Teresa Malins

The Great Imprint Debate

In every Pilates course that I teach, when the topic of 'imprint' is discussed it causes much debate, so I thought I would do my best to shed some more light on the issue!

Neutral - when supine- is when the natural curve of the lumbar spine is present. If the hip bones become higher than the pubic bone an anterior pelvic tilt is the result.  If the pubic bone is higher than the hip bones a posterior pelvic tilt is the result. Neutral spine is the most stable position for the pelvis to be in.

'Imprint', on the other hand, refers to the position of the pelvis when there is a slight posterior pelvic tilt coupled with slight lumber flexion - meaning that the natural curve in the lower back lengthens towards the floor.

We get to this position by engaging the interior oblique and abdominals and drawing the ribcage closer to the pelvis so that the pelvis tilts up slightly.  There is no need to press the lower back to the floor neither to tuck the pelvis under by over using the gluteus maximus (bottom) and rectus abdominis(six pack muscle).   

So why and when do we imprint?

• An 'imprinted' position should be used to ensure pelvic stability when 'neutral' stabalization cannot be maintained.
• 'Imprint' is used when there is a weakness in the abdominals.  Using 'imprint' will help to maintain engagment.
• When we take both feet away from the floor 'imprint' can be used to stablize the pelvis and lower back under load. * When the abdominals have developed enough strength in this position, neutral can be used*

What 'imprint' isn't...

• 'Imprint' isn't a position to use all of the time unless stabalization in neutral cannot be maintained.
• 'Imprint' isn't pushing the lower back into the floor.
• 'Imprint isn't a tucking under of the pelvis.

Well...I hope that clears some questions up.

Just remember, whether you are teaching Pilates or a participating in classes or one to ones, the saftey of the spine should be your primary concern so take time over your set up for the exercise and you are ensured to get the maximum benefit out of your workout. 

New Classes starting in Nottingham

Do you want to join in a Pilates class but dont want to pay for a monthly membership at a gym ?

Are you just starting out in Pilates and want to join a class but are worried that everyone else will be more advanced than you?

Would you like a more specific and personalised Pilates program without having to pay for one to one sessions?

Do you have an injury and have heard about the benefits of Pilates but dont know where to start?

Do you already have Pilates experience? Do you want to move forward in a group without being held back by attending a 'drop in' class? 

If you answer yes to any of the above questions, we need to speak!

I will be starting small Pilates group matwork classes in a central Nottingham location very soon.  These classes will run as a 6 week course and spaces are very limited, so please call or send me an email soon, so I can give you more details.

What not to wear!

   

        AND BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK IT...IT'S NOT ME!!!

But how would you feel if I turned up to a session like this?

Would it make you feel inspired ?

Or would it totally put you off of me because it seemed that I was 'rubbing your nose in it' so to speak?

I know it's all hyperthetical and I wouldn't dress like this to a session (more like I couldn't, do you see the size of those shorts!) but it makes you think doesn't it?

There are many Pilates books and DVD's out there marketed at the general public but it makes me laugh how the people they use are so body beautiful! 

I know it's great to see the exercises performed to perfection by a slender ballerina who has legs up to her armpits but it's hardly reality is it!

Most of the original Pilates exercises are extremely difficult to perform and showing a size 0 model/dancer doing them in a book that 'Joe Public' will buy is almost crushing us before we begin!

I suppose in a way it's inspiring to think that if we practice Pilates enough we will end up with a well toned body, flat tummy and strong back, which is true, but at least lets understand that it does takes practice to get there and most of all, some of us, no matter how hard we work or how often we practice will never look like Darcy Bustle!

I know that Joseph Pilates clients included the New York City Ballet and his Pilates method was a very tough regime to those dancers, but over the years his exercises have been modified down and down to suit those who are maybe just starting to find their abdominal muscles again.

So let's just remember that while Pilates can be a workout to suit sports people and ballerinas at one end of the spectrum, at the other end, it can suit beginners and can be taught as rehab for those just returning to exercise.   Not only that but there is a huge middle ground aswell, which really does just go to show that it is one of the most effecient forms of exercise you'll probably come across.

Joe said...

Here are some photo's and some quotes written by Joseph Pilates...

This is Joseph Pilates in his late 70's performing a perfect squat!

"I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier." - Joseph Hubertus Pilates, in 1965, age 86

The Pilates Method: "my work is 50 years ahead of its time".

Here's Joe at the age of 59!

"A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of doing sloppy callisthenics or forced contortion."

"Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor."

Pilates aged 82!

"the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind and the ability to perform life's daily activities with zest and ease."

..."I invented all these machines. Began back in Germany, was there until 1925 used to exercise rheumatic patients. I thought, why use My strength? So I made a machine to do it for me. Look, you see it resists your movements in just the right way so those inner muscles really have to work against it. That way you can concentrate on movement. You must always do it slowly and smoothly. Then your whole body is in it."

Practice, Practice, Practice

I think it's obvious to see that Pilates plays a pretty big part in my life and a big part of my Pilates life include tutoring students to become Pilates instructors.

Passing on my knowledge of Joseph Pilates brilliant method of exercise is one of the most rewarding things I feel I can do as an instructor. With every course I teach I'm always amazed at how many people are taking a career change from maybe a 9-5 office job to focus on teaching Pilates as a full time career. It puts me in the mind of one of my favourite books Running in Heels by Anna Maxted which tells a hilarious story of a woman who decides to do the same herself.

If only Joe could see us all now I'm sure he'd be smiling!

What also never ceases to amaze me is the amount of students I teach that have NEVER taken part in a Pilates class before attending a teacher training course.

For me, I started to attend Pilates because I was encountering back problems and the Pilates method allowed me to still exercise, but in a pain free way. I got used to the exercises and 'idea' of Pilates before thinking about teaching it. 

It's a pretty tough and a very brave thing to do to learn to teach a method of exercise and movement in which you have no experience of. How do you know that you are going to like it for starters? 

However, if you have decided to do it this way, here's some valuable pieces of advice to help you on your way:

• PRACTICE.
• Practice on your own, practice in classes and use books and DVD's to get as much information about Pilates as you can. 
• Embody the exercises yourself and this will enable you to give more precise teaching points throughout your classes.
• In your own practice, mimick the habits of your participants to get to understand their shortcuts and easy way outs of doing the excerises with precision.
• Once you've finished practicing, practice a bit more!

Doing Pilates is one thing, teaching it is another.  As an instructor you will be correcting, watching and instructing more than you will be actually taking part in the class and before you know it your participants will become stronger than you.

A class will very rapidly lose faith in an instructor who cannot demo an exercise correctly and if it's a beginners class that you're teaching and you're demonstrating exercises incorrectly, you could end up with a bunch of injured people or a class full of Pilates enthusiasts who are getting no results!

So no excuse, get to it straight away; Practice makes perfect remember!

 

Fabulous Friday

It's just so nice when a plan comes together!

I've worked with my Friday morning class for probably over a year now and even though it's a drop-in class, the majority of the members that attend are regulars who, near on without fail, faithfully turn up week in, week out, come rain shine or hail!

Over the year or so that I've been teaching the class, I have grown quite close to the members and am aware of their injuries and their movement strategies, which exercises they favour and which ones they don't like so much! 

As time progresses, so does their movement quality, their strength, stamina and enthusiasm for the Pilates method and so.. over the last month I have started to up the anti!

There has to be a point where a beginners class becomes an improvers class and an improvers class becomes an intermediate class and so on and so on.. You just have to draw a line in the sand and decide that one day you are going to cross that line and try something that may be a little more difficult to what you have been used to. 

Today was a fine example of this happening.

Just as one of my class members, Maureen, had a 'breakthrough' with an exercise that she finally suceeded with, I too had a 'breakthrough' with my Friday morning class today.  Something shifted within the group today and even though the members all have different postural imbalances and some injuries, collectively( and with adaptations for those members who needed them)they we were able to move beyond some of the more basic exercises of the past and into some more advanced exercises, which I'm sure at one point my class would never have imagined they would be able to master.  So just as something shifted within my group, something shifted within me, knowing now that I have to find more ways to breakdown some tougher choreography and find ways off expressing it too.

Day's like today make me smile inwardly and it's on days like today I realise that I've got  a really great job!

Too much navel to spine

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, we have assossiated modern day Pilates with a 'navel to spine' technique.  It does infuriate me!  Although 'navel to spine' gives the impression that we're 'drawing in' or 'scooping'(I prefer the latter), it also is very often confused with sucking in the stomach and if you do this, you automatically hold your breath, which gives the opposite to the desired effect. 

It's pretty difficult from an instructors standpoint as sometimes, and especially when teaching beginners, we have to find cues to describe the technique of recruiting the deep abdominals without adding too much confusion. Hence 'navel to spine'!

So often my clients tell  me that during their daily activities, they remember what they have learnt during their Pilates session and start to draw in their navel to their spine.  This is great! It helps to create a more general awareness of how we carry ourselves and also helps to improve posture- but have you ever considered that maybe you are using your transversus abdominus(deep abdominals) too much?

Have you ever considered that our transversus abdominus(TVA), which along with other muscles, help to protect our spine and if recruited too much will lose its desired effect?  If we spend all our time in Pilates sessions pulling navel to spine and then practise again whenever we remember during the day, for sustained periods of time, our poor TVA loses its power of contraction when it is really needed. 

If we were to have an accident or fall over for example, normally at times such as these our TVA will automatically contract to protect our spine (the flight or fight syndrome).  If it has been previously recruited over long periods of time, come to the time when it's really needed, it will inevitably lose its power, making us more prone to injury.

So what do we do?

We chose our teachers carefully. 

By finding an instructor that knows enough about the functioning of the human body and its responses to different, subtle anatomical changes - the TVA can fire naturally and great results can happen in the body without one mention of pulling 'navel to spine'! 

I've got a problem...

...and it's been bothering me for quite some time now!

When people ask me what I do for work, I tell them that I teach Pilates and although I'm extremely proud to use the name of the creator of this wonderfully efficicient and intelligent form of exercise, I wonder if other Pilates Instructors feel the same as I do.

Now days there are more and more people becoming Pilates instructors, with very little training and yet still pin to themselves the badge of Pilates Instructor as I do, which is so frustrating as I have dedicated so much of my time, energy and money to this beautiful form of movement.   

As I have said before Pilates means more to me than just a few exercises put together and taught to the sound of the sea drifting in and out on some far away shore! It means more to me than the 'belly button to spine' phrase we have all grown accustomed to and the 'this will make your tummy flat' marketing campaign.

Since I started teaching Pilates in Nottingham, I have been told so many times that the way I teach Pilates is 'different'.   

I'm doing my best to decipher why that is! 

I know for sure that the Pilates I teach is an amalgamation of different styles because I have chosen to stay open and train with many different schools of thought.  I have had the wonderful opportunity of working with some truely remarkable and talented teachers who have passed on their knowledge and not just in Pilates either.  These are teachers of Anatomy, Structural Integration and Yoga, these are Osteopaths, Chiropractors and other bodyworkers that have come into my life throughout the years and inspired me.

So if you come to me looking for 'the book' on Pilates, you wont find it.  I'm my own 'book' and depending on your personal needs, I will open the page on the chapter that you need to work on.

So even though I sometimes have the problem of feeling like a tiger in a cage with Pilates Instructor pinned to it , I will honour the concept of Pilates and the magic it has bought to many people whilst I continue pull from the 'melting pot' of bodywork lessons I have learned throughout the years. I will happily pass on my knowledge and if that makes me something other than a 'bog standard' Pilates Instructor - I'm happy!

Trent FM and the Tower of Power!

Al Booth, presenter on the Drivetime Show on Trent FM Radio, writes about his experience of Pilates and the Tower of Power!...

First Week Down - I Ache!!!!
Current mood: energetic

So the first week of not drinking and getting fit is out the way. I make that sound like a chore but in actual face both Tricky and I loving it and it feels so good to know what you're doing. For example I have some scratches on my shoulders and whereas before I'd have to think back to the night before, where I ended up and who with, this time I knew it was from carrying something quite heavy at work. Actually, that's rubbish in't it? Hmmm, maybe I need to look at this again...

I know its only been a week but both Tricky and I are confident that we are getting fitter. This is largely due to the fact that we have been aching for 10 days straight (How To Lose A Beer Belly In 10 Days...) and because when we were walking to work from the gym the other day, and without thinking, we almost took on a group of convicts who'd made it out of prison. Admittedly they were being transferred and in a high security van but, you know, the van didn't stop so they knew...

SO this new found fitness is largely down to the lovely people at Virgin Holmes Place in Nottingham. We'd had a course of Pilates the other day which was fine. We were stretched and calm and, in all honesty, we thought we'd got away with not doing so much. That's when our instructor Bendy Teresa invited us to her place to try out her "Tower Of Power". The instinctive reaction to this was to recall a late night programme on Bravo TV where the Tower Of Power was something you paid to see in Amsterdam. Still, both Tricky and I are young and single so why not...? We took along Thunder Claire from the Trent FM crew in case we needed help.

There were straps, stirrups, chains but no whips. Plus Bendy Teresa was dressed in Pilates teaching gear, not tight leather. It turns out Bendy Teresa's Tower Of Power is Nottingham City Centre's first Pilates system. Maybe I am not describing this the best way I can, if you want to check it our more then have a look here - www.teresamalins.com - its all well above board. I'd be lying if there was a little disappointment in Tricky's face. And Thunder Claire's come to mention it...

So we laid on our backs and the cockiness disappeared. We were swinging (not in the way we'd first thought), stretching and pulling (again, not in the way we... yeah, you get the picture). Muscles were being stretched that I didn't even know existed before we walked in. Tricky at one point exclaimed that he was getting 'arms like bakers'. I'm still not sure what he meant. Yes, this was pilates but on a whole new level!!! We came away feeling like we'd done a proper workout but also like we'd gone a little bit girly (at one point we were commenting on the beauty of the surrounding candles). I am definately up for some more of that in the near future AND its cheaper than heading to Amsterdam!!!

Al Booth and Tricky do Pilates!

Today, Al Booth and Tricky, both Radio Presenters from Trent FM's drive time show, came and had a session on the Tower of Power.

I met Al and Tricky last week when they attended my Pilates class at Virgin Active, Nottingham.  They told me how they are both on a mission to get fit in a month and so I persuaded them to come and have a go on the Tower of Power.

When they first saw it, they thought I was into some kind of weird torture...I soon put them straight on that!  They approached it with slight trepidation but once they had an idea of how it worked, they were well away!

In amongst the concentration, which was broken from time to time with fits of laughter, the boys soon seemed pick up the idea of how to move on the reformer.  I was impressed, to say the least!

You'll be able to hear our session on Trent FM's drivetime show on Wenesday 21st February between 4 and 7pm!

Keep up the good work boys!