Tag Archives: conditioning

Keep Those Wrists Flexible And Limber

Do These Wrist Exercises For Greater Mobility

You don’t have to be a student of body weight training to get plenty of benefit from these easy to perform wrist exercises. They can be done just about anywhere, anytime, and the results could offer significant gains in your Pilates practice and everyday living.

Our wrists are complex structures comprised of bone, tendon, muscle, and nerves. Keeping them loose and limber while we go about our often repetitive daily activities, often using some form of computer or tablet, is a challenge.

This brief video is a great guide to keeping our wrists healthy and in top notch condition.

This Client Really Gets A Workout!

Ana rides her bike - weather permitting - to every workout

Ana’s Portuguese heritage is right at home as she cycles around the Beaches and mid-Pinellas, doubling up on her Pilates workout benefit by riding to the studio from her Madeira Beach home.

Making The Most of Every Pilates Session

Ana – “Tita” to her friends – is one of my favorite clients. This Lisbon, Portugal, native and former pro basketball player loves our weather and enjoys riding her bike the short distance to the studio from her nearby Madeira Beach home whenever she can.

Ana estimates she rides 20-plus miles daily. Typical trips include the grocery, banking business, and checking her mail at the beach post office, all part of her route around town.

The 2-wheeled commute to her weekly YPL workouts means crossing the intracoastal waterway, with its panoramic post card view of Boca Ciega Bay in front, the Gulf of Mexico behind, and a steady stream of leisure boat traffic passing below the Tom Stuart Causeway bridge draw span.

Ana works out with her friend during a YPL mat class.

Exercise Bonus – A Ride With A View

Not only does Ana add more international flavor to the studio, her Pilates enthusiasm can be contagious. Just ask her workout partner and local friend Vinkica after they teamed up for Classical mat sessions (above). And yes, it is all about the abs! Note the extra challenge holding the ball between the knees.

Although riding bikes for general transportation is much more common in Europe, Ana says she enjoys it here more than when she travels home to Portugal several times a year. She likes that she’s saving gas, helping the environment, and improving her health with this pleasant exercise every time she heads out the door.

While in the U.S. her travels include trips north to Tallahassee to visit her son, currently a business and finance major at Florida State University. Meanwhile her daughter helps run the family’s businesses back home in Portugal.

Runners: Why Conditioning Is Important

If You’re A Runner This Concerns You

A well rounded fitness program often involves jogging, running, and of course PIlates. The web site Anatomy In Motion offers a variety of ways to monitor what goes on when you’re exercising; here are two very helpful infographics that describe the potential problems faced by runners and how to avoid becoming a statistic.

common injuries suffered by runners

exercises that help prevent runners injuries