A big question I commonly get from students and teachers alike: What kind of Pilates equipment do I have in my home studio? Well, I actually have several pieces, but one of my favorites is the Arc. It’s lightweight, portable, versatile and inexpensive. I believe it’s a must-have piece for any studio.

My favorite move on the Arc?

I have a bunch, but at the top of the list is the articulating Roll-Back. I like to use opposition movements, because they are so good for stabilization and assisting the articulation.

Setup: Start by sitting tall in the well, and inhale to prepare. Keep your feet flat on the floor and hips-width apart.

1. Reach your arms in front of you at shoulder height and width, palms facing down. Make sure to engage your back so you do not shrug or round the shoulders. Now, exhale as you start drawing in your naval to your spine and doing a posterior pelvic tilt.

2. Take your time and then start the articulating poses, making sure to keep your abdominals engaged as you reach your arms forward. Think of moving in two different directions—that’s opposition.

3. Roll back, and once you reach your limit, pause, then inhale and exhale as you draw your chin toward your chest and peel yourself back to the starting point.

Tips: How far back you go depends on how mobile your spine is, and how well you can articulate. It’s not about range, it’s about proper form. Remember: The Pilates method was once called Contrology, so exercise control.

Depending on your body, this exercise might feel fantastic, or it might take you a little time to love, like it did for me. It took me about four or five times over a period of a few sessions before I really started to love this move, but soon after, it felt so good, I was doing it several times a week.

One of the things I love about Pilates is that everyone is not ready for every move at the same time. Be your own judge and take time to develop your body awareness.

Keep the questions coming…and look for my classes with DCAC at the fitness conference in Houston, Texas and Washington, D.C. Also check out my studio at www.FusionFitnessUSA.com.

Thank you. And be well!

What are you really hungry for?
The next time you have a food craving, ask yourself this: Are you feeling stressed, sad or maybe just bored? If you answer “yes” to any of these, you might just need an emotional fill. I recommend keeping a daily “mood” journal for a week or two; note your moods whenever you’re hit by an uncontrollable urge to chow down. If stress is your trigger, try exercising. Exercise, especially Pilates, can relieve the emotional pressures building up inside of you. Most, if not all, of my Pilates clients feel emotionally better after a powerful workout. It can uplift the soul and create inner confidence. If your’re feeling sad or lonely, call a friend or family member till the feeling of sadness leaves.  Remember, true hunger is when you’re hungry enough to eat a raw tomato. True hunger can easily be satisfied. Emotional hunger will often build bad habits and false desires.
EXIT your energy roller coaster.
As a nutritional consultant, I encourage all my carboholics to stop feeding their bodies with lousy, useless foods. A diet rich in meaningless carbohydrates can produce drops in blood sugar that prompt your hunger cravings. If this does not get under control, you can increase your chances of getting diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity. You might feel the nice jolt of energy that doughnut gave you, but by mid-afternoon you will be craving more and more sugar, thinking it will help. To stabilize blood sugar and your appetite, start eating more protein and fiber. Eggs, high-protein/low-sugar shakes, whole-wheat toast or a bowl of fiber-rich cereal with nuts is a great start. Do this in the morning and watch how your energy level will not crash. I encourage all my clients to keep their diets high in lean protein, vegetables (4 cups a day) and fruit (in moderation) and low in carbohydrates. Also, the body requires macro nutrients each day, so do not deprive yourself of carbohydrates—they are your first source of energy. Just make the right, clean choice.

Water, water everywhere.
Just about every place you enter has water available to buy or drink. Sometimes your body might just be thirsty, rather than hungry. Drink a glass of water and wait a few moments before asking yourself if you are still that hungry. Your cravings might subside after that water intake.

Taste buds have a short attention span.
 If you give your taste buds a few moments to forget about the urge to chow down uncontrollably, you will notice how quickly your taste buds will forget. Sometime sucking on a mint, brushing your teeth or checking your e-mail can quickly distract the taste buds from binging on the wrong foods. Be patient and do not overreact. In my experience, carboholics will panic when they feel their sugar bottoming out but that’s no way to live each day. Just make a clean choice and train your taste buds not to give in to meaningless chips, cookies or ice cream.

Every day, we are tempted to eat good foods or those that are less nutritionally satisfying. If you do not take control over these cravings you may be headed down an unhealthy path. You have the power to start eating right today. Yes, you will make the occasional bad choice, but that does not have to mean you keep eating unhealthy food choices all day long. Do not deprive yourself; instead, modify your portions. If you follow just one of these simple tips, you are going in the right direction. You have one life, so why not make it as healthy as possible? You can do anything if you want to bad enough.  Get motivated and take one day at a time toward eating better. Best of luck and stay dedicated!

Sustained movement along with appropriate placement of that shoulder, leg or hip plus careful alignment and a considered trajectory for each part of the body.

We know these bundled cues as the principle of Precision. But did you know that Precision has a crossover value? What’s good for the transversus, in other words, is good for the esophagus.

For instance, exactly how many servings of fruit did you have yesterday, today, last week? Not approximately, but precisely? Did you max out at one banana for the day today or did you put precisely four servings of fruit into your culinary and nutritional trajectory? Ten minutes on the mat is nice, but it’s not as beneficial as 40. So it goes when you put down the Circle and pick up the fork.

It matters what we do in the name of precision. The USDA would like to see the average woman eating about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of fruit daily, or put another way, making 50 percent of what lands on her plate fruits and vegetables.

Meal and snack-time math can make the difference between good health and not so good health, as does Pilates practiced on the clock.

Fruit and vegetables, for example, supply fiber, vitamins and minerals and fewer calories than most of the foods we’re eating, preventing obesity and diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

So here are precisely 10 tips to help you build your best nutritional self in 2012.

The power of two: Before you splash into your first meal for the day, clean your system. Put the juice of two lemons in a small pitcher of water. Sip this throughout the day. Or get your immune-boosting antioxidants from two cups of (organic) green tea daily or two cups of herbal Rooibos.

Super cinnamon: Keep a shaker of cinnamon on your table. Sprinkle on fruit or smoothies or yogurt. Cinnamon contains antimicrobial compounds that inhibit bacteria and viruses. A half teaspoon of cinnamon daily helps the body use insulin more efficiently and cuts blood sugar levels by up to 30 percent.

Zest your way to a happier gut: Keep that rind you peeled off your next orange, tangerine or tangelo. It’s a good source of probiotics, a kind of carbohydrate that feeds the good bacteria in your intestinal tract, helping prevent the growth of GI pathogens. Use the zest atop spicy soups, in muffins and with crackers.

Spoon up to maximize your vitamin E: Take your daily vitamin E supplement with food. Studies show that vitamin E is absorbed more efficiently and retained at higher levels when taken with a meal rather than without. Another key to better absorption: Take natural vitamin E—look for d-tocopherol, rather than dl-tocopherol (synthetic) on the label.

A cupful of tea keeps the cardiologist away: Studies show that regular consumption of black tea may reduce your risk of heart disease by half. The secret ingredient is catechins, a kind-to-your-cardio-system chemical found in all teas but especially in black varieties. Another way to capitalize on catechins: Be on the watch for recipes where tea will work as well as the water that’s called for.

Oil up for antioxidants: For add-on antioxidants, add a few drops of cold-pressed vegetable or nut oil to your soup, rice or veggie bowl before serving it up. This increases your absorption of antioxidants, especially beta-carotene, which is poorly absorbed without fat.

Spice up for super immunity: Keep a shaker of the curry spice turmeric next to the salt and pepper. Turmeric is a preventive medicine with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. Add a dash to any soup or steamed vegetable dish that begs for a little bite.

Strawberry is for C: Did you know that one extra strawberry a day is what you need to get the extra 15 milligrams of vitamin C now recommended by the National Academy of Sciences? Of course, more is even better. Keep a bowl of tomato soup in the fridge to get a megadose of water-soluble C in each spoonful.

Block that buzz: House blends at high-end coffee shops like Starbucks have up to 50 percent more caffeine than other java shops. In fact, don’t drink coffee or tea with that lunchtime soup. Both contain tannins, which reduce iron absorption by up to 94 percent. This includes some herbal teas like peppermint, which also interfere with iron uptake.

Do the flax grind: Keep a pepper grinder on the table filled with flaxseeds to add extra omega-3s to meals (refrigerate between meals).

Anyone who has done Pilates has some favorite (and “unfavorite”) exercises. An instructor can tell what turns clients on—they emit excited murmurs and get into position quickly; and what turns them off—those resigned sighs and hesitation. At my studio, Leg Circles are a favorite move. Most of my clients love to do them and say they feel good on their back, legs and hips.

As far as Reformer moves go, Leg Circles appear to be easy, and I think most of our clients think they are. But are they doing them correctly?

I’m afraid that all too often this move is done on a large and out-of-control scale, and when that happens, the exercise loses its quality and benefits. In my studio, we focus on form above all else, and we make sure the client understands the move and why we are doing it (and why we do it almost every class), what the range of motion should be, and why that’s important. After all, just because you can make really big circles doesn’t mean you should.

First of all, make sure your client understands pelvic and spinal neutral (check my previous blogs for details on spinal neutral), and has mastered those positions.

For the setup, set the Reformer on two to three springs, and lay face up on the Reformer with a neutral pelvis, wrapping the ribs around the spine. Place the loops on the arches of the feet and extend the legs straight out at an angle where neutral pelvis can be maintained. Abduct (open) the legs about carriage width, with external rotation coming from the hips. As the legs circle up, rotate from the hips, bringing them back to neutral.

Clients should do about eight of these Leg Circles, and then switch directions. Make sure your clients master the breathing as well. They should inhale as the carriage moves away and exhale when it comes in. Also, make sure their pelvis remains in neutral throughout the move.

As I tell my clients, just because you can go bigger doesn’t mean you should. By allowing them to do really big circles they will have a tendency to loose stability, so don’t let them get caught up in showing off or pumping up their ego. Help your clients remain authentic to Pilates.

See you soon!

Breathing is a fundamental function of every living being. Its primary purpose is gas exchange, but it also acts to nourish our organs and musculoskeletal system with the resulting expansion and de-expansion of our body. Though breathing is automatic, it is deeply important to be conscious of it—especially with our busy lifestyles!

We think about the breath a lot in Pilates. But when should a client (or you) inhale and exhale during Pilates exercises? The answer to this cannot be definitive or formalized within the choreography. Rather, it should be based on the biomechanics of breathing and the particulars of each client.

As we inhale, the diaphragm engages and domes down. The abdominal contents move down and out into the abdominal wall. The pelvic floor domes down. The ribs individually rotate and the rib cage expands. The spine lengthens. The body is oxygenated and the torso becomes more spacious.

As we exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and domes up inside the rib cage. The rib cage de-expands. The abdominal contents move up slightly inside the ribcage. The pelvic floor engages and domes up. The transversus abdominus (TVA) engages and compresses the abdominal contents, narrowing the waist. The multifidi engage.

All of these complex changes and muscular activities mean that the old adage of “exhale on the exertion” needs to be broken down and made more specific. We then also need to choose if we are using the breath to facilitate the movement, or to challenge the client. You need to consider your clients’ strengths and weaknesses. Where do they need more work? What movement limitations need improvement?

Let’s look at which movements are naturally facilitated by inhalation. As discussed, during inhalation the spine lengthens. This increased space between each vertebra facilitates spinal rotation. While exhalation does encourage oblique engagement, we should prioritize the health of our discs, increased range of motion, and initiation of rotation from deeper muscles such as the rotators that comes from inhalation. Therefore, we inhale during rotation.

As we inhale, the ribs rotate up in the front and move slightly down at the back. Also, the costal cartilage, the connection between the breastbone and the ribs, expands. These actions are the same actions that happen during ideal spinal extension. Therefore, we inhale on spinal extension. Because the opposite actions are true for exhalation and flexion, we exhale on spinal flexion.  The movement of the ribs in and toward the sternum and the dropping and softening of the sternum that happens during exhalation are important actions for healthy flexion.

There are, however, valid biomechanical reasons to do the opposite of what I’ve dictated above. You may choose alternative breathing patterns for clients who need to focus on different movement concepts. For example, if you have a client who has healthy spinal rotation and you are working on a Reformer Rowing modification that emphasizes the latissimus dorsi and the obliques, then you could choose to exhale during rotation to encourage those engagements.  Similarly, if your client has a tight and/or weak diaphragm, you may choose to have them inhale during flexion.

Exercises for core stability also offer opportunities for client-specific breathing patterns. The exhale facilitates engagement of all of the primary deep core muscles except the diaphragm. The diaphragm, on the other hand, engages on the inhale. The strength of the diaphragm as well as the resulting outward pressure on the spine and pelvis from the abdominal contents act to stabilize the spine. Therefore, exhale to deepen the engagement of the TVA, pelvic floor and multifidi (and some would include psoas); but if you are focusing on diaphragm strength, perform the exercise while emphasizing the inhalation. All of the core muscles mentioned above need conditioning. Therefore, you may choice either inhalation or exhalation during core stabilization, depending on your focus or your client’s weaknesses.

As long as you understand the anatomy and biomechanics of the breath, and the biomechanics of the exercises, there are many great learning moments available to you or your client in varying breath/movement combinations.

Please send me your questions! Email pilatesstyle@erikabloom.com. Also, if you’d like to learn EVEN MORE and become a Pilates instructor yourself, the next Erika Bloom Comprehensive Pilates Certificiation starts Feb 17^th. Visit www.erikabloom.com to learn about the studio and click http://erikabloompilates.com/pilates-certification/ for a description of our full certification program.

As Pilates teachers, one of the most valuable teaching tool is to reflect on why and how we became so passionate about Pilates. We all have saved our Pilates books, taken countless tests, earned our certifications and some of us have even opened up our own studio. But, when was the last time you were alone with your Pilates 101 books and dove back into the keywords and terms that have stood the test of time? Taking time as a teacher to reflect and to be proud of all we have done for so many is key. Never lose sight of how important you are as a teacher. To validate this, let’s take a little walk down memory lane of Pilates 101. The following is a list of the powerful words of our Joseph Pilates. Be thankful for doing what you love and be proud of how far you have come. So many students each day rely on your guidance and your wisdom to get them to their next level of mind and body accomplishments. So please, take your bow.

Do you remember learning all these for the first time?

6 Principles of Pilates:

1. Centering: Physically bringing the focus to the center of the body, the powerhouse area between the lower ribs and pubic bone. Energetically, Pilates exercises are sourced from center.
2. Concentration: If one brings full attention to the exercise and does it with full commitment, maximum value will be obtained from each movement.
3. Control: Every Pilates exercise is done with complete muscular control. No body part is left to its own devices.
4. Precision: In Pilates, awareness is sustained throughout each movement. There is an appropriate placement, alignment relative to other body parts, and trajectory for each part of the body.
5. Breath: Joseph Pilates emphasized using a very full breath in his exercises. He advocated thinking of the lungs as a bellows—using them strongly to pump the air fully in and out of the body. Most Pilates exercises coordinate with the breath, and using the breath properly is an integral part of Pilates exercise.
6. Flow: Pilates exercise is done in a flowing manner. Fluidity, grace and ease are goals applied to all exercises. The energy of an exercise connects all body parts and flows through the body in an even way. Pilates equipment, like the reformer, are very good mirrors of one’s flow and concentration as they tend to bang around and suddenly become quite “machine-like” if one loses ones control and flow.

Never lose sight of the student in you. Enjoy taking classes and learning new teaching styles. To be able to do what we do everyday is magical and we all know Joe is smiling down on each and everyone of us. Happy holidays and wishing you another successful, strong Pilates-filled year.

Something as simple as a bowl or cup of homemade soup is a slurp in the right direction toward better health and healing this winter, especially after a session on your mat or apparatus. According to research from the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, a higher intake of fruits and vegetables (just what you get in a bowl of homemade soup) is associated with a reduced risk of many common forms of cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund reports that consuming at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits daily is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk for cancer.  That produce-rich minestrone or chowder also lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and degenerative conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.

Nearly all plant foods contain healing components called phytonutrients, hundreds of which have been linked to various health benefits. Indeed, an important key to preventing the free radical damage in the body that leads to age-related diseases such as Macular Degeneration, Alzheimer’s, cancer and more is to consume more foods with a so-called high ORAC value, or high antioxidant activity, urge organizations like the Project of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). And what quicker way to get your 5 (or more) servings of fruits and vegetables than by preparing a delicious pot of soup?

Look what you get when you go “bowl”ing: The sulforaphane, for example, in cabbage and broccoli, fights cancer by reducing tumor production, regulating hormones and helping the body flush out carcinogens. The carotene in carrots and leafy green vegetables is linked to prevention of lung cancer, while various compounds in other cruciferous vegetables such as kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are linked to lower rates of colon cancer. Garlic, a staple in many soups, including minestrone and gazpacho, contains allicin, a compound that helps lower cholesterol and protect the arteries.

Or consider chicken soup. The therapeutic effect (with or without the chicken or the noodles) comes from the fluid and the warmth, which prevents dehydration and provides the infection-fighting compounds from vegetables and herbs.

Likewise, the blueberries or cherries in a bowl of cold dessert fruit soup yield the fiber pectin, which helps to normalize cholesterol, and aid digestion. And to maximize the phytochemical punch? Combine several vegetables or fruits in a single soup.

DIY soups in a bowl are as simple as ready-to-eat soup in a can. And from-scratch versions are tastier and more nutritious.

Next time you put down that Magic Circle, pick up a pot and sample the magic in this:

Buckwheat and Black Bean Soup

Delicious with whole-grain crackers or mini cornmeal muffins.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

3 cloves (or 1 tablespoon) garlic, minced

1/4 cup kasha or buckwheat groats

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, or 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

 

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper, and sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic, kasha, and chili powder, and sauté 3 minutes more.

2. Stir in broth, beans, carrots, corn, bay leaf and 2 cups water, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until kasha is tender. Stir in cilantro and lime juice.

I’ve heard from many of you asking me to break down one of the most basic Pilates moves (and in my opinion, one that is most commonly done incorrectly), the Hundred.

This exercise is a warm-up for the body, as it increases circulation, strengthens the core, increases spinal flexibility, and prepares the body for the rest of your workout.

To execute this move properly, it is important to understand how to maintain neutral pelvis and scapular stability. (I’ll be focusing on those subjects in my next two blogs, so stay tuned.) Let’s assume you are adept.

• To begin the move, lie on your back with your legs in the tabletop position.
• Find neutral pelvis and maintain it for the entire exercise.
• Curl your head and shoulders up—but don’t loose your neutral—and reach through the crown of the head to make the back of your neck lengthen.
• Retract your shoulders back and down your back.
• Extend your arms forward with power, then, move your arms up and down as you breathe in five times and out five times with equal breaths.

Here are a few modifications and progressions if you are having problems:

If you feel any neck strain, keep your head and shoulders down, and just practice holding tabletop with a neutral pelvis. (You are not cheating. I promise, you will still get a workout.)

If you don’t feel any strain and you can maintain a full cycle of breathes to reach 100 and you have not lost neutral pelvis and your shoulders are still back and down, then and only then, should you should extend your legs to an angle above the horizon.

All too often, students progress this move before they are ready, and this is a mistake. If you have not mastered the positions and the breathing and are still feeling strain or any fatigue, you’re doing the exercise too soon. One of my early teachers said to me, “Remember this for your entire Pilates journey; just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

That advice has stayed with me in many aspects of my life, and I’ve passed it on to my trainers and clients. I hope it resonates with you, as well.

So when practicing The Hundred or any move in our beloved Pilates, stay true to form and technique. Always remember: There’s no hurry and this is not a competition!

XOXOX—keep your comments coming.

I hear and read a lot from Pilates instructors about how to move the body in an anatomically correct way. What “cues” to use while they are explaining to their clients how to “properly engage the transverse abdominus with the multifidus, while we are engaging the glutes,” etc. etc.

That is great. We must all know anatomy and how it functions. However, be careful not to show your “cueing slip” to show “how much you know.” A lot of teachers just love to impress their clients with their knowledge of every aspect of anatomy. Usually you are met with the eyes of a deer in the headlights. The client doesn’t really care how many fancy words you know. They just want to feel safe, taken care of, and given a lot of tender loving care. A client named Allen once told me, “Everyone just wants to be adopted.” I agree.

I must admit I taught Pilates for many years, using only my intuition with each client. I try to teach my teachers how to develop that intuition, and to help clients move in a graceful, strong and flexible way. I am self-taught when it comes to anatomy. We were not taught anatomy in the early days. It just came naturally by noticing how each person used their bodies and moved. I realized one day that I would like to know all the muscles of the body. When a client told me what their doctor had diagnosed them with, I made a mental note and made a trip to the library (no computers back in the 70s). I looked up the particular symptom, and related it to what I knew about Pilates and the individual person.

That is what I feel is missing today. There is no cookie-cutter way to heal a client of a particular symptom. You must take the symptom, relate it to the individual, with his/her own unique emotional make-up, and then decipher what is best for the client. It takes a lot of natural talent and years of study to develop and discern what is appropriate for the client. That is what teaching Body Contrology is about. Not just choreogrophy. Not just a regimen of exercises. That is what, I believe, is what Joe Pilates did. If you were a carpenter, he taught you as a carpenter. If you were a dancer, he taught you as a dancer. A housewife, a housewife. That is what “Body Contrology” is all about. I have worked with many clients who are doctors and physical therapists. I taught them how to move, and they taught me what muscles were being used to move. I found it interesting from a practitioner point of view. But I doubted the client would.

I worked for many years in a Beverly Hills orthopedic office, and I saw countless patients, and worked them through what they were dealing with using Pilates principles, along with my knowledge of physical therapy. Do we need both? Yes. But there is overkill. We are not grooming medical doctors. We are not training professional dancers (unless that is your niche). It is not about your choreography, and how fancy you can make the move. It is not about how much you know. Frankly, it is not about you at all. It is about the client you have in front of you. It is about healing them. It is about helping them. It is about developing an intuition about each and every person. It is about making them feel emotionally and physically better about themselves and their place in the universe. It is about loving. Loving helping people, loving each other, loving movement. It is about moving through space, moving beyond our limitations, moving beyond what we have done before. It is about doing something we have never done. Thinking outside of the box. Thinking beyond the box. That is what Pilates is to me. It is not about the hip flexor muscles and how they move the thigh muscles as the QL is being engaged. This is good to know, but we must translate our knowledge to a common language that our client will comprehend and translate into a moving experience that will enhance their lives and give them the impetus to continue to work with you, and feel confident and comfortable with their movements. Let your client know when they are able to move in a way they were not able to before. Let them know when they appear stronger, and can perform a movement that they could not before. That means more than your knowledge of body anatomy. Your clients just want to know they are better off than when they started. And when they know and feel better than before, even if they don’t know why, they will continue to work with you because you are coming from a place of love. Not ego.

“How do I keep my Pilates practice fresh?”

“I’m getting bored.”

I hear this all the time, from people who do Pilates on their own and even from instructors.

Currently, I teach about 12 group Reformer/Chair classes a week, and in addition to this, I have another 10 or so private clients. I also have a challenging traveling schedule. So I know that it can be hard to keep things fresh and to carry the same level of enthusiasm from class to class throughout the day. But your clients deserve no less.

Every time I begin teaching, I remember that every class and every private session has a different dynamic. Clients bring in different moods, recent experiences and energy levels every time you see them. And no matter how they are feeling or what’s going on in their lives, my goal for every session is to have them walk out of the door feeling better then when they walked in.

Don’t get me wrong—it is difficult to keep hour five, six and seven fresh! However, I truly believe that if you—as a trainer or client—immerse yourself in the technique, everything else will fall into place.

Another trick is to keep your hand in the craft. I know it’s hard if you’re a trainer to make the time to take at least one class a week, but doing so will keep you focused and prepared. I ask my trainers to take at least two classes a week with me or with a colleague, so they do not become complacent.

And don’t forget all of the different Pilates styles. There’s classical, modern and everything in between. I encourage my trainers to dive into the Pilates books, videos and articles to develop a toolkit full of exercises and different ways of teaching them.

Let’s continue to view our beloved Pilates through fresh eyes every time we have the honor of teaching it or taking a class.

And thanks, as always, for your comments and questions. Please keep them coming!