Hi, my name is Kirsty, and I am the newest member of the Bend + Mend team in Sydney’s CBD! I am a fully-qualified Physiotherapist and Pilates Instructor, and if I am to be honest, I have let a few things go. I have taken the last 3 months off work, off pilates training, off the gym, as I have been travelling on the other side of the world…and all of this is finally catching up with me. My upper back is sore; I have started to get a few headaches; my lower back is sore if I walk for too long; and in general, I just feel tight!
So over the next 6 weeks, I am going to train regularly using Equipment-based Pilates in our Bend + Mend studio to improve my posture and reduce my pain/discomfort…hopefully you can watch me progress as the weeks go by. In this series of blogs I am going to talk about what it is that we look for during a postural assessment, I will break down some of the important postural changes that we are trying to make with Pilates, and hopefully give you a better understanding of Pilates in its history and fundamental principles.
To start with, let’s break down the fundamental principles of Pilates:
Relaxation- to help body awareness and stress relief
Centering- bringing an awareness to the core, movement is initiated and supported by the core
Concentration- intelligent thoughtful exercise, increased reliance of neural pathways to adapt
Breathing- assists tension relief, to prevent bracing
Balance- efficient muscle use, strength vs length
Control – quality of movement being more important than quantity, using proximal stability to stabilise peripherally
Co-ordination- between breathing, stabilisation and movement
Alignment- pelvic and spinal position that allows
Flowing movements- movement with grace, precise, without strain
So the next time you are at your Pilates class, look for all of these things, see if you change the way you feel your muscles while adjusting your breathing, slow down your repetitions to focus in on control, and notice how you leave the class feeling strong and worked but also at the same time elongated and in alignment.
The next blog in this series titled What is Pilates? gives you some more insight into how it all came about.
If you would like to try Pilates with us contact us here at Bend + Mend in Sydney’s CBD today!
