Are you up for a challenge?

Do you ever wonder how time passes so quickly? I was chatting with a client last week and we were talking about how she had been practicing Pilates with me at the studio for over 14 years!!

It made me reflect on how cool it is that I have had the opportunity to be a part of so many of my clients journeys as they age.  What an honor to get to see the habits and keys of what keeps people happy, healthy and moving through life well into their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and beyond.

There are 2 lessons or key ideas that I have taken from my experiences that I try to incorporate into my own life always and I want to share them with you today.

  1.  This one I like to call “keep moving consistently”!  Clients who age well have made a point to consistently keep moving, no matter what.  They have a consistent movement routine in their life and they have no plan of ever stopping! They have learned that movement is important and they make it a priority to keep moving!  They keep moving even if they don’t really feel like it. They keep moving even when something is uncomfortable in their body (they simply adjust their movements for how their body is feeling and do what they can..)   In case you are wondering…yes,  many of them are practicing Pilates but they are also staying active in other ways in their life too..  Walking, biking, hiking, gardening, pickleball, golf and lots of other activities they enjoy!
  2. The second habit is simply a  “positive mindset around movement”.  These clients have learned to be grateful for what a movement practice does for them. They have figured out that dreading exercise is not helping them.   They look for ways to move their body, they look forward to their exercise time and they often talk about how much they know that their movement practices improve their life! They are purposeful about how they think about their movement time!  

Are you ready to work on your consistency and your movement mindset? We have just the thing…..it’s our 2023 Summer Challenge!

  • When: June 1st – August 31
  • The Challenge: Any combination of 30 sessions or virtual classes
  • Why?   Make a commitment to yourself to be consistent about your movement time and have fun doing it! (Plus there are prizes 😉)
  • What do I win?  A new Rivercity Pilates shirt
  • How much does it cost?   It is  FREE!
  • How do I join?  Email Carey

What counts for sessions or virtual classes? You can count any in studio movement sessions you take and any Rivercity Pilates virtual classes that you take. This does include our FREE classes that are available on our Youtube channel. You can take a recorded class more than once and each time you take the class it counts as a session!  

How do I track my sessions and classes?
If you are regularly coming in to the studio you can track your sessions and classes on our Summer Challenge Poster! You can also just download our tracker and keep track at home if you prefer!

Will there be bonus prizes?
Of course! Follow us on social media and read your emails from us this summer because we’ll be giving away fun prizes all summer long to summer Challenge Participants!

Have you been diagnosed with Osteopenia?

May is National Osteoporosis Awareness Month, and we’re having a sale on our one hour on-demand workshop, “Exercising for Strong Bones”.

If you’ve been diagnosed with Osteopenia or Osteoporosis you will want to take this virtual workshop!

How you are exercising and moving your body today could help you avoid fractures and breaks in the future!  Just click below to purchase the on demand workshop.  After you purchase the workshop we’ll email you an on demand link that you can watch anytime and you’ll get the PDF workshop guide for your reference.

Here’s just a few of the things we covered in the workshop!  

  1. The best exercises for maintaining and even improving bone density
  2. Exercises to avoid if you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis
  3. How to adapt current exercises you are doing to be safe for you even if you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis
  4. The two key things everyone should be aware of when it comes to your bone health.
  5. What exercises help with hip and spine bone strength
  6. The best posture for maintaining your bone strength

Here’s a preview of this informative workshop!

I know some of you have purchased the workshop in the past and maybe you’ve lost your email that gives you access to the workshop. If this is you, simply email me and I’ll resend it to you in case you want to watch it again!!

Do you ever blame how you feel on your age?

My husband came home from his first “Daddy daughter” dance practice of 2023 with my daughter and said, “There is a lot of up and down in the dance and I was really feeling my old man knees”! My response, “Oh so what you’re saying is that dance practice is giving you an opportunity to strengthen your muscles and support your knees so they feel better?”  He smiled and said, “yes that’s exactly what I’m saying!”  

You see, he absolutely knows that actions like squatting and lunging and knee bends are exactly what helps his leg muscles stay strong and exactly what usually helps his knees feel better if they are feeling aching or sore, but out of habit fell into the mindset of deciding to choose to think that his uncomfortable knees were just a product of aging. His discomfort wasn’t because he was old…it was because he hadn’t been moving his body in ways that kept his knees happy lately!

Do you ever find yourself blaming how your body feels on aging?
 Have you found any benefit into thinking that way? (I’m guessing you haven’t!!)

As a Pilates teacher and a movement coach I want to remind you that your thoughts about how your body feels and about your movement time are are just as important as the movement time!  When clients first start with us one of the things they will notice is that not only are the learning how to move well in their body, they are also learning how to re-think movement, exercise and their body. 

So often people don’t even realize the negative mindset they have around exercise or their body and they find it so refreshing to be in a space with people who remind them of what they are capable of!

I’m giving you homework this week! See if you can catch yourself blaming how your body is feeling on your age and try changing that thought to a slightly more positive one! 

Try something like…”Oh that feeling is reminding me to be consistent in adding strength and mobility movements into my life…that’s a great reminder!” Try to avoid blaming your discomfort on your age and focus on things you can control!

If you’d like to find out more about how Pilates can help you feel terrific, email us here!