Have you tried using Kettlebells for your workout program? According to the American Council on Exercise, Kettlebells are a fantastic way to build strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance quickly and effectively.
Enjoy a cardio and strength conditioning workout in a short 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes on a treadmill and another 30 minutes lifting weights. The time savings alone for those days when you’re wondering how you’re going to get a workout in is great inspiration to give Kettlebell training a try!
Plus, the calorie burn for working out with Kettlebells is huge! Approximately 20.2 calories a minute. Which is equivalent to running at a 6-minute a mile pace or cross-country skiing uphill at a speedy pace!
I posted a blog article related to the topic of reducing neck strain during Pilates matwork and ab training few weeks ago. Here’s a new video post in my Core Training series to discuss the same issue.
Neck strain, and occasionally pain, is something that is common during Pilates Matwork and general abdominal conditioning programs. And while feeling some work in the neck while those muscles are getting stronger, might be a good thing… When you’re really wanting to work on strengthening your abs, it’s a challenge to focus when you’ve got more pain in your neck than work in your belly!
Discover a very important tip that can help you reduce neck pain and improve core fitness for all your Pilates exercises and general fitness abdominal training workouts in this third video from my Core Training Tips series:
One of the biggest challenges for beginner (and sometimes) experienced Pilates students is being able to easily execute a full straight legged sit-up on the Pilates Mat exercises the Roll-Up and Neck Pull.
This modified ½ sit-back exercise is a great one to help gain strength and mobility to roll backwards to the mat with control, AND be able to efficiently roll back up to a sit – articulating through the spine and using the abs.
Discover fitness tips on how to execute a great half-sit back, and how this exercise can help strengthen your abs and improve your core fitness with this second video in my Core Training Tips series:
If you are looking for ways to strengthen your core, and increase abdominal strength for Pilates exercises and sit-ups. Here is some information that you might find useful to improve your technique and get more out of your Pilates and fitness workouts!
Here’s the question…Are you using more of the fronts of your thighs, or your abs when you’re doing abdominal training exercises like a sit-up, crunch, or curl? Or on Pilates Mat exercises like the Hundred, Roll Up, Series of 5, or Neck Pull?
Our quadriceps muscles are so used to doing lots of work, gripping to support us, that it can cause the abs to slack off a bit and not have to work quite as hard. And while our goal might be to do core training to achieve a set of 6-pack abs, or to help keep our lower back injury-free, it’s not going to happen if our legs are doing most of the work on our sit-up exercises!
Check out my series of new core training tips videos on this topic and discover ways to improve abdominal strength, Pilates exercise technique, and fitness:
I’ve been on a knee strengthening kick lately with my Pilates workouts, cardio fitness activities, and weight training program, all because I took a hard fall inline skating with my puppy a few weeks ago. So I’ve really been trying to pay attention to my habits and here’s what I’ve discovered and how I’ve been compensating because of knee pain.
Standing on one leg to reduce knee pain is one problem, but I began to notice an even bigger problem with my squatting versus plopping technique when I sit down in a chair and even on the toilet, ( I know…more info than you needed!)   BUT I believe that I might not be the only one out there who is falling down to sit down so the muscles around the knee don’t have to work.
In the long run…this bad habit will actually make the knees weaker, so it’s really important to pay attention to if you squat or plop. Good knees, bad knees, everybody’s knees will benefit from better squatting technique during Pilates Exercises, Weight room workouts, and just getting up and down out of a chair all day in daily life!
Check out this video for a few fitness tips to improve your body alignment, muscle use, and technique for stronger and healthier knees!
The KG Curl exercises is a wonderful warm-up exercise for any Pilates or fitness workout. It can really help you learn how to get more bend out of your body to achieve a good curled up position. The result… more work in your abdominal muscles, and less strain in your neck!
Use the exercise tips on this video to help you improve your ab curl position for Pilates Matwork exercises like the Hundred, Roll Up, Neck Pull, and Teaser. And at the gym, this easy-to-do KG Curl exercise can help improve your technique for sit-ups on an incline bench,  crunches on a ball, and with all your ab training exercises during aerobics class.
Have Fun Improving your Ab Strength with the KG Curl!
It’s interesting the difference in perspective between traditional “Aerobic” class ab work and Pilates ab exercises. You know how everybody always complains that their neck hurts? Or they feel more work in their neck, chest, and shoulders than they do in their middle, which means it takes tons of reps of a variety of targeted exercises before you “feel” like you’ve really worked your abs?
While with Pilates Matwork, once you figure it out… you only do 3-5 of most exercises, and with good body mechanics your abs are well worked with this very low number of reps, and the variety of Pilates exercises you do are not only working your abdominals, but the rest of your body as well!
One of the differences between general fitness programs and Pilates training is in the focused concentration on working the body through a full range of motion, and developing good spine articulation from the head to the tailbone. Our back should easily and naturally bend forward, backwards, sideways, and twist at every single segment. The Pilates system puts the body through all of these different ranges of motion with every workout which is why it’s such a beneficial training method for whole-body health.
Why Does Where You Look During an Exercise Matter?
The American College of Sports Medicine recently published a forecast of fitness trends for 2010, and it’s wonderful to see that Pilates training is near the top of the list!
While Pilates was ranked #9 in the ACSM report, by my assessment of the top ten fitness trends it appears to me that many, if not all, are distinctly related to Pilates training. In fact I can see application of the Pilates system and Pilates principles for whole-body health to every single one of the top trends.
Many thanks to guest author Sherri Betz of TheraPilates® Physical Therapy Clinic in Santa Cruz, CA for letting me share this great information for Osteoporosis and exercise on my Centerworks.com/blog.  Sherri  recently published this article in her newsletter, and then added extra insights once the questions started flooding in!
I encourage you to keep reading below and pass this very important information along to your fellow Pilates teachers and friends to better understand what types of exercise are most beneficial for increasing bone density and avoiding the risk and health challenges of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis and Osteopenia do not have to be debilitating, and can be reversed! But it takes the right types of exercise and activities to facilitate bone growth. Thanks Sherri for sharing your expertise!
It’s not difficult to believe that the American Council on Exercise (ACE) has named technology-based fitness as one of it’s top trends for 2009. And that ACE has commissioned several studies over the past three years to evaluate the benefits of using video games for an exercise program. I posted an article about my Wii Fit experience awhile back, and it appears that this trend towards TV Wii fitness just might be here to stay! Is it really effective? Read more about how to Get fit, the Wii way, and see the controversy over the effectiveness of using things like the Wii as an option for fun and fitness. If you are doing ANYTHING, it’s better than nothing! Definitely your results are going to vary based on your conditioning level. I’m sure that there are lots of folks out there like Sherry Bridson in this Wii Fit article who have seen amazing results getting fit with her home video exercise program. But I have to wonder…is it the actual Wii Fit program, or her dedication and consistency to spend 90 minutes a day playing interactive health related video games? What would her results have been if she’s walked, jogged, lifted weights, done Pilates, rode a bike, or any other combination of fitness programs for a consistent 90 minutes a day??? Find things you enjoy doing for health and exercise and DO THEM REGULARLY! Whether it’s Wii or enjoying the wonders of the great outdoors!
Have you tried using Kettlebells for your workout program? According to the American Council on Exercise, Kettlebells are a fantastic way to build strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance quickly and effectively.
