Blog Post

Quarterly Newsletter - June 2019

Accelerate Pilates • June 2, 2019

Dear Pilates Family,

Summer Solstice is around the corner.  More hours of daylight = more hours of outdoor fun.  I spend extra time balancing out my body after biking, hiking or running.  Outdoor exercise challenges my core and that is when I need my joints to be aligned well to prevent flare ups of pain or unnecessary wear and tear on my joints.

I find that if I spend more time building my foundations in Pilates and balancing out my body, I can maintain good alignment and posture in daily life.   I practice my mantra: align the spine, activate the core and accelerate strength.  I feel lighter on my toes, more supported through my abdominal core and move with a more fluid gait.

Better alignment = Good Posture = Optimal Movement Patterns

It is a fact that if your body is in good alignment the muscles perform better, thereby allowing you to move more efficiently.  There is no better way to improve your alignment than with Pilates.  Here are some benefits to working on your alignment as you get more active over the summer months. 

Pilates to Improve Alignment

1. Improve alignment at the joints; reduce compression by improving muscle strength around the joint space.
Muscles serve as shock absorbents around a joint space. Muscle weakness, ligament laxity or malalignment around a joint can cause compression to your joint space.  This can wear down the soft cushioning in between the joint called cartilage and set you down the cyclical flow of faulty movement patterns due to joint pain.  

Joint compression <=> inflammation and pain <=> swelling <=> muscle inhibition surround the joint <=> faulty alignment patterns

How can Pilates help?
Break the pain cycle highlighted above.  Improve alignment with Pilates release work.  Find the muscles necessary for improving joint support and strengthen without causing more wear and tear. The Reformer is a perfect tool to improve strength without increasing forces on the joints and disc.  In fact, it decompresses the spine and improve the shock absorbing properties of the muscles at the hip and knee.
Build your core to help your legs have a proper framework to support them while walking and running.

2. Improve muscle force and power
Each muscle has an origin (where it starts) and an insertion (where it attaches).  If your body is not in the correct alignment chances are your muscles aren’t either.  Muscles contract or shorten to perform a motion.  They also lengthen to control motion.  If the alignment is altered, the muscle origin and insertion has been altered as well. This puts the muscle in a compromised position to work.  Subsequent activities performed in this compromised state can result in compensatory movement patterns.  

How can Pilates help?  
Use Pilates to build your foundations within your body and improve your alignment for focused, quality muscle recruitment.  Minimize compensatory motion and maximize efficient muscle use. Learn optimal positioning to maximize muscle strength for quality workouts.   Pilates will help generate more force in your weight-lifting workouts, power drills and boot camp.

3. Prevent Injury
If your body is balanced and in good alignment your joints and muscles are in a better position to be challenged to work.  This means decreasing your risk of overuse injuries such as tendinitis, muscle strains or disc compressions which would require more time and energy spent in rehab, on pain meds and possibly surgery.  This is a time consuming road you do not want to take.

How can Pilates help?  
Learn how Pilates movement can improve your performance and take your fitness program to the next level while preventing injury.  Schedule an Individual Assessment at Accelerate Pilates to see how you can learn alignment techniques to keep your body in a balanced, pain free state.  

Reminders
Terms and conditions
As we start the new year I have some updated policies.Please visit my website to review and acknowledge the terms and conditions and photography release for your 2019 Accelerate Pilates sessions.
Expiration date of packages
Packages will expire 90 days after the purchase date.  Classes not used in that timeframe will expire. In order to benefit from Pilates exercise and excel at the Pilates repertoire, consistency is key. Accelerate Pilates prides itself on improving performance and helping clients reach their strength goals. This can only occur if clients practice Pilates and develop a consistent routine.

Show some love!
As you know, Accelerate Pilates already stands out as a premiere Pilates studio because of the dedicated clients and the progress that is made on a weekly basis.  I would love to spread the word with your help!  Find me on Facebook or Instagram and “like” my pages.  

If you are seeing some great improvements in your day to day life, show some love on Facebook, Google or Yelp by writing a review.  This will help others find me!  Talk to your doctors, chiropractors, neighbors and friends on how Pilates has helped improved your health and wellness.  As an added bonus get 10% off  your next Pilates package with every referral!
June Updates

Summer Schedule
As the summer months roll around, vacations are lining up for some much needed R&R. Before you embark on your journey’s, please check your calendars and schedule your sessions as far out as possible. I will try my best to keep the current reformer and mat schedules. Thank you for your flexibility during the summer months.  


Beginners Pilates Drop-In!
Date: Last Wednesday of every Month
Time: 10:30AM
Cost: $40 (max 4)

Do you know a friend who is interested in building their core muscle strength but unsure of how Pilates can benefit them? I am offering a beginner drop in group class the last Wednesday of each month. I’ll give the new clients an overview of Pilates breath work, how to find the key muscles of the core on the mat and introduce the Pilates Reformer. The next session is Wednesday, June 26 at 10:30AM.
Big Gains within the Accelerate Family

It has been so gratifying watching my clients start their journey in Pilates and achieve such BIG, life changing milestones. To date, we have had over 100 pounds in weight loss goals met, completed 5K’s and acheived improvement of overall well-being and day to day activity. Postpartum clients have learned to heal their diastasis and build core strength, safely and efficiently. It’s only June! Laurie, a C6 spinal cord injury survivor, is one step closer to achieving her Pilates goals of walking with more core control and alignment. For the first time in 39 years she was able to blow up a balloon using her core muscles!

I admire your dedication to the Pilates practice and can’t wait to see what the next half of the year has in store for you. 

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    Goals achieved at the Brambleton Step Sisters 5K!

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    When you teach a C6 Spinal Cord Insury survivor to use her abdominals in Pilates to blow up a balloon for the first time in 39 years!

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