Tweak your back?

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Have you been doing Pilates classes on a regular basis but still managed to tweak your back, or your hip, or another body part? You are not alone & there’s a few things you should know!

  1. This is normal! Even Pilates teachers have these moments in our life! It’s super unrealistic to think we would go through life and never have a time when we over use, over work and slightly injure something. Life happens and even the most seasoned professional athletes have injuries…  I can promise you that your movement practice is making the experience better (less intense and you are more likely to recover quicker) than if you had not been practicing Pilates. Don’t quit moving… just adjust as you need until your body heals.
  2. Your movements in PILATES are not “hurting you” but most likely you could learn to move and engage better and it might help your body heal quicker and could help you prevent future injury. Learning about how your body moves and engages is a process that takes time and the willingness to explore how you can move better. My best suggestion is to take a private session. You might be surprised at what you learn in 1 private session that could change how you do your exercises in class. The fine tuning that can happen in a one on one session is really hard to get in any small group session… even with the most experienced teacher.
  3. The more you can look at an injury or pain as a gift.. a signal to slow down and pay attention to your movements the better your experience will be and the quicker you will recover. It’s easy to get frustrated when we get injured and feel like we are completely sidelined. Checking in with your mindset when it comes to injuries can completely change the outcome for your body and life in the long run!  Start thinking of an injury as a great opportunity to learn more about what your body can do instead of a reason give up on movement time!  For those people who take advantage of the time to explore ways that they can still safely move while their injuries heal, they usually walk away from the experience feeling empowered and stronger than ever. 

Want to talk more about how you can use an injury as a positive in your life?  Call or email us anytime…we would love to give you a fresh perspective! 

Do you want to feel and move better? This is the class for you: Roll, Release and Relax with Carey

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People have been Raving about this Guided Rolling Class with Carey Sadler 
Saturdays at 8 am 

 
From reducing migraines, to reducing pain, to just plain feeling better, clients have been loving our Roll, Release and Relax class on Saturdays at 8 am.    Many of the principles we employ in this class are described in the book, “The Role Model”, by Jill Miller.    This class is appropriate for everyone from couch potatoes to runners and those who participate in regular fitness classes!     
 
Fascia is a type of connective tissue in our bodies that wraps around muscles, organs, bones etc. Fascia can be thick or thin, stiff or pliable, healthy or unhealthy. The composition of fascia depends on where it is in the body and what its function is. Basically fascia gives our bodies its structure and helps us to move efficiently.
 
In terms of our muscles, think of fascia as a sausage casing. The shape of a sausage is a result of the casing. If you remove the casing, all you have is a pile of chopped meat. One function of fascia is to give shape to our muscles as well as to connect groups of muscles together to function as units or chains. Wherever the Therapy Balls roll, they impact your body’s fascia.   You will find that by “hydrating” your fascia by rolling, you will erase pain, improve mobility and love the way you feel!   
 
While this is definitely something everyone can do at home with the right tools, often we find ourselves rushing through the rolling sequence, or feeling guilty about taking time for self care when there is so much to do in our home.    Many of our clients tell me, that rolling class on Saturdays is their favorite type of self care!    
 
You’ll spend all 50 minutes of this class using specialized therapy balls to do self-massage throughout your entire body. These self-massage techniques are designed to release tight muscles and fascial adhesions, releasing tensions and leaving you feeling more mobile throughout your entire body.
 
This practice is great for anyone…from those who want to combat tightness due to chronic sitting to athletes wanting balance out their training time and prevent injuries. Balls are provided by the studio. No experience necessary and drop ins are welcome!   
 
 
*Use any class card or membership option for these classes

Do you want your high school body back?

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Do ever wish you were in high school again? Me neither….but there are days when I wish I had the physical body of a high schooler! Whether you are 40 or 80…I don’t need to tell you that the way our body feels as we age changes.  For many of us, looking back on the things we did with our body as a youth leaves us longing for the days of not noticing body aches, pains and discomfort.  We realize how nice it was to not have to feel our body so much and not to feel limited in our life by those aches, pains and even injuries that seem to have crept up on us over the years.  We find ourselves asking…how did I get here?  I used to be so flexible, so strong, so ache free!  We find ourselves feeling helpless to the natural aging process that leaves us feeling creakier and less mobile than our younger days. 

I wish I could tell you I had a magic pill that could make your body feel like it did when you were 20…but you already know there is no magic pill.  The good news is though that there are lots of ways you can use your movement time in your life to slow down the progression of the “feel of aging” in your body.  Safe movement time that maintains and builds strength and mobility in your body might be the closest thing out there to a magic pill for aging! Try incorporating these simple but magical concepts into your life and see if they make a difference in how your body feels:

  1. Maintain and Build Strength  After 30 it is possible to lose 5% muscle each decade if you are not proactively doing exercise and movement in your life that will maintain and build strength.  Strength training comes in lots of different forms and it really doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you are doing movements that are safe for your body and target where you need to strengthen.  You can use weights and do a traditional strength training type workout, you can use your body weight as resistance and do things like squats, push ups, tricep presses etc., you can use resistance bands or you can take up movement practices like Pilates or Yoga that incorporate strength training into everything they do.  
  2. Maintain and Improve Flexibility Feeling less flexible as you get older really isn’t related so much to your age but to the fact that you stopped using your muscles in the ranges that you did when you were younger and so they continue to get tighter and tighter and before you know it it feels like you can barely bend over to tie your shoes! What’s the key to maintaining and even gaining flexibility and mobility as you age?  The key is to practice movements that stretch your muscles to what feels like close to their end range.  Just plain stretching will accomplish this or you can practice movement that has a stretching component built in like Pilates or Yoga.  
  3. Maintain and Improve Core Strength  Maintaining strong core muscles will give your body a support system of strength that will help you do everything you want to do in life better.  Whether your movement goals are running a marathon or piggyback rides for your kiddos…core strength is the key to doing these things well and not getting injured!  Core strength will keep your back feeling healthy, mobile and keep it injury free. 
  4. Keep Practicing Balance  Kids are natural at balancing and the reason they are so good at it is that they practice! Kids are always naturally working on balance when they are climbing things, playing sports, and playing at the playground.  As adults we start to lose the ability to balance because we often don’t challenge ourselves to do it.  Feeling uneasy about balancing our bodies in space is uncomfortable and usually brings up feelings of feeling “old”!  Start practicing you balance at home or take up a practice like Pilates or Yoga that continually works on challenging your balancing skills.  
  5. Practice Your Breathing  This one seems so simple and silly that most people ignore it…until they discover how much it can help them.  Learning to breathe well and use breathe in your movement and exercise time can not only help you move better it can help you destress and reduce anxiety.  Moving with ease and feeling a sense of ease through our bodies…feels youthful. It also helps with circulation which in turn helps everything in our body function better and leaves us feeling more energized.  Breathing can be practiced on its own or you can find a mind body practice like Pilates or Yoga that incorporates breath into each movement. 

I love to multi task so practicing Pilates or Yoga just makes sense to me when it comes to the perfect anti-aging exercise.  These mind body practices build strength, improve flexibility, strengthen your core, improve your balance and on top of it all leave you feeling less stressed and energized because of the breath focus!!  As a teacher one of my favorite classes I teach is one I named Anti-Aging Pilates Equipment.  This small class (5 people maximum)  combines exercises utilizing the Pilates equipment and a series of functional balance stations to work on this whole list above! The balance stations are designed to safely challenge balance and strengthen in a way that prepares us for life’s balance challenges(not falling when we trip on the side walk, balancing a 3 year old on your shoulders so they can see better, etc.!).  All exercises are beginner friendly and participants range from 30 to 80 in age…because let’s face it we all need anti-aging Pilates no matter what age we are!  

 

 

Do you sound like a bowl of rice crispies when you move?

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Snap, crackle, pop….Does the sound of your body creep you out a little bit?  Do you find that as you get older you start hearing more and more cracks and pops when you move?  You are not alone and you are completely normal!!    The sound you hear is caused by air bubbles in the synovial fluid – the liquid that surrounds and lubricates your  joints – and by the snapping of tightly stretched ligaments as they slide off one bony surface onto another. When not accompanied by pain, noisy joints are harmless.   (Leonard Calabrese, DO Rheumatologist )

Most of the time the noises we hear our body making are normal and there’s no need to worry, but of course if the noise is accompanied by pain and you are concerned here is a great read that will help you figure out if you need to investigate the noisiness with your doctor.

As a movement professional I can tell you that the biggest “problem” I see with noisy joints and bodies has nothing to do with what is actually going on in the body usually but the self talk that happens when my clients hear their body talking to them.  

Here’s the scenario I normally see:    While moving a client hears their body make a noise and usually makes some sort of grimacing face… Often times they will say “Did you hear that?” I usually respond and ask if it hurt when it happened.  Often times a conversation follows where they say no…but I just hate the way it sounds! It didn’t used to do that, why does it do that?

From a movement standpoint we often explore how we can move better and possibly avoid the noise from happening.   And then it happens again.  Some clients will pause or make a comment every time it happens and others will just make a face.  I can always tell that it’s affecting them and not always in the best way. It’s like every time they hear a noise they start to think negative thoughts about how their body is getting older and maybe not functioning or moving as well as they would like it too.  I worry that a negative reaction can create a chain of negatives …changing their mindset from being inspired to keep moving and age in the best possible shape to feeling defeated and helpless and giving in to those voices that tell them their movement time isn’t doing them any good, it’s not worth the effort, etc.  

As a teacher I’m never really worried about the noise…but what I worry about more is the reaction.  That reaction of course is something we have complete control over.  I like to challenge my clients to start thinking about those noises in a whole different light.

Instead of letting your body noises be a trigger to tell yourself you are getting old, your body is not working properly or that something is wrong…what would happen if we consistently changed the story we told ourselves? What if we tried something like this:

  • Sounds in my body mean I’m moving in new ways! When I move in new ways my body gets stronger, more flexible and feels better!
  • Every body makes noises….this is normal and not a bad thing! 
  • When I hear a noise I’m going to think about how thankful I am for my body and all the amazing ways it CAN move
  • When I hear noise I’m going to use it as a reminder to check in with my alignment and focus on using my muscles in the most efficient way. A noise is a reminder from my body to check in because I do have control over how I move and it will make a difference in how I feel.  

Changing your thought process from dreading a noise in your body to enjoying hearing it because it signals a positive chain reaction…can completely change how you feel about movement in your life!  Most importantly changing the story you tell yourself when you hear your body can keep you feeling positive and encouraged about your ability to control how your body feels as it ages!!