It’s not always easy to find time to do everything we need to do let alone find the time for the things we want to do. Often, exercise is one of the items we put to the wayside. I guess that’s not a huge surprise. Even if we know it’s good for us, we don’t always feel like doing it. Sometimes working out can feel like a chore.

When the pressure of life builds up, we opt out on fitness, just when we need it the most. Exercising boosts self esteem, provides more energy, and creates a healthier mind and body. Moving the body, along with eating right, is so beneficial. So why do so many people get the feeling that taking the time to workout does a disservice to everyone around them? We don’t feel so bad about cooking a healthy meal for our family. It seems obvious how they reap the benefits.

Making time to exercise is not only important for personal health, but also for friends and family. Not only can your actions potentially inspire someone else to fitness, but relationships improve […]

Pilates focuses on building a balanced body. That is the main reason the exercises are so beneficial. Also, the basic principles of Pilates provide subtle adjustments that you can do all day to correct the alignment of your body and breath deeply.

Consider the basic principles first:

1) Breathing into the lower lobs of the lungs helps you to fill your lungs with air and get a deep breath. Fueling your body with oxygen is good for the muscles and the brain.

2) Pulling the belly button to the spine is something you can do during a class or during everyday life. This continually strengthens the core and helps protect the lower back.

3) Considering the placement of your shoulders throughout the day, reminds you not to allow the body to sink forward, rounding your shoulders–the position we tend to assume while working at a computer all day. In doing so we are weakening our rhomboids (the muscles between the shoulder blades that help hold the scapula in place) and making our upper back ache. Pilates gets you used to sliding your shoulder blades back and down your spine, […]

Sounds pretty gross, right? If not gross, at least painful. It’s certainly no fun to get water up your nose, so you might wonder why you’d purposefully pour it up your nose. But even Joseph Pilates advocated nasal cleansing. He suggested cupping your hand filled with water during the shower, snorting the water up your nose and then blowing it out. That tactic doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried it, and perhaps I’m a bit of a baby but it’s not comfortable.

Here’s what I suggest and think works well. Purchase a neti pot. You can definitely get one online, but I believe Walgreens even sells them. In fact, I ordered mine from Walgreens online for under $20. The trick is to find what balance works for you–how much salt do you need to add to the water? how hot do you need your water? The salt makes a big difference. It’s the lack of salt that makes Pilates‘ version uncomfortable for me.

The first time I used a neti pot was at my sister’s suggestion. I didn’t like it, but she mixed […]

Recently, a client asked whether she should do weighting lifting exercises before cardio or cardio before weights. Generally, if you are going to do both types of workouts on the same day, it’s accepted that you should start with weights.

Lifting weights first means your muscles aren’t fatigued when you start your training, and weight lifting wakes up your body so that you can perform efficiently when you move to your cardio workout. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes for the body to start reaping the benefits of a cardio workout, so consider weight lifting as a little warm-up.

Another option is to alternate days–cardio three times a week (M,W,F), weight training three days a week (T, TH, Sat).

Just keep in mind that you need both, but whatever you are doing towards becoming physically fit is beneficial. If for some reason you prefer to do cardio followed by weight lifting, and you can’t get motivated to workout in the reverse order, it’s better to workout then skip cardio all together because you don’t like the format. When exercising you have to find what works for you and your body. You need […]

Hi Pilates Enthusiasts and Those Curious about Pilates—

I’ve started this blog in order to help people get answers about Pilates and other related fitness questions. If you have questions pertaining to health and wellness, specifically Pilates, I will do my best to find the answer.