Tag Archives: Exercises

Putting the moves on while at the airport lounge

Posted on May 7, 2010 | 2 comments


This is what I’m talking about.

We sit all day. In the car, at work and home, and for hours at the airport and then onto the plane. We take the brunt of demands, sitting down.  We get agitated, crabby and stressed, but do we really do anything about it? Take some action? No.

I, for one, am not going to take this siting down anymore, and I ‘m starting at the airport.

And why not? More and more people exercise at the airport. While you might be the lone spectacle at first, others will soon get brave and follow suit. A call to action takes time.  It’s kind of amazing long we ignore the instinct to move around and stretch.

Here is a New York Times article from this week about exercise at the airport and suggestions for seated stretches.

Below are my recommendations when you are hanging around the airport lounge:

1. Modified Arching

Extension with arm push

don't do this

This is the antithesis of sitting all day and is very important for spine flexibility.

Lying on your belly. YES. In the airport. Arms are out to the sides and bend your elbows. Palms are flat and all 5 fingers are touch floor. Press Up. Sense the force of the push traveling up your arms, into your back and down your spine. Continue to push your arms down and out into the floor and raise your head and chest off the floor. Keep the back of your neck long. Let your chest feel broad, your neck free, and your spine feel long. The shoulder blades should be drawn together behind you. The arms stay straight. Hold and take deep breaths. If you feel pain in your back, walk your hands out in front of you further, or prop your belly with your jacket. If you feel pain in gluts or legs. Stop.

2. Cat and Cow

On all fours (hands and knees), draw your nose towards the knees, round the spine and drawing the belly in. Next, extend your neck and tailbone up towards the sky, allowing the spine to sink towards the ground. Take deep breaths and move back and forth through these two positions, rounding and arching the back.

3. Roll Downs against the Wall

These feel great and provide a much needed spine stretch. Keep your tailbone fixed to the wall and follow the pictures and images below:

drape and reax the neck. Tailbone stays fixed!

drape and reax the neck. Tailbone stays fixed!

Roll up by lifting each bone away from the next as it presses into the wall. Create space between vertebre.

Roll up by lifting each bone away from the next as it presses into the wall. Create space between vertebre.

Arms can remain by your sides as well. Let the spine slide upwards against the wall, stretcing towards the ceiling. Enjoy taller posture!

Arms can remain by your sides as well. Let the spine slide upwards against the wall, stretcing towards the ceiling. Enjoy taller posture!

Don’t be shy. It’s for your own mind and body. Join in the movement revolution and I’ll see you at the airport. We can exchange knowing glances as we lay on the airport floor…


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The Gardener’s Workout

Posted on March 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s officially Spring…The season of Golf and Gardening backs pains.

Warm rays from the sun bring the need to weed, rake and plant. The one thing my gardening clients have taught me is that pain will not hold them back. The gardening must go on.

When engrossed in an activity like gardening we often lose personal awareness, which is partly why it is so appealing. Nevertheless, by the end of the day we regain that awareness quickly when a stiff back or neck presents itself.

What to do?

Here are a few tips and exercises to keep you in peak gardening condition for as long as possible.

– Use a Timer!

Get the timer out of the kitchen and bring it with you. Every 20 – 30 minutes, stop. Do some stretches. Change position and/or activity. Is it annoying to have to stop and move around? Of course it is, but keep in mind this will save you some aches, pains, and several more years of gardening.

– Mix it up

As mentioned above, change position and activity regularly. Multi-task. Instead of focusing on getting the yard raked in one day, spread it out along with a few other “have tos” over several days. This way your body is not stuck in one position or a repetitive motion for hours on end.

– 7th Inning Stretch. The Mid Gardening Workout

When your timer goes off and your body is craving a stretch. Here are 4 great movement options:

#1. cat and cow/ #2. child’s pose

Cat and Cow / Child's Pose

#3. quad stretch

Quad Stretch. Press your hand into the fence or wall for stability.

#4. elbow stretch circles ( from one minute movement)

– Gardening core strength.  The Pre/Post Gardening Workout

Your core is not your just your belly. It is the entire ring of muscles around the trunk and can even include muscles of the thighs and shoulders. 5 to 10 minutes of simple core strengthening exercises done both morning and night might help in preventing back aches.  Here are 6 exercises that will help:

#1. The Spine Extension and #2. The Forearm Plank (from the Easy TV workout)

#3. The Dead Bug Exercise (from Finding Your Fulcrum)

#4. “Clamshells” Side Lying leg movements

Lying on your side, bend the knees and make sure neck and shoulders are comfortable. Keeping feet together lift the top knee. Do not allow the pelvis to rotate backwards, torquing the back. The goals is to move only the leg, keep the pelvis and back stable. 10 to 20 times on each side.

Clamshells. Neck is long and relaxed. Pelvic bones push forward. Back is still. No twisting.

#5. “Chicken Wings” Side Lying External Shoulder rotations

Remain lying on the side. Using a light weight ( no more than 3 lbs.). Keep elbow glued to the side ribs as the forarm rises and falls. Shoulders stay down. Neck stays long. 20 on each side.

Chicken Wings. keep neck long and elbow in side.

Another view

#6. Wall Squats

Are a great way to build gardening strength while working proper knee and hip alignment. With or without a fit ball, Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Keep knees in line with toes as you bend downward. It is safest not to go past a 90 degree angle. Keep the tailbone reaching down to earth and the belly button scooped upwards towards the back of the ribs. Try 10 squats.

Wall Squat

– Consider a back brace or corset support while gardening

It might not cure your back problems, but a brace or core support will remind you to stay aware of proper back placement when leaning over or squatting outside. It will help you be aware of your back.

– If all else fails, ask for help!


Get some help already!  I know you love to do it yourself, but it’s not worth the pain and perhaps ultimately having to cut gardening out all together. Plan, design, organize and get some minions at your disposal.

– More Information

A great website with wonderful ergonomic tools and ideas is offered through the University of Missouri Columbia, called Gardens for Every Body.

Happy Gardening!

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How Japan Stays Fit – Radio Taiso

Posted on March 10, 2010 | 8 comments

Every morning in Japan, before heading off to school, sparse piano music would tinkle lightly from the radio coupled with an incongruent bold voice counting: “Ich! Ni! San! Shi!” It was odd. An old world sound that eventually would prove quite comforting,  as though this program had existed for over fifty years.  It had. This is Radio Taiso, the 6:30am morning radio exercises in Japan. Radio Taiso is an integral, if not widely known, part of Japanese culture.

The first pop-culture American descripton of Radio Taiso that comes to mind is the 1986 Michael Keaton movie “Gung Ho”, which really is just wrong. The title “Gung Ho” is a Chinese derived phrase, yet the movie premise centers on culture clashes between Japanese and Americans at an auto plant.  This aside, at one point in the movie we witness automaker employees doing the morning exercises together. The American employees get freaked, as they would of course, by this large group fitness act.

Funny thing is, just like the automobile industry, the morning radio exercises started in the United States. Exercises on Japan’s NHK radio go as far back as 1928, but the idea for these exercises came to Japan by way of America, specifically from the American health insurance industry.  In the 1920’s Met Life in would sponsor 15 minute exercise radio broadcasts in major cities throughout the country, helping people stay fit. As is historically fitting, Japan took the idea and made it work really well,  helping lengthen their population’s lifespan, from age 40 in the 1920’s to 80 today. In fact, Japan has the highest population of seniors in the world.

During World War II and the Allies occupation, Radio Taiso was banned for seeming too militaristic, with large groups gathering to exercise together in unison. In the 1950’s they reemerged, and are still going strong to this day.  Children go to the local park in the summer, office workers gather together outside the office with loud speakers, and the older populations will turn on the radio and go along as they have for decades, starting their day with these routine exercises, to help build strength, work ethic, and unity within the community.

There are two sets of exercises, the second being geared more towards young people. The simple calisthenics promote increased energy, circulation, and improved flexibility. Go ahead and give it a try…

I’m gonna take the leap – going “ganbatte” vs. going “gung ho” – and suggest the United States take back Radio Taiso and broadcast a national morning exercise program, helping to build health, well being,  and community….just change the music, please.  Maybe a radio taiso mash up with special guest djs? It’d be like a new electric slide for fitness. Ok. I might have leapt too far…

がんばって!!!

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Try This – Balloons of Strength

Posted on February 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Blow up balloons.

You heard me. Get a cheapy pack of 100 and blow up about 20 to 30 in one sitting.

Blowing up balloons is a resistance based exercise for the diaphram, a key muscle not only for breathing, but for overall core strength. If the trunk muscles are weak, the diaphram suffers (and vice versa), as does your breathing…as does your neck and shoulder tension, as does your stress levels….see how all of this is an endless spiral?

Increase your lung capacity. Strengthen the diaphram. Build core strength. Release neck and shoulder tension. Let go of stress easier by breathing deeper.

Seems we have nowhere to go but up….go blow up some balloons.

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1 Minute Movement Break – Try this Now

Posted on February 5, 2010 | 1 comment

Stop what you are doing! Take a one minute movement break, and try this simple move below.

Keeping with the recent upper body theme, here is a great movement to relieve neck and shoulder tension while promoting shoulder mobility.

Elbow Circles.

Elbow Circles:
Gently touch fingertips to shoulders. Reach outward to opposite walls through your elbows. Draw large smooth circles in space with the elbows. Take Deep Breaths. Keep you head floating up towards the ceiling.
Enjoy the stretch and movement. Take one more deep breath. Now go on about your day…

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Magic Weight Loss and Brain Power Tips

Posted on December 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

Yeah, No.

Not really. No magic here. Mentos and diet cola looks pretty magical too, but it’s not. If anyone offers you magic solutions to health, you might as well be buying the Brooklyn Bridge. Has the price gone down on it yet?

There are only habits. Stopping old rituals and starting new routines. Doesn’t that sound daunting? It really doesn’t have to be. Start small. Go slow. Keep steady. Yeah, not glamorous, but it works.

Think Slow and Steady


Invest 10 minutes everyday in a new habit. No more.

Below are a few opportunities to start making changes. Pick only one. Who we kidding, we all want to do more. Go ahead and try a few, but stick to one. If you force too much too soon seeking immediate results, you will crash and burn. If you can keep that one new habit for a 2 months, then perhaps add another. This slow steady method goes a long way in helping maintain better mental and physical health.

  • Just 10 minutes of exercise first thing in the morning can increase your metabolic rate for the rest of the day.
  • Up your consumption of water throughout the day. Drink sugary beverages sparingly.  Be fully hydrated. This can increase your metabolic rate.
  • Eat more fruits and vegetables. Big ugh, I know. Make it more interesting. Go seasonal. Get to know your local farmers. Frequent the farmers market or local grocer. Ask how they like to prepare the harvests of the season. My personal favorite way to eat most veggies is a quick sautee in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Bam.

  • Eat more fats. The good kind. As in HDL, not LDL.  Latest research suggest that cholesterol lowering foods such as avocados, almonds, olive oil, soy beans, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, chili peppers, oat bran, beans (kidney, pintos, black, navy, etc.), onions, fatty fish, and flax seed play a crucial role in lowering LDL and sometimes raising HDL levels. These foods fill you up and help your cholesterol stay healthy.
  • Drink Green Tea. This one is personal.  Although skeptical of touting weight loss benefits, green tea has been helpful in curbing sugar and nicotine cravings.  A little green tea after dinner helps in digestion and is a wonderful winter ritual rounding off dinner with a mandarin orange or two as dessert.
  • Journal 10 minutes a day. Huh? Yup. Get a notebook. Vent your anxieties, frustrations, write down your hopes, dreams. List three thing you are grateful for everyday. These little moments help clear the brain and make the rest of your day smoother, creating peace of mind and less stress.

Take your time and enjoy the process. As enticing as quick fix solutions can be, slow and steady habit shifts will keep the body and mind healthier throughout a lifetime.

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Better Health by Walking Tall. Building Postural length and muscle awareness.

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

80 year old catwalk model Daphne Selfe has amazing postural grace

When a muscle is shorter than the optimal length, it not only effects the opposing muscle but can have repercussions on the entire [body]…If you continue to exercise with poor posture you will recruit the wrong muscles and build your body disproportionately…If you do not correct your muscular imbalances the cycle will repeat over and over again and get progressively worse. – askthetrainer.com

The above statement is a difficult lesson to learn, yet it is the most crucial. People ponder why it is they have done exercise for years and yet their body is still riddled with aches and pains. The answer is never simple, but a few simple answers are often missed.

The simpler the concept, the harder it is to master.  Walk tall. Breathe. Lengthen muscles and release tension. All of this translates to proper muscular support of the joints and spine. Although a good cardio regime is important for the body and mind, so too is understanding posture.

We all fight gravity and posture issues. Think of how much time we spend sitting.  The damage cannot be completely reversed by three hours of weekly fitness. The in-between moments matter most. You could be a daily runner, or someone who sits all day, if there is no postural awareness there is a more rapid deterioration of the body structure.

In a recent lesson a client had a personal break-through, and in her own words, she found that by stretching a muscle, you are “canceling it out” of the exercise. In other words, when stretching a muscle long, it can’t be tensed inward. This is a simple way to think of how lengthened muscles will create less stress and tension in both the body and mind.

lifting up, stretches open the chest and shoulders

Here are some ideas designed to create postural awareness.

– Roll Downs and Pelvic Tilts against the wall

– Other awareness exercises against the wall

– Work on your breath.

Take a moment at your desk, in the kitchen, wherever you might be, and focus on your breath to allow tension to melt away and bring your body and mind back into focus. My favorite breathing cues come from Mary Bond and her book “The New Rules of Posture.  #1. Inhale beauty: as if you are smelling something wonderful, like fresh-baked cookies or roses.  #2. Exhale surrender: Exhale and focus on one part of your body releasing, letting go, and becoming heavy.  Don’t over-breathe or force the breath. Just let it happen lightly and without strain.

– Most importantly. Go back to basics.

Even if you are an advanced fitness person, consider going back to the basics. People often know how a movement should look, but are doing it with the wrong muscles. The most common example is overuse of the hip flexors which take over for the abdominals, making it impossible to get any benefit from certain core exercises.

overuse of the hip flexors causes back strain and lack of abdominal strength.

Take a basic pilates class, yoga class, tai-chi, or dance. Any movement practice that focuses on fundamentals. A strong understanding of basic movements and how they relate to your body is what makes someone truly advanced.

Both the final image and the first quote are found at askthetrainer.com


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HEY YOU. Free Pilates Mat Classes December 7th through the 12th

Posted on November 18, 2009 | 1 comment

The eye of the storm – that time after Thanksgiving and before the December holiday season – is a brief wink of time to reflect on all the things happening around you. It’s a good time. even if briefly, to regroup.

The City of St. Louis is definitely using that time to do so.

After two long years of alternate routes and traffic the likes of which St. Louis has never known, highway 64/40 is set to reopen on Monday, December 7th.

As a thank you to everyone who has continued to support classes, as an opportunity to reconnect with clients who have been cut off because of the highway fiasco, and as a chance to try Pilates for the first time, I am offering all of my mat classes for free from Monday, December 7th through Saturday, December 12.  I just ask that you choose one per person.

Click on the schedule page to see the list of mat classes available.

Many other instructors at the Pilates and Yoga Center of Saint Louis are also offering their classes for free that week as well. For more information about those classes, check out the Pilates and Yoga Center of St. Louis website.

The best gift you can give yourself and your loved ones is your health….and maybe the winning lotto ticket.

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Understanding Your Balance Creates Strength Control and Flexbility

Posted on September 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

711099.widec

You may have heard of the 42 year old Beijing Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres, who attributes much of her training success to resistance stretching. Bob Cooley is one trainer who created a system of movement around this concept, Meridian Flexibility system. Before this in the 1950s the physical therapy concept of PNF stretching was created to help people retrain muscles with isometric contractions followed with passive stretches of muscle to improve range of motion.

At the early part of the 20th century, Joseph Pilates created his own resistance training method combining Western calisthenics with Eastern movement principles, working from the inside out and elongating muscles outward as they were being contracted simultaneously in order to maintain core stability. Go further, a thousand years or so, and we find the concept of muscular balance and flow, stretch and strength, yin and yang, in movement arts throughout Asia, such as in Tai Chi and yoga.

tai_chi

The idea of stretching and strengthening simultaneously is not new. But it seems to be a hard lesson to learn. Brainpower is a necessity. It requires patience and knowledge of one’s own body. Most of us do not seem to have time to invest in ourselves, although it would reduce injuries and add to our active lifespan.

In my ten years of teaching pilates i have found several truths about people and our bodies.  One in particular is: flexible people love to stretch and tight people like to strengthen. Funny how we do. A very broad example is that it’s very hard to get a runner to slow down, become internally aware of deep muscles and breathe. It’s also a huge challenge to get a yogi to speed up, not to over think, and push their strength training more while forgoing lots of stretches. Part mental, part physical in both cases.

There must be a balance of both stretch and strength, body and mind to create true balance.

In any exercise you do, look for a lengthening, stretching muscle, reach against gravity. Use awareness and gravity to create resistance. If all you feel is a passive stretch, explore the muscles which should be contracting in their length to support the stretch. Don’t just hang out in a stretch! This is what is meant in muscular balance.

Don’t force a stretch, and don’t force a muscle to be in a certain place. These things come with time. Forcing your body (and mind) into place will not create sound balance any sooner. In fact, it might impede it.

Here are two moves, from previous posts, to help you contemplate your own balance.

#1. The Forearm Plank ( detailed in Hip strain post)– test strength, learn to release tension in difficult situations and find the stretch. I go to this again and again, but it is a safe test for strength, balance, and control for the entire body.

core-abdominal-and-lower-back-exercises-28

forearm plank(1)

# 2. Wall Exercises for feeling your postural muscles stretch and strengthen ( detailed in Spinal Stability post)

wall squats

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The Pelvic Debate – Spinal stability Sitting and standing

Posted on August 3, 2009 | 3 comments

Know anybody who looks like this:

imagesOkay, maybe not quite so animated and less cantankerous, perhaps more like this:

SwayBackYour sitting and standing postures only reinforce overdeveloped tense muscles, as well as the weak and overstretched muscles.

Truth: You could do pilates and core stability work until the cows come home, BUT, unless you learn what you are doing, how to do it properly for your body, it will be less than entirely effective.  It is important to learn how with every strengthening of a muscle there should also come a lengthening. This combination of stretch and strength in tandem, create better posture and a healthier body.

posturebad-posture-cartoonHere are a few exercises to help find better standing and sitting posture. They are simple enough to do at the office.

Using the wall can help identify a slumping posture and where to focus on stretching, opening muscles, like the shoulders and chest, while strengthening other muscles for support, such as the mid back.

#1. Pelvic Tilts against the Wall:

Pelvic Wall tilts

Pelvic Wall tilts

#2. Wall Roll Downs

drape and reax the neck. Tailbone stays fixed!

drape and reax the neck. Tailbone stays fixed!

Roll up by lifting each bone away from the next as it presses into the wall. Create space between vertebre.

Roll up by lifting each bone away from the next as it presses into the wall. Create space between vertebre.

Arms can remain by your sides as well. Let the spine slide upwards against the wall, stretcing towards the ceiling. Enjoy taller posture!

Arms can remain by your sides as well. Let the spine slide upwards against the wall, stretcing towards the ceiling. Enjoy taller posture!

#3. Pelvic Tilts sitting on a ball

Pelvic_Tilt_Tuck-215x249

As the pelvis tucks under, do not allow the shoulders to round forward, stay lifted tall.

do not let the pelvic movement affect the posture of the chest and upper body

As the pelvis arches, do not allow the rib cage to jut outward. Keep the rib cage knitted inward.

Proper posture and alignment is beneficial for both the body and mind, it allows deeper more efficient breathing and joint mobility, and psychologically, an upright posture exudes confidence and can lift not only your spine, but your mood. Walking tall is a win-win.

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