Workshops
Our workshop programme has been carefully designed to enable you to experience the benefits of Pilates for a concentrated period. Allowing more time facilitates a quicker progression of this invaluable skill which can then be easily adapted, within your lifestyle, to suit your individual needs.
Our small group work removes the intimidation of large classes, giving you the confidence to fully engage in sessions and therefore achieve maximum benefit. Limited group size allows us to give you more individual attention and advice, ensuring you conclude your workshop with a full understanding of how and why Pilates works for you.
Which workshop will benefit you most?
- Gardeners - Monday 28th June 2010 - Mill Dene Gardens, Cotswolds
- Office Workers
- Tradesmen
- Walkers
PILATES FOR YOUR LIFE
One of Pilates-et-al's key aims is to help you achieve your goals by demonstrating how easy it is to integrate Pilates into your everyday life. As well as improving your general health and well being, Pilates techniques can be used to assist you with most daily tasks. Being conscious of how to use these simple techniques regardless of whether you are sitting, standing or walking enhances your postural awareness and bio mechanical efficiency, subsequently reducing the risk of injury on associated muscular skeletal structures.
Our Pilates for Life workshops can either be delivered with like minded people through small group work or individually with private tuition.
Pilates for Gardeners - Monday 28th June 2010 Mill Dene Gardens
Maximise your potential as well as your garden's! Use this workshop to learn the principles of Pilates and how to apply them to your gardening!
- Increase your core strength and trunk stability
- Reduce backache and the risk of injury
- Improve flexibility to assist you with reaching and stretching
- Improve joint mobility, increase manual dexterity, reduce wear and tear on joints
- Learn how to apply correct lifting skills
- Increase muscular strength and endurance
- Learn quick and easy exercises to prepare your body and recover from gardening
Office Pilates
Improve your office posture and ergonomics whether at home or at work. Analyse your own posture, understand how poor posture affects the body and initiates muscular skeletal strains and pains! See our Corporate Page - click here.
- Reduce neck and shoulder tension
- Alleviate backache
- Improve your postural alignment whilst sitting
- Improve your general posture
- Improve your work station ergonomics
- Learn a quick fix for tension
Pilates for Tradesmen
Calling all builders, joiners, electricians and plumbers - this is for you!!
Maximise your greatest tool - your body!! Treat your body with the same respect as your tools! Reduce the risk of injury, time off work and loss of pay! Use and apply the principles of Pilates to your work.
- Increase your core strength and trunk stability
- Reduce backache and the risk of injury
- Improve flexibility to assist you with reaching and stretching
- Improve joint mobility, increase manual dexterity, reduce wear and tear on joints
- Learn how to apply correct lifting skills
- Increase muscular strength and endurance
- Learn quick and easy exercises to prepare your body for your work
Don't be shy - give it a try!
Pilates for Walkers
Walking and hiking have their own merits as fantastic health related activities. Combining these low impact activities with the principles of Pilates will assist in developing muscular strength and endurance as well as improve your aerobic efficiency.
Learn how to prepare your body for walking. Maximise this activity to improve your core strength and trunk stability. Improve your body awareness with regards to the changing terrain, reducing the risk of injury. Understand how to conclude a more strenuous walk or hike and limit the risk of injury. Use this workshop to increase the health benefit and enjoyment that this activity already gives.
- Improve muscular flexibility - stride or step further when necessary
- Increase joint mobility - step further or higher
- Improve walking posture and reduce risk of associated muscular skeletal tension
- Increase core strength and assist in the protection of the spine
- Avoid common postural faults associated with 'pack' carrying
- Increase respiratory capacity
HEALTH SPECIFIC PILATES
Advancing Age and Pilates
"If, at the age of 30, you are stiff and out of shape, you are old. If, at 60, you are supple and strong, then you are young."
Joseph Pilates - Originator
Use it or lose it! Join this comprehensive, bespoke workshop and make the difference to your life!
It is readily accepted that regular exercise, even initiated late in life, will help fight the effects of aging. A lifetime of regular aerobic and resistance exercise "is the ideal."
Cardiovascular exercise combined with Pilates is the perfect model. Most exercises are low impact and executed with precise control. Ensuring the correct technique is achieved, reduces the risk of injury associated with more vigorous types of exercise. Although vigorous exercise may provide more cardiovascular benefits, moderate physical activity is nearly as beneficial. In other words, any form of exercise -- even in advanced age -- can serve as primary prevention to maintain good physical health.
- Fight age related conditions - arthritis, osteoarthritis
- Increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis
- Improve muscular strength - how much you can lift
- Improve muscular endurance - keep going for longer
- Improve joint mobility
- Aid balance & agility
- Increase core strength and protect your back
- Increase flexibility - reach further
- Improve posture
Joseph Pilates himself was probably the best single advertisement for the benefits of the exercise technique that bears his name, since he was lively, active and still teaching until his death - from a fire at his studio - at the age of 87.
Arthritis - Osteoarthritis - Fibromyalgia - Rheumatoid Arthritis
Use this specialist workshop to understand how Pilates can help the various types of arthritis. Practise essential exercises that will improve your quality of life. Gain advice and focus on your own individual condition. Learn how easy it is to implement these Pilates techniques into your lifestyle and make a radical difference to your life!
The low impact nature of Pilates is perfect for arthritic sufferers. Unlike many other types of exercise, the slow execution of Pilates exercises enables participants to monitor and control their efforts, enabling them to stop before inducing any pain on the afflicted areas.
- Improve joint mobility and increase range of movement
- Increase blood circulation - interchange of fresh, oxygenated blood and removal of waste products - to and from muscles, bones and joints
- Improve bone density and strength
- Reduce likelihood of bone brittleness
- Alleviate muscle stiffness and improve muscle flexibility
- Reduce wear and tear on weight bearing joints
- Improve posture, reducing unnecessary stresses on skeletal structures and joints
- Aid relaxation and restful sleep
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and RSI
Recommended by The Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Association, Pilates can be used to inhibit the causes of RSI conditions such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
Poor posture, ergonomics, stress and overly used, repetitive movement patterns can be improved by implementing Pilates techniques into daily routines.
This workshop will focus on the underpinning causes of the condition and how to use Pilates techniques to rectify them.
Osteoporosis
Use this invaluable workshop to prevent and treat Osteoporosis!
Understand the nature of this common disease and use Pilates exercise to assist with preventing and treating it. See Advancing Age and Pilates workshop - click here.
- Limit the onset of this degenerative, silent disease
- Understand how the right exercise helps Osteoporosis
- Gain confidence with appropriate Pilates exercise
- Reduce the risk of injury associated with more vigorous, inappropriate types of exercise
- Increase bone density and blood circulation
- Reduce the risk of bone fractures
Pilates for Pregnancy - Pre & Post
Ante Natal
- Prepare you and your body for this precious event
- Improve your ante natal posture
- Alleviate associated back problems
- Improve your labour breathing technique
- Aid relaxation
- Assist with natural childbirth
- Supplement any existing exercise programme
Post Natal
- Return your body back to its pre pregnancy shape
- Improve your post natal posture
- Aid the repair of your pelvic floor
- Aid C-section recovery
- Re-educate and strengthen weak abdominals
Understand how and why Pilates will help during the immense physical change your body will or has gone through during pregnancy. Learn basic techniques and adaptations of exercises required as your body changes shape during pregnancy. Focus on essential ante and post natal exercises.
Postural Faults and Pilates - Kyphosis - Lordosis - Scoliosis
Kyphosis
The 'S' shape curvature of the spine is considered normal. Postural Kyphosis (pronounced ki-fO-sis) is an increased posterior curve of the thoracic spine usually caused by poor postural habits.
Extremely common, this progressive condition is usually initiated by 'slouching' the shoulders causing the Pectoral muscles of the chest to shorten. The weight of the arms being forwards of the normal skeletal alignment causes the upper (thoracic) spine to bend forwards.
Lordosis
The 'S' shape curvature of the spine is considered normal. Lordosis is an increased forward curvature of the lumbar spine usually caused by poor posture and/or repetitive activity that mimics an excessive arch in the lower back, for example - gymnastics. The pelvis usually tilts forward causing a shortening in the hip flexor and spinal extensor muscles. The abdominal muscles are lengthened.
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is an abnormal lateral (to the side) curvature of the spine. Increased curvatures to the side place additional stresses on the vertebrae and their discs, as well as affecting the supporting muscular structures. Postural alignment is lost and often results in associated back pain.
All of the Pilates workshops focus on correct postural alignment and rectifying muscular imbalances. Postural re-education combined with specific Pilates exercises will address these conditions, providing long term lifestyle changes and increased quality of life.
PILATES TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE YOUR SPORT
Pilates is an integral part of many sports elites training programmes including the New Zealand All Blacks, the England Rugby and Cricket Teams, and most Premiership Football Teams. Its beneficial effects have become a superior method of cross training for athletes.
"Athers suggested I try daily Pilates exercises. He swore by them."
This advice was received by Andrew Flintoff, England fast bowler, from Mike Atherton, former England cricket captain.
The application of Pilates in sport can be use to :
- To reduce the risk of injury
- Aid recovery after injury
- Improve muscular flexibility and joint mobility
- Increase muscular strength
- Improve respiration efficiency
- Assist the development of specific sport related skills - agility, balance,
co-ordination, speed
All sports have their own key patterns of movement. Repeated bio mechanical use of these movement patterns, as required by top athletes, can result in muscular imbalance. Less relevant muscle groups can become weak and inefficient, with the more predominant muscles becoming bulky and tight. Pilates et al's holistic approach focuses on the muscular skeletal system as a whole aiming to rebalance such idiosyncrasies, and improve postural alignment.
A key element of any Pilates training programme is to develop the strength of the deep core abdominal muscles improving trunk stability. This in turn supports the lower back reducing the risk of injury. Implementing this basic Pilates principles and working from a strong core acts as an essential base for all other training techniques.
Regardless of the sport you play Pilates-et-al will work with you to provide a bespoke solution for your needs.
Our sport workshops can be delivered either of two ways:
Sport Specific Workshop
A bespoke Pilates workshop aiming to assist skill development of one specific sport or a few sports that may have similar needs ie: Racquet sports.
Integrated Sports Workshop
A workshop using Pilates principles that can then be applied to improve any sport.
Climbing
Pilates has become an integral part of cross training for climbers of today. Whether you climb just for fun or take your sport more seriously, there is no doubt in this game that the harder you climb, the greater the stress on your body and the more risk of injury.
Applying the holistic approach of Pilates will increase your general body awareness; tune you into its finer mechanics, enabling you to sense its scope as well as its limitations. Lack of flexibility and muscular imbalances are the primary causes of climbing injuries. Pilates works on the muscular skeletal system as a whole, aiming to rebalance it and improve its general functional ability.
Practised regularly Pilates will improve your flexibility enabling you to reach higher. Applying core strength principles whilst on the rock will give you reserve time to plan your next sequence of moves. Correct use of breath helps to calm you when under pressure. Improving your general muscular strength, supports your skill related muscles so that your body can perform more efficiently, helping you to achieve the 'route' goals you have set.
Cricket
"Aspects of Pilates are used in our training all the time..."
Nigel Stockill, head biomechanics and physiologist for the England Cricket Board
Used by many top cricketers, Pilates provides key benefits for both batsmen and bowlers.
Batsmen spend long periods at the crease, in an unnatural stance that requires forward flexion of the spine, often resulting in muscle soreness and back ache. Both Mike Atherton, the former England captain and Graham Thorpe have used Pilates as part of their rehabilitation to recover from injuries and prevent future ones.
Bowlers either try to propel the ball at extreme speed, or to use the angle of the body to create swing, or to employ the shoulders and wrist to impart spin. All bowling actions demand smoothness, economy, rhythm and balance. They also require accurate alignment to enable the body to withstand the force of landing on the front foot and rotating through the spine. This 'mixed action' is of particular concern to the health conscious coach.
Pilates training assists the bowler with body alignment, making him more conscious of how to keep the feet side-on to the wicket, in one direction, and the upper body facing the batsman in another direction.
This sport specific workshop will assess your own posture see Postural Appraisal - click here and act as a benchmark to devise appropriate Pilates exercises to help you become a better batsman or bowler, as well as reduce the risks of injury associated with this sport.
Cycling
Recommended by Roadcycling.com Pilates is an excellent addition to the cyclist's training programme to combat the poor posture cyclists have to adopt during their sport. The modern bike design, mountain and road race, requires a hunched posture which is biomechanically inefficient with regards to health:
- The torso is placed low over the cross bar causing excessive flexion of the lumbar and thoracic spine
- The head is placed low over the front wheel causing shortening of the back neck muscles (hyperextension) in order to see where you are going
- The pelvis is tilted forward on the seat
- The hamstrings and pectoral (chest) muscles become short
The main focus during the Pilates exercises is on correct postural alignment, particularly the position of the pelvis, this will help to off set the effects of the cyclist's usual posture. Imbalances are addressed strengthening the less dominant muscles whilst stretching the tight, shortened ones. Utilizing the deep core abdominal muscles will assist with protecting the back.
Use this Pilates workshop to enhance your body awareness and learn efficient patterns of movement. Restore your postural alignment by elongating the spine, opening up the chest and stabilising the shoulders. Ease and prevent back pain with core training. Relieve tension from sitting for long periods in a biomechanically unsound position.
Football & Rugby
"Move smarter, not harder..."
The simple fact alone that Pilates aims to develop a stronger, more flexible body without an increase in muscle size makes it an attractive method of cross training for Football athletes. The focus is on control and not on maximum load therefore reducing the emphasis of training to increase muscle size and bulk.
With both football and rugby demanding rapid directional changes, often at near-maximum pace, an inflexible physique is unhelpful. Rugby forwards must also possess the ability to deliver controlled power from unbalanced body positions adopted in the scrum. Hamstring tears are common in both sports.
Follow the Welsh Rugby Union who advocate Pilates exercise, and have long incorporated it into their match preparation and rehabilitation programmes after injuries.
- Strengthen the less dominant muscle groups aiding correct postural alignment
- Improve agility, co-ordination and balance
- Increase muscle flexibility and range of movement
- Enhance core strength and increase trunk stability
- Reduce risk of injury
- Reduce muscular tension
- Increase joint mobility
Golf
Golf, like Pilates, is about stability. The whole body action of the golfer's swing stems from stabilising the trunk and holding the position long enough to play through a shot, without the body buckling or twisting.
Golf, like Pilates, is about focus and 'getting in the groove' - repeating similar movements efficiently, effectively and precisely. Practising Pilates will increase this mind body connection maximising your concentration skills.
Golf, like Pilates, is about core strength, movement from the centre of the body...
"Precise movements, tiny margins..."
A small improvement in a golfer's shoulder flexibility, for example, can make all the difference between a drive from the tee veering into the rough or going straight onto the green!
In this skill specific workshop we address the need for excellent rotation around the spine while maintaining stability through the deep core stabilising muscles. Developing shoulder stability with power enables the player to control a shot with sufficient strength and flexibility to control direction and drive the ball down the fairway
Racquet Sports - Badminton - Squash - Tennis
"Pilates is the reason that he no longer groans when playing tennis."
Martin Amis, writer, who does practices Pilates twice a week
"Pilates helps with a lot of injury prevention. I'd recommend it to anyone."
Elena Baltacha, one of Britain's top women players, spends an hour a day doing Pilates
These one sided sports load stress on the muscular skeletal system, resulting in a physique that is out of balance and more susceptible to injury, particularly on the dominant side. Repetitive, inefficient patterns of movement combined with the quest for power, often result in shoulder injuries. 'Tennis elbow', or inflammation of muscle tissue and ligaments at the base of the elbow, is caused by chronic twisting of the arm plus repetitive shocks to the bony protrusions of the outer elbow.
Practising Pilates will help to minimise muscular imbalances by strengthening the less dominant muscles, which in turn will assist with supporting the skeleton and promote good posture, as well as reduce the risk of injury. Developing your core strength will stabilise the lower body whilst delivering powerful swing actions from the upper body. Increased flexibility, with mobility, will enhance agility and reaction time. More efficient breathing patterns will assist the player with remaining calm during pressured play.
The Squash Player Magazine supports, and features, a full Pilates programme.
Our workshop will analyse your posture and provide you with bespoke Pilates exercises to train your body more uniformly, while strengthening the deep core abdominal muscles, required for a stable base. Addressing flexibility through the shoulders and upper back while lengthening the tighter chest muscles will boost your power and range of motion.
Riding
Complimenting riding with a Pilates programme will help riders use their bodies in a more healthy and harmonious way whilst on horseback.
The 'classical seat' enables the weight of the rider to reach the horse in a straight line. This minimises discomfort to the horse, while giving security and comfort to the rider along with the ability to guide the horse with ease and efficiency. Since a rider must cope with a horse moving both vertically and horizontally, core strength is vital to inhibit injury. A well drilled rider and horse should work together as one.
Use this workshop to improve movement awareness, build core strength, as well as increase flexibility, grace and balance. Reduce lower back ache by learning how to effectively stabilise your trunk whilst moving your legs. Develop correct postural alignment on and off the horse.
Running
Running classically demonstrates a repetitive movement pattern - a high impact activity that repeatedly loads the lumbar sacral spine by up to two to three times the individual's body weight. Strengthening the abdominal and spinal musculature actually enforces the protective mechanisms that our body has developed in order to dissipate stress across the lumbar spine.
Follow the practices of other runners - New York Road Runners Club - and use this Pilates workshop to improve your posture and running style, making it smooth and light. Let us show you how to rebalance your muscular skeletal system, develop core strength to protect your back, maximize your breathing skills and improve flexibility. Promote the mind body connection to help you tune in to how your feet connect with the terrain ensuring you adapt your technique to the challenges of your run.
Skiing & Snowboarding
Applying Pilates principles to these 'adrenalin rush' sports will reduce the high risk of injuries to the annual skier. The average level of fitness required is not usually skill specific. Poorly prepared individuals put themselves at risk of getting some sort of injury, be it a mild muscle strain or something more debilitating!
With this workshop we will show you how to adequately prepare yourself for time on the slopes. We aim to improve your biomechanical efficiency by developing your core strength and trunk stability. Increasing your body awareness and postural alignment will help you to become more fluid with your sport's movement patterns. Opening up the muscles of your chest, with good shoulder stability, will help you to use your arms in a more sinuous motion. Increasing your general flexibility and joint mobility provides you with a greater range of motion limiting the risk of injury. The mind body connection promoted in Pilates will improve your neuromuscular response patterns helping you to twist and turn as quickly as the terrain demands.
Quick and easy warm up and cool down exercises to use whilst out on the slopes completes this comprehensive workshop.
"Get the most out your sport. Use this workshop to prepare or even repair post injury."
Swimming
Swimming is probably one of the safest and most effective methods of health related exercise.
However poor technique, adopted by most leisure time swimmers, can lead to postural problems and associated muscular tension. Holding the head out of the water during breast-stroke, a style used by most recreational swimmers, is impossible to maintain for long periods of time and can result in neck tension that can affect the whole body's postural alignment. Using Pilates techniques, before and after swimming, will open up the cervical vertebrae and lengthen the spine helping to counteract this tension.
Pilates exercises are performed at a slow deliberate pace, employ appropriate breathing patterns and promote attention to detail. This approach translates well to the pool where you should focus on breathing, body orientation, maintaining a steady pace as well as grace, flow and balance.
In this workshop core stability training combined with general flexibility exercises will improve your technique in the water. Effective use of breathe will increase your lung capacity enabling you to swim for longer. Our postural appraisal will help you to focus on your own idiosyncrasies and use bespoke exercises to correct them.
