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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August 26 2008 by admin.

Getting your loved ones, your friends and family members, or your coworkers to join you in losing weight or getting stronger can seem like a waste of time. Changing habits, learning new things and becoming proactive about their health are some of the toughest things for people to do. More and more research, however, is reinforcing the many and varied benefits good health has on everyone.

In an article titled, “How Much Does Physical Inactivity Cost You?,” Entrepreneur.com provides a link to East Carolina University’s Physical Inactivity Cost Calculator. ECU combined research on medical costs, workers’ productivity and workers’ compensation to create this tool useful for quantifying the benefits of a healthy team or community. The calculator computes dollar amounts representing the total costs to a business or community, the per-person cost, medical care, workers comp and lost productivity costs, and the potential savings if only 5% of the group became more active!

Using Census.gov Factfinder data for the Blue Bell area, this is what the numbers look like:

click for a larger image

What could your community do with $2.6 million? The state of Pennsylvania could save $942 million per year- imagine the programs that could benefit from that kind of money! Corporations can run this calculator too- partnering with your local IM=X Pilates Studio franchise for special group rates can be an inexpensive way to cut down on healthcare costs among employees. Don’t underestimate the importance of team building in small-group exercise classes, either- but that’s a topic for another time.

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May 16 2008 by admin.

Here at the IM=X Pilates Studio in Blue Bell, we see a LOT of really wonderful, dedicated clients week-in and week-out. We know who to expect in certain classes, and if a few go by without them, their classmates start pressing us for reasons!

At the same time, we have just as many motivated, hopeful clients who are ready to change their body, ready to look good for the summer, and ready to simply feel better in their own skin, but they haven’t quite made the time commitment yet. They’re not quite ready to change their habits and be responsible for their workouts and results.

In an article by author Bill Phillips (Body for Life, Eating for Life),  he lists 7 Ways to Find Time for Fitness. These ideas are great for newbies, as well as workout veterans who need some inspiration to get going again.

#1. Watch Less TV- Lost and Idol are frequent discussion topics during stretches. And TV time is great for relaxing! But think about it this way: “The average American spends 30 hours a week watching TV (and people say they can’t even find 4 hours a week to exercise!).”

#2. Plan Ahead- Bill talks about making lists the night before and checking off your accomplishments. I take this a step futher by spending 10 minutes packing a lunch bag so I don’t just grab anything edible during the busy day, and laying out my gear so that getting up and going for a morning run takes no morning prep time at all. Pants, top, jacket, socks and shoes, headband, flashlight since it’s usually dark out still- knowing I took the time to get it ready helps me get up and use it, and keeps me from running up and down the stairs looking for things I lost and things I forgot, wasting time and starting my day annoyed at myself!

#3.  Exercise Regularly- Bill says, “Not only does exercise help give you more energy, it has also been scientifically proven to improve the quality of sleep…Do not, under any circumstances, skip workouts in an effort to save time. This “quasi solution” will backfire,” and many people’s experience will agree. Every success story I have read includes a description of that magnate, mogul or tycoon’s daily excercise routine.

#4. Consume a Nutritious Diet- You are what you eat! Do some research, consult an expert, and be firm in the grocery store.

#5. Eliminate Mindless Phone Chitchat- How much time do you spend on the phone each day? Now take a look at your minutes counter and see if your guess was accurate! Try to multitask while you talk- for example, you could exercise!

#6. Have a Sense of Urgency- Have a good reason to do something, and to do it quickly and efficiently. You’ll be able to get more done.

#7. Don’t Get Sick- Like you have a choice, right? But Bill makes a good point: “if you won’t make the time to be well, you’ll be forced to make the time to be sick!” How often has it happened that you run yourself ragged only to have some illness come on right at an important time- think weddings, graduations, vacations…  A few hours a week exercising and a few extra minutes to make healthy choices are a better use of your time than a few days in bed, or acting like the walking dead, not to mention the havoc a simple cold can wreak on a family!

Read the whole article here: http://www.successmagazine.com/7-Ways-to-Find-Time-for-Fitness/PARAMS/article/211/channel/221

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