm externally rotated and directly over the wrist. Rest your top, non–weight bearing arm on your top thigh.

Begin the Move: Inhale and engage your abdominals and back extensors, feeling them form a corset of support around your abdomen and lower back. Exhale and lift your hips away from the floor, straightening your legs and pressing up to bring your body into Side Plank position. Maintain stability in your head, trunk, hips and support arm. Your top arm can turn out and lift straight up over the top shoulder. Anchor down through your legs and feet while lengthening up through the crown with a balanced energy to stabilize the position.

Inhale and lift your hips high and rotate your spine toward the floor with the top arm spiraling in underneath the body. Exhale and deepen into the Twist. Inhale and start to untwist and exhale as you rotate back to the Side Plank position with your top arm reaching directly up over your top shoulder. Then lower down until your hips are a few inches off the floor, with the top arm resting on the top thigh. Repeat 3 times.

Modifications: For wrist issues, your support arm can be bent at the elbow. Flex your top knee and plant the top foot firmly on the floor in front of the hips.

Visualization: When doing the Twist, picture Venetian blinds. As you twist, you are rolling the Venetian blinds up nice and smoothly, and as you return to plank you release them and let them unfurl with control.

Tips:

Make sure the weight-bearing arm/shoulder is directly over your wrist, with the shoulder blades gliding down the back. Do not let your weight collapse into your wrist. Distribute your weight evenly through your palms and finger pads.
In the Side Plank posture, your head, trunk and pelvis are in neutral supported equally by the abdominals and back extensors. Do not let the head, trunk or hips pitch forward or back or rotate.
Your legs should fall directly underneath your pelvis, with the top leg slightly adducted and the top foot pressed to the floor. For an advanced challenge vertically stack your feet and legs.
For more stability, reach down through your legs and feet and up through your spine and crown with a balanced effort.
Your top arm should reach straight up over your shoulder—not in front or in back of it. Keep the top arm hugging into the socket and externally rotated.
Your top arm and support arm should connect in a straight line, rooting down through the finger pads and palm of the support arm while reaching out through the fingers of the top arm to create an energetic, balanced opposition of forces that help stabilize the shoulder girdle.
On the Twist, maintain stability through the support arm and shoulder blades.
The pelvis lifts up—not back—as the spine starts to twist. Keep the obliques actively engaged and the pelvis as stable as possible as the spine continues to rotate. Squeezing the inner thighs together will aid stability.
On the return from the Twist, maintain control and balance until the body is back in Side Plank. For an advanced challenge, rotate the head to gaze at the top arm as it reaches energetically into space.
Maintain alignment, balance and control as the body lowers, keeping the hips a few inches off the floor. If you’re less advanced in Pilates, you can lower your hips to the floor and take a short break between the repetitions.

Keep the actions of rising into plank, twisting and lowering to the floor fluid, controlled and coordinated. Concentrate on using the breath and maintaining balanced muscular engagement throughout.

What’s in Your Gym Bag?

We’ve all gotten to know author, mother-of-two, and Pilates teacher extraordinaire Brooke Siler through her books (The Pilates Body and Your Ultimate Pilates Body Challenge) and articles. Now she lets us get to know her even better by revealing what’s in her gym bag:

My Asics running sneakers to put extra spring in my step.
Greens Plus bars, packed with “29 nutrient-rich superfoods and high-energy herbal extracts.” I use them to restore glycogen 15 minutes post-workout.
Big bottle of Glaceau Smartwater.
Packets of Amino Vital, an amino acid powder I’ve been using for years that helps muscles recover from workouts and strengthens the immune system.
Elisabetta Rogiani workout wear—I learned about her at a Pilates Style shoot, and I’ve decided she makes the best leggings in the business (and she cuts them to fit my 36-inch inseam. Love her!).
An extra pair of thong underwear to improve my rear view in Elisabetta’s leggings.
A re:AB Pilates tee, of course. I always want to let people know where I got my Pilates Body.
Tennis socks with Union Jacks on them to represent my British husband who refuses to work out with me.
Mario Badescu enzyme cleansing gel.
Mario Badescu seaweed night cream (even thought it’s heavier, when you shower after every workout you tend to lose a lot of moisture, so I slather it on).
La Mer Lip Baume. Not sure if it’s really worth its $50 price tag, but I sure love the way it tastes and feels on my lips.

Hairbrush and make-up to be presentable for the next event after working out.

Cupid Goes Green

Forget the red hearts this Valentine’s Day and think green—as in good for your snookums and the planet. Here are some of the greatest, and greenest, Valentine’s gifts around.

Sweets for Your Sweet
Chocolate tastes even sweeter when you know it was produced by happy and well-treated workers. Spice up the mood (conscientiously, of course), with the Aphrodisiac Confection Collection from Theo Chocolate. All 18 titillating treats, featuring herbs and spices hailed for their libido-boosting properties, are fair trade and organic. Who knew being good could taste so good? $40, theochocolate.com, (206) 632-5100.

Flowers for Your Little Flower
Want a bouquet that doesn’t carry the scent of pesticides and child labor? Find sustainably grown flowers by looking for the Veriflora Certified label, and you’ll know those roses are as sweet to the earth and the communities in which they’re grown as they are to your nose. Available at organicbouquet.com and other retailers (prices vary). Better still: Buy from a local organic grower and cut out the ecological cost of shipping flowers from across the country (or the world).

Suds for Your Stud
Pamper your loved one while saving the rainforests with products from Save Your World, where every product (all fair trade, not tested on animals and very eco-friendly) purchased results in one year’s protection for one acre of rainforest. The Valentine Variety Gift Bag, with yummy shower gels, soaps and body lotion, saves seven acres of rainforest. $49.99, saveyourworld.com, (877) 279-9669.

Beauty for Your Beauty
Another company with an eye toward saving the rainforests while nurturing your skin is derma e. Buy products from their Organic Expressions line (or any of their lines), and a portion of the proceeds goes to benefit the people and rainforests of Paraguay. We especially love to perk up for a romantic night out by dabbing on derma e’s Brighter Eye Crème: $19.50, dermae.com, (800) 933-9344.

When they’re not on the slopes, you’ll find Aspen’s fit and fabulous at the town’s most stylish Pilates and yoga studio (plus day spa and boutique), O2 Aspen. Located in a historic Victorian building on the mountain town’s main drag, O2 Aspen embodies all that is quintessentially Aspen: luxury, beauty and high-class fashion.

The studio’s airy and modern main-floor practice rooms host five or six yoga classes a day and three Pilates mat classes a week. Downstairs, clients can choose from two daily Pilates equipment classes led by experienced instructors. Two years ago, O2 Aspen expanded to include a holistic day spa where clients can experience Rolfing, acupuncture, massage and a variety of beauty treatments. “It’s wonderful—it combines the total mind, body and spirit,” says studio manager Mindy Naumer. It’s also very successful; during busy season (summer, surprisingly), the treatment rooms are booked back-to-back.

Another very profitable component of O2 Aspen is its retail store. While waiting for a class or a treatment in the studio’s bright foyer, clients can browse the store’s fashionable and functional clothing selection, ranging from the activewear line from Rese Pilates to Swarovski-studded cashmere sweaters. Best-sellers include Be Present pants with the O2 logo and items from Lululemon, Bordeaux, Susana Monaco and Om Girl. “The lines we carry cater to a clientele with a classic look that anyone can wear,” says Naumer. “We’re not trendy.”

The retail store isn’t frequented only by locals or even tourists. Thanks to a well-designed web site, Naumer says her client base is nationwide. She stresses how important their web site is to their success: “It’s lots of work, but it’s so worth it.”

What does the future hold for this flourishing studio? “We’re looking at expanding the store, and possibly opening some new retail locations elsewhere,” Naumer says. If she and studio owner Carrie Bellotti can bring their signature creativity and style to those endeavors, they’re sure to be a success too.

Editor’s Note: In their new book ‘Dump Your Trainer’ (BookSurge Publishing, January 2008), certified personal trainer Ashley Marriott and Stanford-trained physician Marc L. Paulsen, M.D., examine the rise of the personal training industry—and wonder why it hasn’t had a greater effect on the rise of the nation’s collective waistline. We asked them to talk to us about fitness goals and, more importantly, how to achieve them. Here’s Marriott’s message for a healthy 2008. For more information: ashleymarriott.com, dumpyourtrainer.com.

As 2008 begins and we set new health goals, I find myself having lots of lively discussions with students, friends and family about what I consider to be the most effective programs to lose weight and improve their overall health.

As a dancer, certified trainer and group fitness instructor my prescription is consistently this: a graded aerobic exercise program complemented by exercises that improve core stability. Excellent choices include jogging and cardio-dance in addition to stability ball routines, resistance band exercises or Pilates taught by a professionally trained and certified instructor. I try to emphasize that our bodies are complex and unique entities and our workouts should be customized to meet our individual needs. Ultimately, the best friend and trainer your body can have is an educated and understanding you.

Each person can creatively come to an ideal exercise plan for optimum health and well-being by listening to and learning from their own bodies. In my new book, Dump Your Trainer, I try to empower people to create their own “personal training” prescription. I caution people against wasting money on potentially harmful training sessions that many times are “off the shelf” and conducted by the minimally trained, albeit well-intentioned, personal trainers to whom people commonly turn as a result of the sensationalized and often misleading information in the tabloid news.

Figuring out what type of exercise best suits one’s personality, current fitness level, time commitment and overall goals is the obvious first step. Next comes the designing of a solid but progressive aerobic component complemented by a well-rounded program of toning and core strengthening to improve conditioning and prevent injury. For core strengthening, Pilates is an excellent choice and has been recommended frequently in the past by my co-author, Marc L. Paulsen, MD, to his patients recovering from a variety of conditions. Furthermore, Pilates offers people at all levels the ability to develop a deep awareness of alignment, flexibility and strength.

I also try to emphasize that the key to maintaining a consistent exercise program is to have fun while you exercise. Try exploring various alternatives to keep things interesting. Keep in mind that you may not know what you like until you actually try it. Explore a multitude of new and different activities until you discover what you most enjoy. The more you like something, the more you’ll participate.

Simply put, the keys to achieving results are really quite easy once they’re understood and put into practice. First, incorporate a healthy diet and aerobic exercise into a healthy lifestyle. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association consistently recommend that all healthy adults ages 18 to 65 years get moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 30 minutes five days each week or vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 20 minutes three days each week. Balance this out with a solid component of toning and core strengthening and you’ll rapidly begin to meet your overall fitness goals.

Lastly, don’t be intimidated by the unfamiliar as you jump into fitness for 2008—just keep it simple and fun. Consistency and enthusiasm create results. Chart what you do and be accountable to yourself, knowing that no one should care as much about your health as you. There is an abundance of information readily available but the force comes from within, and only you can give yourself the best gifts for 2008: happiness and health!