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3 Pilates-Inspired Moves for Runners

Running has long been a favorite fitness activity for millions of people. It’s an accessible cardiorespiratory exercise, a fun social event and a natural antidepressant. However, as more people catch the running bug, more also succumb to common overuse injuries.

Taking Care of the Teacher

What steps do you take to maintain wellness, balance and perspective? We asked instructors to talk about their self-care strategies and why they matter for career success.

Footwork: The Foundation of Pilates

Pilates footwork: simple yet powerful, it is typically the first exercise taught on the reformer. Called the “Pilates fortuneteller” by Amy Taylor Alpers from the Pilates Center in Boulder, Colorado, footwork reveals postural patterns and muscle imbalances of the hips, legs and feet and is an effective exercise for correcting them. If you are a Pilates instructor, this basic, functional movement of closed-kinetic-chain hip and knee flexion and extension allows you to help a client

Cuing Lateral Breathing

Breathing is one of the Pilates principles and a foundation for movement. Lateral breathing focuses on expanding the rib cage laterally “while maintaining a consistent inward pull of the deep abdominal muscles during inhalation and exhalation.”

Cuing for Pre-Hundred

When you look at classic pictures of Joseph Pilates performing the hundred, it’s hard not to notice that his form isn’t quite what we see today in many studios or classes.

Success Inside a Health Club

Gayle Winegar, founder and owner of SweatShop Health Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota, sensed Pilates “would be big” in 1994 after her fitness director, Jill Winegar, took classes at Rancho La Puerta.

An Interview with Lolita San Miguel

Seventy-seven-year old master teacher Lolita San Miguel believes in always putting your best foot forward. Toward that end, she teaches Pilates instructors how and why the foot can impact our overall well-being.

Uniting the Industry: Transformation Stories

How can Pilates help clients make critical transitions in their lives? For this issue, we talked to Pilates instructors and their clients about how Pilates training has helped them through times of change.

United We Stand

It’s unlikely Joseph Pilates would have imagined today’s multifaceted Pilates scene with its army of variously trained instructors reaching around the globe, teaching in a multitude of settings and embracing…

Mary Bowen, Part Two

It has been more than five decades since 81-year-old Pilates elder Mary Bowen began working with Joseph Pilates, and she has continued to develop and grow her own distinctive and charismatic style ever since.

Pilates Equipment Teaching Techniques

Pilates, like any fitness discipline, can be challenging to teach—especially for new instructors. After all, there are many aspects of teaching that take time and experience to improve, including motivating students, sequencing exercises and getting clients to follow verbal cues.

Working With an 8-Year-Old Gymnast

Athletes are being groomed at younger and younger ages. Many factors play into this, and as the level of competition rises, parents want to help their children excel while also preventing injuries. Regular Pilates practice is one way to reduce injuries, increase body awareness and enhance coordination.

Equipment: Which Items Are Favorites?

What piece of Pilates equipment is your favorite, and why? For this issue, we asked instructors to share their equipment preferences, along with teaching tips and equipment mistakes to avoid.

Multitasking on the Chair

Spreading the Word About Pilates and MELT

Karin Singleton has worked in the fitness industry since 1994, and she loves helping people feel and live better. She owns Fitness Personified Ltd., a studio in Raleigh, North Carolina, and also works at Rex Wellness Center (part of UNC Health Care). A mind-body specialist, she teaches and trains using Pilates and the M.E.L.T. Method® (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique, or MELT) and is experienced in traditional strength, cardio and core training methodologies.

Dynamic Group Reformer Harmony

Maintaining safety and control can be tricky in any group exercise class. Keeping sessions fresh, motivating and unintimidating is equally challenging. Add in a moving carriage, loaded with springs, and sometimes a box and a multitude of other props and you see why linking exercises efficiently is critical when teaching a group reformer Pilates session. In addition to understanding the objective and muscle focus of each exercise, generating flow through proper sequencing can be imperative for an effective workout.

Full-Body Pilates Circuits

Circuit training is an excellent way to maximize time in your Pilates studio while utilizing different equipment and props. It’s also a nice way to help clients through a mental plateau, because circuit training combats boredom and shifts neuromuscular patterns.

Lineage Links: Mary Bowen, Part 1

First-generation master teacher Mary Bowen is a Pilates treasure. At 81, she still shares her distinctive blend of Pilates and Jungian psychoanalysis with students as a full-time practitioner, calling her combined approach Pilates Plus Psyche.

Uniting the Industry: Transformation Stories

Can the group Pilates experience provide substantial benefits to clients? Nothing speaks louder than results! For this issue, we asked Pilates instructors and their clients to talk about the transformations they’ve experienced from group Pilates classes.