Young at Heart
You body is always a 5-year-old. It wants to play. Let it.
Women’s Expo
Come see us at the Connecticut Women’s Expo in Hartford today and tomorrow. Maybe you’ll be the lucky winner of a free Pilates class. You might also have the opportunity to get a postural analysis!
High Intensity
If in addition to your Pilates routine you do cardiovascular or aerobic workouts–like running, using an elliptical, etc. your might be interested in a January article published by The International Journal of Obesity.
They determined that high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) may offer more cardiovascular and weight loss benefits than working for a prolonged period at a steady pace. Intervals have been found to be a very effective way to work out, but this study tested very short intervals (8 seconds of high intensity followed by 12 seconds of rest repeated for 20-minutes).
I tried it on the elliptical at the gym. You can’t focus on anything else because every 8 to 12 seconds you need to change what you are doing, but it didn’t feel as exhausting as longer interval training I have done. Since I find ellipticals boring, I convince myself to workout on them by allowing myself to read–an activity I love, but don’t always have time for. Interval training is not conducive to that. However, it was nice to do intervals and feel less tired while potentially getting more benefit.
This doesn’t mean […]
Walk with your Hips
Notice when you walk where the motion of your legs originates. The power should come from your hips. This week, when you are walking try to focus on the motion coming from your hips and your legs just lightly swinging back and forth on a pendulum.
While this isn’t exactly what is going on, it helps me to imagine a scooped shovel in the butt (the back of my hip) that swivels on each side and pushes my legs forward. It’s almost as if a little hammer connected to a c-shaped scoop gently knocks the top of my leg causing the whole leg to swing forward.
Try it and see how it feels. See if you need to drastically alter how you walk in order to do this exercise.
Muscles Move Bones
I have a kick boxing instructor that reminds us that our muscles move bones. It should not be the other way around. I think it is a very important reminder. That means you want to strengthen your muscles and notice when your bones are overpowering your muscles. When you hunch over in exhaustion or as you age, you are letting the bones win.
The truth is, if you keep your muscles strong every part of your body wins. Our bones and muscles should work together.