December 23 2008 by admin.

Never! Here is a great way to keep up your workouts- some exercises you can do even without rings, balls, Xercizers, or Jim bouncing around to the music. Hint: read it all first so you know what’s coming before you try it! As a hard-working IM=X Pilates Blue Bell client, you should understand and recognize most of what you read here. If you don’t, skip it. We’d rather you didn’t injure yourself.

Step 1: Do you have a yoga or pilates mat, a ring, a stretch band, a balance ball, or ankle or wrist weights? Go get them. If you don’t, go get a hand towel.

Step 2: Lie on your back, on your mat if you have one or on the floor. Carpet may be more comfortable! Knees in for a hug and a low back stretch. Legs out, stretch through the ribs and hips on one side, then the other, then both to get a neutral spine. KEEP THIS NEUTRAL SPINE!!!

Step 3a: Feet flat on the floor with something between your knees- a ring, a ball, a yoga block, a towel folded a few times. Walk the feet out from your butt to open up the front of your hips. Maintain your neutral spine.  Hold the thing between your knees with your Pelvic Floor (Don’t Pee Muscle), NOT your inner thighs!

Step 3b: This is where you can add the wrist weights, if you want more upper body work. The trick is Read the rest of this entry »

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December 22 2008 by admin.

Transition: Roll onto your belly. Head onto your forearm, draw the opposite foot into your butt. Reach for the pant leg/ankle/foot if you can/want to. Now, press up into an arch and kick back into your hand. Do the other side too!

Step 11: Put your hands in a diamond under your forehead,  OR place your arms in front of you like a sphinx. Press up into an arch. If you’re uncomfortable in your back, you’re too high. You only need to be 5 degrees off the floor to engage your muscles. Engage your pelvic floor (Don’t Pee Muscle) and reach your legs out behind you. For comparison’s sake, shrug your shoulders way up to your ears. Now, lower them as far from your ears as you can and feel your lats engage to keep those shoulders down.

Step 12a-b-c: Remember, you don’t need to lift more than 5 degrees. Raise the right leg up and down 10 times, then the left leg, then both legs. Feel your butt and hamstrings working, not your low back throwing your leg(s) up. Also, keep your hips evenly pressed into the floor. If you rock side to side, you need to re-engage your pelvic floor and watch how high you’re lifting.

Step 13a-b-c: Arms out to a T. Lift into the arch- pay attention to your shoulders and pelvic floor and low back! Do 3-5. Then, as you arch, turn the palms thumbs up- get used to the feeling of not pushing with your hands and only lifting from your lats. Do 3-5. Then, as you arch, swim the back of your hands back to your hips; return to the T with control.

Step 14: Arms out in front, slightly open, shoulders away from ears. Right arm, left leg- lift 5 times, then switch to opposite arm/leg for 5. Switch again for 4, opposite for 4. Switch 3, switch 3, switch 2, switch 2, back and forth for 1,1,1,1.

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December 21 2008 by admin.

Transition: Come to hands and knees. Round your back into cat stretch, reverse to dog stretch by lifting your chin and swaying your back, and into cat stretch again.

Step 15a: Step the right foot forward between your hands, and the left foot back into a lunge (iliopsoas stretch!). Press the hips down and through the left heel, shoulders away from the ears, float the head and engage the pelvic floor.

Step 15b: Move the right hand inside your right foot, and open the right knee to stretch the inner hip.

Step 16: Put the right thigh down on the floor and draw your right foot toward your butt. Reach back for the foot/ankle/pant leg, or not. Keep the thigh down on the floor, not the knee joint. Put the foot back down being very careful of your knee.

Step 17a-b: Find a safe way to sit down. You may be able to roll over onto your right butt and down, or the transition may be more involved. Sit with the right leg bent in, left leg stretched open in half of a V. Stretch toward the left leg for an inner thigh stretch.

Step 17c: Open the right leg to complete the V. Stretch to both sides and the middle; feet pointed Read the rest of this entry »

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December 18 2008 by admin.

Beth has graciously offered to help you earn another piece of pie, and will be teaching a 10:00am class on both December 29 and 31, 2008. She’s great, you’re great, and have a happy and safe holiday!

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December 6 2008 by admin.

At this time next year, Philadelphia restaurants will be finalizing their new menus. As of January 1, 2010, eateries with more than 15 locations will be required to display nutritional information. Menus will report calories, saturated fat, trans fat, carbs and sodium. Menu boards need only display calories.

The information is required to be printed in a font and size similar to the ones used on the menu or board, and tray liners or table displays are no substitute. This allows consumers a consistent ability to make informed decisions.

Small businesses like family-owned pizzerias and chinese restaurants are exempt, to allow them to stay competitive. Upscale, fast-food, casual, and convenience chains and franchises have 2009 to prepare, and many of them already offer some kind of nutrition information, often online.

The bill passed 12-5 on November 6, 2008.

Philly.com: What’s New on Menu? Labeling
Philly.com: Phila. to require menu labeling
Kimberly Garrison: Philly’s OK with menu label law

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November 26 2008 by admin.

Kate is doing well, following her gallbladder surgery on Tuesday morning. She’s sore, but healing, she says. She also says, “Thank you so much!” to everyone who has asked about her this week. She will NOT be doing pilates in the immediate future, of course! But she hopes to get back to her job and teaching pilates and life as usual quickly. We wish her a speedy recovery, and urge her to REST!!!!!!! Take the opportunity while you’ve got it! Best wishes, Kate.

P.S. Leave her your well wishes by posting a comment here!

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November 21 2008 by admin.

Parties at IM=X Pilates Blue Bell have proven to be almost as much fun as pilates classes! Join your pilates classmates, bring a friend, and spend just a little time not dealing with the extended family.

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November 5 2008 by admin.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

IM=X Pilates Blue Bell Announces Record Donations at Pilates for Pink Events- $1,000 Raised for Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Blue Bell, PA- November 5, 2008- During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, IM=X Pilates Blue Bell teamed with Pilates for Pink and Shape Magazine to raise $1,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. IM=X Pilates Blue Bell and its generous community raised this record amount through a combination of Pilates for Pink classes, an in-house competition, t-shirt sales, and a speaker from the ELLE Center for Breast Health at Mercy Suburban Hospital. An 11th hour donation by a very special, anonymous donor brought the total contributions to a round $1,000, the most ever raised at the pilates studio.

IM=X Blue Bell held free Pilates for Pink donation classes on select weekends in October. In addition, a studio-wide contest was devised. Clients competed against each other doing popular exercises, donating for each exercise accomplished. For example, each push-up was worth a $0.01 donation, while the more difficult Teasers were worth $0.25 each. Clients were encouraged to ask friends, family, coworkers and employers to sponsor their efforts. During the 2-week competition, almost 8,000 total repetitions were done- over 2,000 alone were the popular Butt Buster move.

Special t-shirts were sold through the studio blog, promoting Pilates for Pink and IM=X Pilates Blue Bell. Almost $100 in profits from shirt sales was part of the donation total.

Fully half of the $1,000 was raised during the competition. Additional monies were also donated by most participants. One client even raced to her wallet as the donation checks were being sealed in their envelope, to round out the total raised by her fellow pilates partners.

IM=X Blue Bell also hosted Dr. Lori Chapleski, DO, breast surgeon at the ELLE Center for Breast Health. She spoke for over an hour on breast health, facts and myths about breast cancer, and the technology available to image, diagnose and treat diseases.

For additional information on the Pilates for Pink events held at IM=X Blue Bell, contact Paula Billig.

About IM=X Pilates Blue Bell- IM=X Pilates Blue Bell, on Route 202 in Blue Bell, PA, is the only IM=X franchise studio in the Philadelphia area, and has been providing IM=X Pilates instruction for over 5 years.
IM=X Pilates is a powerful advancement of classical pilates that incorporates strength and flexibility training, and aspects of Alexander Technique. Benefiting from extensive medical research, the IM=X program maximizes your efforts in each moment and move on the patented Xercizer machine. The semi-private training format combines the attention of personal training with the social and financial benefits of small group classes.
Free Introductory Sessions are available for anyone new to pilates or the IM=X program. The Free Intro sessions are located on the online schedule at www.imxbluebell.com or by calling the studio at (484) 231-8565.
-END-

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October 23 2008 by admin.

On Tuesday, October 21, Dr. Lori, Breast Surgeon at the Mercy Suburban Breast Center spoke at IM=X Pilates Studio Blue Bell. She was wonderfully informative and easy to approach with questions. On behalf of the entire pilates studio and the attendees from Tuesday evening, we would like to thank her for taking the time to speak, and for providing brochures and pamphlets for anyone to take. Breast health is an important topic, for both men and women, and is an expanding medical field. Dr. Lori has the latest in digital imaging equipment available, and can handle procedures herself. If you have any questions, feel free to pick up some information from the studio at your next pilates class, and contact Dr. Lori Chapleskie for your next appointment!

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October 21 2008 by admin.

Hi, I saw your sign/ My friend told me about you/ I found you online/ My doctor told me to try pilates, and I’m calling to get some information about your studio, your class times, all that. Call me back, Thanks!

This is a very common voicemail message left at IM=X Pilates Blue Bell, and this blog series is here to give an idea about what it’s like getting started with pilates. Whether it’s by phone or walk-in, or even by email, everyone gets the same piece of advice: make an appointment for a FREE Introductory session! We can give you all the information you’re looking for first, but putting the information in the context of trying pilates first will make it come together. There is always an Intro on the Saturday pilates schedule, and others during the week will pop up just by asking for them.

Intro sessions are scheduled for 90 minutes, while all regular pilates classes are 60 minutes. This allows the Intro to be divided into 3 sections: paperwork and background info, learning the Fundamentals and using the Xercizer machine, and asking all the questions you’ve thought of during the Intro.

When you arrive, you’ll fill out a history form and our instructors will ask all about your needs and goals and everything else that can help optimize your experience . You’ll get a brief overview of pilates and IM=X Pilates, and a quick tour of the studio (see pictures of the studio in an earlier blog post, Our Anniversary: January 15 2008). Then you start to work- you’ll learn the 5 Fundamentals of IM=X Pilates to stabilize and support you, then you’ll get on the Xercizer machine and do a short workout! This first workout is designed to demonstrate the flexibility of the Xercizer, and to give our instructors a chance to assess your abilities and make educated scheduling suggestions. You’ll be exercising for 30-45 minutes, so you shouldn’t expect to be as sore as you will be after your first full class.

The last 30 minutes of your pilates Intro is reserved for answering your questions, planning your schedule, setting up your membership, and any other leftover details. As a new client, you’ll receive a Welcome Kit, instructions on scheduling your classes, and information on IM=X Pilates Blue Bell’s referral program.

Call 484-231-8565, stop in at 1320 DeKalb Pike, or sign up online to schedule your FREE Intro session and discover why people rave about IM=X Pilates Blue Bell, the only IM=X Pilates franchise studio in the Philadelphia area.

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