Could you feel results after only 1 Pilates session?

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One of the most common questions I hear on a client’s second visit, goes something like this:

“I felt really great after our session. I felt taller and my posture was better. My ______________(fill in the blank with an achy body part like low back, shoulder, neck, foot, etc.) seems to be feeling better . . . could that really have been just from that one session?”
My simple answer: YES!

Here’s why:

The exercises you did in your first session were taught in a way unique to your body.  Your teacher took time to learn what was going on in your body at the beginning of your session by going through your health intake form and asking you questions about your movement time in your life.  After learning about you, your teacher taught a session that was designed to help your body stretch the muscles that were tight and strengthen the muscles that were weak or underdeveloped.  Doing these exercises tailored to your body resulted in your body practicing great alignment and had your body working in a really balanced way.  When you do this…your body appreciates it and you’ll know it because you actually feel better…even after just one session!! 

Wondering if that feeling better in your body after your first session will continue? It absolutely will!  Every time you practice Pilates you will be repeating this process of strengthening your underdeveloped muscles, stretching your tight muscles and bring your body closer and closer to your ideal, balanced alignment and posture! 

Like anything though…the more you practice Pilates the more you may take for granted how much it is helping you and not be so aware of it after each session.  Many of our clients comment to us that they forget how much their Pilates practice helps them feel better in their body until something happens in their life that they end up taking a few weeks off.  Clients comment that they can just feel a difference in their body, even after just a week or two.  Luckily, as soon as they get back to their movement time the “feel better” results come right back!

Ready to try an exercise method that gives you results every time you practice it?  Click here to read more about our complimentary first session or click here to set up a time for your first session!  

What to Expect in Your First Private Session

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Many people have never worked one on one with a movement or exercise  instructor and have some misconceived ideas about what a one on one Pilates session will be like.  Let me put to rest some of your fears!  If you’ve been watching the Biggest Loser we may have some work to do:) Or maybe you’ve heard horror stories of people doing personal training and being so sore they can’t even walk the next day or lift their arm to brush their teeth?  That is something you will not experience after a session at Rivercity Pilates!

Today I’m going to walk you through your first Pilates private session at Rivercity Pilates. (P.S.- this session is free so definitely take advantage of it!)

  1. When you arrive at the studio we’ll give you a tour of our space.  We’ll show you where you can put your coat, shoes, and gear, point out the restrooms, show you our massage room and our two spacious studio rooms that we use for private sessions and small group classes.
  2. If you haven’t already filled out our new client paperwork we’ll have you fill out our health intake and other preliminary forms.  The health intake form in particular is very important to us.  Your instructor will start your session by sitting with you and going over your health history and discussing how it effects your exercise program.  As instructors we want to help you create a Pilates practice that meets your goals and is safe for your body!
  3. After we’ve learned a little bit more about you, your instructor will start by sharing a little more in depth about the history of Pilates and what and how we teach the Pilates Method at Rivercity Pilates.  We find that learning Pilates is a process and teaching the “why” behind the method is important when helping others create a Pilates practice in their life.
  4. Whether you have been practicing Pilates for years or a brand new beginner we will start the movement portion of your session by teaching the Pilates fundamentals in your body.  The Pilates fundamentals are the building blocks of every exercise and movement we do in Pilates and it’s important to us that you understand them as they are used over and over again in your Pilates practice.  These fundamentals include the concepts of breathe, engaging your deep abdominal muscles, how to stabilize your hips and shoulders and more.  We’ll tailor the exercises we use to teach these ideas to your body and move at a level appropriate for you.
  5. After we teach you the fundamentals and have had some time to work with you and see how your body moves we’ll introduce you to some Pilates exercises that are appropriate for your body.  We often like to let you experience exercises that are considered Mat work (just using your own body for resistence) as well as letting you experience exercises on some of the traditional Pilates equipment such as the Univeral Reformer, the Cadillac or the Pilates Wunda Chair.
  6. We’ll wrap up your session with some time to talk about what we did and give you an opportunity to ask questions.  Your instructor can help to explain the different ways you can learn and practice Pilates and give suggestions as to what might be best for your body.

Our goal during your first session is to start the teaching process and help you decide whether you want to pursue a Pilates practice.  Your session will be a combination of discussion and movement.  Will you be sore the next day?  You might be.  Often when you are learning a new movement and engaging new muscles you’ll feel it the next day- but in a good way!  You’ll know you did something different but no need to worry about being so sore that you can’t function!!

Ready to try a complimentary session?  Click here to find a time that works best in your schedule!  We look forward to meeting you!

Commit to an Active Healthy Summer!

Welcome to our 2019 Healthy Summer Challenge! Whether you are starting a new movement practice or maybe you just want to continue to keep consistent this summer with your already established practice we are excited to have you join our free summer challenge. Our challenge to you is to stay committed to keeping movement as important part of your life, no matter where you are or what your summer schedule looks like!   Our summer challenge is not about a 6 pack or focused on losing weight — our summer challenge is about body confidence, energy, strength and happiness!    

Like we’ve done in past years we’ll be giving you a chance to win super cute Rivercity Pilates gear for being consistent and getting regular classes in at the studio. Simply check off on the chart at the studio when you are in to track your classes! Get a minimum of 8 classes in (1 per week) and you’ll win a newly designed Rivercity Pilates love handle (Carey’s favorite accessory for her phone), Get 16 classes in and earn a super cute Rivercity Pilates baseball hat! Get 24 sessions or more in and you’ll earn a Rivercity Pilates shirt from our fall collection!

Out of town but still want to participate? If you have internet access you can take a class virtually! Just email us and we’ll help you set it up!! We’ve been doing this for some of our clients who travel a lot and they love it!! These classes count toward prizes!!

Not able to make it into the studio this summer but still want to participate? Take our 10 minutes a day movement challenge! Click here to get your tracking sheet! Use one of our weekly workout videos or do your own movement practice each morning for 10 minutes. Turn in your completed sheet after the challenge to win a Rivercity Pilates journal (great for tracking fitness, writing down your health goals or just taking notes)!!     [wpdm_package id=’10022′]

Click here to officially sign up for the challenge!

 

 

 

Happy, successful people create these 2 habits in their life!

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Do you ever look at those successful, happy people who seem to be doing it all in life and doing it well and wonder how do they do it?  How can I have what they have?

I do and I’ve made it part of my journey to take notice and even study the lives and patterns of those people who have what I strive for in life.  The two habits that I see over and over again are physical exercise and “me” time.  No matter how busy these highly successful people are they find time to exercise their bodies and renew their soul.   Many times this is a daily exercise routine, meditation, a time to read, and simply time to relax on a daily basis.

What amazes me is that these people have the same amount of time in the day as you and me yet they manage to accomplish extraordinary things AND carve out time for themselves and their bodies.  In fact when I talk to these happy, successful people they often credit their successes in life to these habits that they’ve incorporated into their life.  They will also be the first to tell you that it’s not always easy to find that time but the results have made it “not an option” but a requirement in their life.

So all of this is great to hear, but how do you incorporate it into your life?  My suggestion is to start small and doable.  Can you get up a half hour early everyday and add 15 minutes of Pilates, Yoga, Stretching, Cardio  or even meditation to your life?  Create a small doable goal and do it consistently(everyday) for at least 2 months.  Yes, I said  2 months.   If you get to the place where you can add more time- great!  That’s it…see where it takes you and let us know how it changes you!!

CareyIMG_2781-1 Sadler is the owner of Rivercity Pilates in North Liberty Iowa. Carey is a PMA Certified Pilates instructor who has been teaching Pilates since getting her comprehensive certification from Body Precision Studios in 2001.  Before that Carey was a personal trainer, a chemical engineer and a volleyball player!  Carey’s love of health, movement and happiness have lead her to open her Pilates studio and continue her passion of living life to the fullest!  She is a wife and  a mom of 3 energetic children as well as a spunky cat and dog.

Pilates with my Love

In honor of Valentines this week I thought I would write a little bit about my love, my hubby Jeff.  People will often ask me if he does Pilates and the answer is yes, but probably not as often as he would like.  Which of course seems like a shame since I own a studio and spend my life teaching and at the studio.

Jeff first started Pilates when I started the teaching training program 18 plus years ago.  He was my first guinea  pig!  I had picked him to be my practice teaching client for the program because I thought it would be fun to teach him and we were living together so clearly finding time to practice would be easy.  It turns out this was not the case and that was when it was just the two of us, no kids. We were both working full time and juggling schedules and we found that it was really hard to consistently get sessions in and really easy to just skip it on days when other commitments came up or one of us was tired or unmotivated.  So I decided to pick a new practice client because I needed to have someone consistent to get through my practice hours with.

Fast forward 18 years and we seem to have the same problem when it comes to him getting in for Pilates sessions!  Over the years Jeff has definitely snuck in to do Pilates with me and at the studio.  He even went through part of my teacher training program thinking it would be helpful for me to have an extra teacher at the studio. At the time that just didn’t work out because it was too chaotic trying to juggle him getting the training hours in with kids’ schedules and his work schedule. Now that our kids are older and we have a little more freedom in our time he has started back doing his teacher training hours again and he’s hoping to be able to eventually teach some mens only Pilates classes at RCP! 

img_3457Like most people our lives seem jam packed with work, kids activities, family time and along the way trying to take care of our own health by adding in some healthy movement and exercise.  As a studio owner’s wife, Jeff has inherited the job of studio maintenance guy and most of his time in the studio is when I need help with projects or something is broken!

img_7044One of our goals for Jeff is to arrange our schedules so he can get into the studio at least once a week for a session with me or a class.  For the most part we have been making it work and it’s been fun!  I love that I get to help him do something that is good for his health, but more than that I love the time we get to spend together when we do his sessions.  When we first started this I realized how little time we get to spend together that doesn’t involve the kids and home projects.  It’s kind of funny, but our Pilates time kind of feels like date nights.  It’s so nice to get to spend an entire session focused on Pilates and movement and nothing else…no phones to distract us, no kids yelling Mom! Dad!, etc.

Want to introduce your spouse to Pilates and try a Pilates date?  Schedule a complimentary private session to introduce him or her to Pilates! Want to try a class together? This month’s free Life Inspired Community class is a free Pilates Couples class on February 9th at 6 pm. This class  is designed to have everyone moving safely (no crazy hard exercises that will make newbies feel uncomfortable!) and having fun while exploring the Pilates method.  

Wait….those people in that Pilates class look normal

Just last week I was chatting with a client during one of her introductory private sessions and we were talking about adding some more classes into her regular routine.  She mentioned that she was enjoying her beginner classes she had started doing and she thought she was ready to add in another time or two per week. She also mentioned how relieved she was to see that the people that were headed to a different class on our schedule that day were….well…normal.  I could tell that seeing a variety of ages and body shapes heading into class helped her realize that she too could do a class and not feel out of place! 

So many times in life I think the thing that stops us from doing something that might make a huge difference in our life and in how our body feels on a regular basis is our fear, our fear of worrying about what other people might think of us and our fear of not fitting in.   I know that my passion and “my why” in life have a lot to do with helping people realize how movement can be an amazing health tool in their life to live their best life.  I’ve also come to realize that the hardest part about sharing my passion with others is that for me to get to have the chance to share it with people I first have to convince them that their fears of not fitting in, not being strong enough, not being flexible enough, etc to start a movement practice are not really true!!    

If you are one of those people who really wants to add some movement time into your life but you are just plain scared that you might not fit in or you might not be able to do it..you are not alone!  Most of our clients feel that way when they get started!  But I have to tell you…it doesn’t take them very long to figure out that Rivercity Pilates is a place where everyone fits in. 

Let me help you out with rethinking some of those fears! 

  • I am too old…    nonsense!!   If you are wanting exercise and move at whatever age you are, doesn’t it make sense that there are others close to your age that feel the same way? 
  • I am too out of shape…..    I know you probably don’t believe me but I can promise you that our teachers are experts at giving you exercises that are within your abilities that can be done at a level you are comfortable at AND you will not feel out of place doing it! 
  • I’m not sure if I can do it because of …(fill in the blank with an ailment or injury)    Again….I know this might be hard to believe but our teachers not only know how to give you exercises that allow you to strengthen and move no matter what is going on….they do it all the time even in small group settings.  When you take small group classes at our studio you will see people in class doing lots of different variations on exercises because we know that not every body is the same.  You won’t feel out of place adjusting an exercise for your body because we insist that everyone does the exercise in a way that is beneficial for their body (and we of course will help you figure out what that way is!) 

Ready to get out of your own way and experience how movement can help you feel better in your body?  Schedule you complimentary session today!