Tag: reformer
I’ve never really understood how Pilates can make you stand taller, so I checked in with Body Harmonic Pilates founder Margot McKinnon. Here what she had to say:
“When we look at our own or another person’s posture, we are seeing their muscles and bones trying to hold the person up against gravity. And gravity is a strong force indeed.
So when you see someone with very rounded shoulders and a forward head carriage she is showing an imbalance between the front and back muscles of the torso. Basically the front muscles are extra short and the back muscles are extra long.
When they are at their appropriate lengths, you see someone without rounded shoulders and without a forward head. Another example would be someone with a big arch in the lower back that extends up past the waist. This person has shortened back muscles and elongated abdominal muscles. When these muscles work in proper balance you see someone with a slight arch in the lower back and abdominal muscles that pull inward slightly rather than poking outward.”
Hmm. So it’s all about balance. Pilates helps by creating balance in the muscles of your body so that tone is appropriate around every joint, says Margot. “When muscles work in optimal balance with each other they pull the bones into correct alignment, and voila, posture improves.”
Neat.
(Oh, and BTW you might want to sign up for Pilates classes if you’ve got some job interviews in store.)
January 7, 2011
So I talked to Body Harmonics Pilates founder and studio director Margot McKinnon about feeling like one dizzy broad after my first Reformer Foundations class.
She asked if I have low blood pressure (I do!), whether I’d eaten anything before class (just a quarter of a bagel) and whether we’d done a lot of focus on breathing in the class (we had).
Turns out that when you focus on deep inhales and exhales when you normally breathe shallowly, this can make you feel lightheaded. As will having low blood pressure with the new-to-me motion of the machine’s sliding carriage. “Your body will adapt as you take more classes,” she assured me.
She also suggested that I take my time getting up when moving from one exercise to another.
And sure enough, I did this, along with exerting more control over my movements so that the carriage slid around less and eating a more filling breakfast (not to mention the teacher also raised my headrest for certain exercises)–and I skipped out of Reformer Foundations vertigo-free but with thighs and glutes well worked out.
Sweet.
Have stepped it up and have registered for two classes this week. Bring it!
October 18, 2010
“Wrap your thighs to your bum…”
Say wha–?
I attended my very first Pilates reformer class this morning at Body Harmonics. I’ve just signed on as an ambassador, so you’ll be hearing lots more about my “reform school” in the weeks to come.
Overall, I’d say I enjoyed the class. And was impressed that the instructor could tell that I was a runner (although how she could tell–the lack of openness of my hip flexors–is not so great).
I left feeling a little dizzy (I can get motion sickness and I think the sliding carriage thingy was enough to set me off) but I so wanted a coffee (class started at 9:30AM–ie. the crack of dawn for most freelance writers) that I didn’t stick around afterwards to talk to the instructor about it, nor ask about that “thighs to your bum” concept.
But I will ask next time, I swear. I really hope I can get over the motion sickness and not have to switch to mat work (been there, done that)–I’ve always wanted to try reformer classes.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll soon look like the Pilates pros in the pic above!
(My apologies btw for the late post today–have been a wee bit distracted by today’s FabFind of $10 iPads).
October 6, 2010
