Pilates on Fifth Video Podcast A free weekly Pilates online video program to train your core muscles!

At any Pilates studio, one of the favorite Pilates exercises will always be The Teaser, which can be done on the mat and all equipment, including the Pilates reformer. Little do many people know that a great precursor to The Teaser is the Open Leg Rocker Balance, a variation of the classical Pilates exercise. At Pilates on Fifth, our NYC Pilates studio, we use Open Leg Rocker Balance to teach our clients to differentiate the spinal shape between the Pilates exercises Rolling Like a Ball and Open Leg Rocker. More importantly, however, learning and understanding the difference in spinal shape of these two exercises makes mastering The Teaser on the Pilates reformer much more manageable!

At our Pilates studio, in our NYC Pilates Reformer classes we often teach our students The Teaser, and we use the Open Leg Rocker Balance exercise to assist. The combination of these two Pilates exercises is an excellent recipe that makes the job of the Pilates instructor easier and allows the Pilates performer to have much more success with one of the more difficult Pilates exercises. If you love the Pilates reformer but are often tackled by The Teaser, we highly recommend that you try this Pilates exercise. (For a more detailed description and video of this and other Pilates exercises, visit www.ultimatepilatesworkouts.com and select “All Populations Mat Exercises” from the “Training” subheading… It’s like having a Pilates studio in your home!)

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A Pilates beginner often attends Pilates classes or tries Pilates online and wonders throughout the first few Pilates workouts what this Pilates exercise called “Spine Stretch Forward” is all about. If not done (or taught) properly, it may seem like a simple forward bend, designed to stretch hamstrings as opposed to deliver a special Pilates benefit. Because this exercise is difficult for a Pilates beginner to grasp, in the Pilates classes at our New York Pilates studio, we often teach this exercise with the back against the wall initially. By doing this, the Pilates performer can feel his/her spine move segmentally away from the wall, which is the goal of the exercise, something that is difficult to see or understand when learning Pilates online or attending Pilates classes as a Pilates beginner.

As a Pilates beginner, or as a student of Pilates aiming to become a Pilates instructor, it is vital to understand that each and every Pilates body might look quite different when performing this exercise. For example, if you have a very flat or tight lower back, it may take years of Pilates classes before the flexibility of the spine manifests, and you certainly don’t want to force it! In our Pilates online video website, www.ultimatepilatesworkouts.com, we have full-length as well as mini Pilates workouts such as “My First Pilates Workout”, and the “Morning Low Back Care Workout”, both of which are geared to the Pilates beginner and are a great substitute for Pilates classes if you can’t get to your nearest Pilates studio.

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Pilates can and should be a marvelous cross-training discipline for Pilates yoga devotees, sports enthusiasts, or anyone trying to move through life with less back pain! A way to capitalize on the Pilates cross-training benefits is to incorporate more rotation in a Pilates workout or Pilates class. Rotation is an important spinal motion, as we use it to serve in tennis, pick up our kids, or swing a golf club. However, we’ve noticed that in a many a Pilates class or Pilates workout, rotation is notably absent. In a classical Pilates workout, there are only a few rotation exercises, as anyone who has taken a classical Pilates class knows. However, with the Half Roll Down with Obliques, we have an easy way to infuse more rotation into the Pilates yoga practice. Don’t forget that in our daily life, our bodies move in three dimensions, and thus we want to incorporate three dimensional movement like the Half Roll Down with Obliques into our Pilates class or Pilates workout as well as Pilates yoga cross-training.

Even if you are doing a Pilates workout on your own or if you are stuck in a large Pilates class, with little individual instruction, the important tip to remember is that it is only the rib cage rotating, not the lumbar spine (lower back). This will protect the lower back! (It is also a good Pilates technique to remember and implement for future Pilates yoga workouts as well as daily life in general!) If you would like to view how to incorporate this versatile exercise into a Pilates class, join us for Pilates online at www.ultimatepilatesworkouts.com. We have a Pilates workout at every level, many of which feature the Half Roll Down with Obliques. Coming soon: a Pilates yoga fusion workout!!

Half Roll Down with Arms is an excellent way for a Pilates instructor to increase the intensity of Pilates plus challenge clients safely and effectively. That’s one of the things we at the Pilates Academy International do differently from some certification Pilates programs: we teach each aspiring Pilates instructor how to teach Pilates plus how to progress clients so that they get stronger safely. By adding the arm lift to the Half Roll Down, a Pilates instructor will increase the weight of the torso, challenging the abdominal connection. Other certification Pilates training programs teach the classical mat Pilates repertoire, but do not teach Pilates plus modifications, making it difficult for a Pilates instructor to teach a multi-level mat Pilates class. This ability to modify makes each of our Pilates instructors highly sought after for employment in Pilates gyms and Pilates studios worldwide.

What type of Pilates instructor do you want to be? Do you want to be an in-demand Pilates instructor that excels at client retention and delivers Pilates plus outstanding results? At the Pilates Academy International, we want our students to be happy that they selected our Pilates education program over other certification Pilates programs. When choosing a certification Pilates program to become a Pilates instructor, we know you have choices, so why not choose a program that teaches Pilates plus valuable client retention skills?

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