Studio pets

Practiced on my boyfriend and brought my little pocket parrot along. The little guy gets mad at me when I'm not around, so I stopped by my place and picked him up on the way to The Pilates Club. He sat so still and just watched quite contently. You could barely see him perched on the shelves.

The only thing that would have made it better was if I could dress him up in Halloween costumes and fall sweaters like Julie does for her studio pugs, Rosie and Mogley!

Who will be in good shape at the end of my training?

Our 100 hour test out is coming up! Can you believe it?! Time is flying by! Before you know it, it's going to be June and we will be finished with the 600 hour training! At least it will probably be June for me with taking time here and there off and enjoying the holidays...

Mom and I have been practicing and studying all the time. And of course, every conversation we have, Pilates is the subject for, at the bare minimum, 5 minutes. And I mean every conversation... Even came up when we went to see Footloose last weekend. Ridiculous. I know.

Back to the studying... I wish I had studied like this back when I was in college. Classes would have been a whole lot easier! Each week night I read through the principles of Pilates and the anatomy charts. And what do you know? The information is sticking! I now know the basic muscles and bones of the body. Sternocleidomastoid is probably the most fun muscle to say!

When it comes to practicing, I can't spend as much time as I would like to at the studio downtown. I'm still teaching a few group classes and I'm teaching at The Pilates Club. But I need someone to regularly practice the new stuff on. So, I got my boyfriend to be my practice client. Hehe. Poor guy! What a life... free Pilates classes for him. He committed to 5 hours a week! Needless to say, HE should be in good shape by the end of MY training.

50 Hours Down, 550 to go!!

When I put it like that, it sounds like I've barely started!  Morgan and I have been enjoying the first two weeks of training.  We are studying the foundational work for the first month.  We've learned, in detail, almost 40 exercises on the mat, reformer, tower, and high chair.  We have been observing these exercises being taught, we've been doing these exercises, and we've been teaching them.  We are living in the foundational work, or beginner systems.  Morgan even dreams about it, but I'll let her write about that.

We are also studying, studying, studying!!!  There is so much to learn that we didn't have to learn in our first certification.  We have to have all the exercises, the order of them, the number of reps, and the form memorized, which you would expect of us, but that's not all.  We need to know the basic bones of the body and the muscles.  We need to know the principles of Power Pilates teaching.  In other words, lots of memory work.  But this is GOOD!!!

It is amazing to me how even though I've been only doing the beginner systems myself for my own workouts, I've still managed to feel that I've been working out (ie - I'm a little sore!).  There is so much rich material in this work.  In observing Julie, our instructor, teach this system to clients in her practice, it's amazing to see how she can even push an advanced student hard in the "beginner" system.

In my own teaching, I've noticed that this is a challenge for both brand new clients and clients who have been working out with pilates for months.   I had the pleasure of teaching this work to a client I've been working with for four months.  Prior to today, I had only worked with this client in the more contemporary form of pilates, so it was fun to challenge her with this work in the order Joseph Pilates intended ... well to be technical for beginner systems ... Romana's order.

So what's the big deal about order?  Pilates is a method.  It's not designed to be a bunch of separate exercises performed in any which way you want.  It's not designed to isolate various muscle groups as if they all work separately.  No.  Pilates is meant to be a sequenced order of movements that integrate the body to work as a whole.  In this way pilates transforms the body creating improvement in posture, strength, stamina, flexibility, and an overall feeling of wellness.

In only 50 hours, I have become a better instructor.  I am still teaching a little, but I am practicing a lot.  I am working out a lot.  And I am observing a lot.  I have taken a step back from teaching so many hours per week to teaching only a few so that I can focus on my own education as an instructor.  On days like today when I work with clients instead of practicing on other instructors in the training program, I wish I wasn't taking this step back because my passion is in helping others progress through their practice, but I know this will benefit me and my clients alike.  If I didn't have this passion for teaching, I would be happy right where I am.  Pilates was life-changing for me (maybe sometime I'll tell you about that, but the short version is on our website), and I know that it is life-changing for others as well.

Training Update: Side Effects of Pilates

I am eating, living, and dreaming Pilates. Is that even possible? I already spent a lot of time with Pilates before, but now that I have entered additional training, I spend even more. I want to take the 100-hour test out in four weeks, but this means I am trying to fit in 25 hours per week of practicing, observing, doing, and teaching the method. (I do have a part time job) It's a good thing I love this crazy Joseph Pilates guy and his work. 

My first week is officially over: 21 hours done. Here are my top three side effects:

1. I'm dreaming about Pilates. Seriously... I dream that I am teaching past instructors and they are giving me feedback. The ironic thing is that I already know all the feedback... after all, I am the one dreaming. It's weird.

2. I am sitting taller at my desk. High on my sitbones.... or ischium as they are technically called.

3. I caught myself pulling my abs in and up as I pressed the clutch down while driving. (I was trying to keep my hips still as I pressed my foot away.) It's seriously almost just like the exercise "pumping" on the chair. 




This is normal right? :)

Until next time... 
Happy Pilates!

Morgan

Foundational work is important, too!

Our first weekend  of training is done! Wow! In 18 hours I learned so much! And now I have the next 100 hours to practice, observe and do what I learned: the beginner systerm. Yes. That's right! Only the beginner system. But let me tell you, this isn't only for beginners! By the end of the weekend, I was curled up in the fetal position because it was the only position my abdominals would be in without screaming at me!!! 

...Let me start at the beginning and explain a little.

Early spring or end of winter, I started taking duet or semi private classes at the Power Pilates training studio. First, I did this because I loved it and I couldn't get enough. Second, I knew I wanted to enter the training program in the fall! I took once a week from my favorite instructor (sorry, Mom, you're my second favorite), got 33-50% of her attention, took mat classes (whenever I was in town and not teaching), and then worked out the rest of the time on my own or in Mom's classes. 

Somewhere in the middle of summer, I stopped practicing on my own. I was traveling, I barely had time to do anything. My once-a-week class was no longer helping me advance in my practice, I was just maintaining what I had. I finally got my butt into gear after a-month-and-a-half slipped away from me and got myself back into classes. My schedule was never the same. At least I was working out 3-4 times a week, however random it was. 

And guess what! I wasn't about to change that routine in order to prepare for a weekend of constant Pilates! Eighteen hours to be exact. Nope. I worked out Monday through Thursday as per usual and then, on Friday, our comprehensive training began. And we learned, practiced and did (multiple times) the "beginner" routine. 

Our instructor was right, it is the foundation of Pilates!!!! Every more advanced, or as I like to say, "fancy" exercise is prepared for by this group of excerises. It's amazing. No wasting time. Just my style. But just because it is called beginner, does not mean it is only meant for beginners. Everybody can step back and get a whole lot from this routine. Especially if you do it multiple times! Yikes! Your abs will be screaming! And plus, my upper legs, or more specifically butt, was already on fire from whatever Pilates routine I did during the week.

Let me be serious for a second. The foundation of Pilates is one of the most important things your body needs to be capable of, not only doing, but also perfecting and getting deeper into. I am so excited to put the brakes on my own practice, step back, and really dive into the Pilates method, starting at the beginning .... the foundation. I hope you feel the same way, but don't expect this to be easy!


Morgan

Power Pilates Comprehensive training

Morgan and I started our comprehensive training with Power Pilates this weekend.  We are already certified by another organization and have been teaching for close to two years, but are really excited to pursue more training.  Pilates is a discipline where you can continue to learn indefinitely.  If you feel that you have mastered the discipline, quite honestly, you are taking from the wrong instructor.

Yes, we are both pilates instructors and we guide many people through challenging workouts.  We have a great rapport with our clients.  We look forward to seeing them, and they look forward to seeing us.  Just this week, a client who had been out of town for a couple weeks came to my class.  I had her working hard and smiling while she was doing it.  When I said something that made her smile, she said, "Oh yes, this is what I've missed!"

I gave this same client homework one day.  She is so excited by her own pilates practice, that the next time she came to class, she gave me her report on what she learned.  She puts a lot into her practice and she gets a lot out of it.  She is gaining strength from week to week.  She is learning more all the time, and is never getting bored because it's always fresh.  She is always being challenged at her level.

Even though Morgan and I are both instructors, we are also both students.  Unless your name is Joseph Pilates, and I know it's not since we lost him many years ago, you are a student and never stop learning the method.  In fact, I really don't think he ever stopped learning, or maybe in his case, his genius creativity is what never stopped working.

As pilates students, Morgan and I take pilates from someone with more experience than we have.  She always asks us how our bodies are doing that day, so if we have a limitation, she can adjust our workout accordingly.  We always leave feeling better than when we went in.  Like my own clients, we are also challenged each week to reach new levels and the material is always fresh, even though Joseph Pilates invented it many years ago.

We are taking our Power Pilates certification from this same instructor.  It is wonderful.  We are learning so much, and it's always a treat for us, and for our clients, when we spend time deepening our understanding of the method.