The Body & Movement

Client Corner: Movement Helps Parkinson’s

Janice teaching barre in Glastonbury.

“Do what your body can do today,” Janice Flanigan calls out as my leg lifts for what feels like the millionth time and every muscle holding me up starts to burn. I’m at a Total Barre class in Glastonbury which Janice loves to teach because of its focus on the core, hips and legs. By the time 45 minutes have gone by I’ve gotten a full body workout, and I happily relax into our cool down.

Janice has been teaching many different types of classes for over 20 years. You can find her teaching Total Barre, Pilates Plus Strength, Interval Training Cardio, Low Impact Cardio-Strength and Kickboxing this fall with Personal Euphoria. Each class offers a different challenge for her clients. Janice says:

I love Pilates because of its precision. I love Yogalates because we get the best of both worlds with the spirituality and strengthening and stretching of Yoga and the critical core strength of Pilates.

A class that is particularly special is her weekly boxing class held at the Enfield Senior Center. The class is a combination of boxing and functional interval training, […]

Client Corner: Movement Helps Parkinson’sMaggie Downie2017-12-29T20:45:56-05:00

Be Positive & Beat Body Shaming

Warning! Rant to follow.

As I work on a blog about women, beauty and being comfortable with our body, a friend sent me a link to a relevant story making news internationally. Apparently, mean girls can take naked photographs of you at the gym and post them publically on the internet for the world to see.

Playboy Playmate, Dani Mathers, who I’d never heard of before, was at the gym and posted a nude picture with a snide comment about a woman she thought was overweight. (Note: the link above will take you to a news clip, not the photograph.) I was torn about writing this post because I thought it might be a reason people stop going to the gym. I’m more irate about the invasion of privacy than the body shaming. The fact that one human being would do this to another is egregiously disturbing.

I’d like to think Mathers somehow lost sight of what she was doing. I worry that with the internet a mistake, albeit an awful one, can be an error someone can never recover from. I know Mathers is not the victim or the person I should be worried about, but it makes me want to […]

Be Positive & Beat Body ShamingMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:11:50-05:00

10 Summer Exercises

If your schedule changes in the summer and you can’t get to your regular Pilates class this video and blog is for you. Below you’ll find a ten minute Pilates workout of some of the best exercises to continue doing during your off season.

Best is always a sticky word because the ten best exercises would be different for every person and might be different for a specific individual on different days.

But what I think is good about this series is that is works you in flexion (rounded forward), extension (bending back), rotation and laterally (did you see how I threw in a plank there?). The spine gets mobilized in every direction. We work abs, back, glutes, legs and arms. And we bookended it with two of the best stretches ever.

Watch the video for help or print out this list and take it with you. You can do these moves anywhere, even outside in a park.

Reminder: You want to ensure your abdominals are gently engaged the entire time to keep the work out of your back. If you feel an exercise in your back, stop. Take a break. You can always try again later. Turn up the volume; it’s a little […]

10 Summer ExercisesMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:15:45-05:00

Prevent Dowager’s Hump

No one wants a dowager’s hump—that lump at the base of your neck that makes you look a little like Quasimodo. Honestly, most people won’t notice it as much as you notice. It isn’t always that obvious, but it is a sign of an unhealthy spine. Joe Pilates wrote, “If your spine is inflexibly stiff and 30, you are old. If it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” We should all strive to prevent a dowager’s hump before we see on there. Prevention is always easier than resolution.

A dowager’s hump is often associated with osteopenia and osteoporosis with the front of the vertebra fracturing and causing a kyphosis (rounding forward of the spine). While osteopenia and osteoporosis are likely culprits, our general posture tends to weaken and over time exacerbate the degeneration in the area. Having slightly kyphotic spine for most of our lives probably increases the problem.

We are a society of slouchers. Our upper backs are rounded and our heads jut forward. Be mindful and try to be taller.

Here are some tips to ward off a dowager’s hump:

Throughout the day, but especially when sitting, think long and tall out the crown of your head. Try to create […]

Prevent Dowager’s HumpMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:15:30-05:00

Client Corner: 100 Days of 100 Complete!

Sue doing the 100!

Sue has been taking Pilates in Glastonbury for over 6 years. While some people groan when it’s time for planks, Sue’s personal nemesis is the roll up. Her goal is to one day do it without using a flex band.

With that in mind, when her instructor Maggie mentioned an abdominal challenge in class, Sue was interested to see if it could help her build core strength for the roll up. She thought to herself “this is probably a challenge I should take on.”

The challenge was 100 days of the 100, where participants were asked to do the Pilates exercise the 100, one hundred days in a row. The 100 is an exercise that you’ll find in almost any Pilates class. It consists of lying with your back on the mat, upper body curled up, legs in the air (usually) and completing 100 arm beats while holding the position. It typically comes early in class and gets the entire body warmed up by getting you in tune with your breath and your blood pumping. To read more about why we do this challenge check out […]

Client Corner: 100 Days of 100 Complete!Maggie Downie2017-12-29T20:59:00-05:00