Loving Jenni's Strength Gains!

We are loving this feedback from Jenni yesterday! So much so that we just had to share with you.

“I so so so so love your online classes - it gives me the opportunity to do the class about 2 times per week which has just been adding to my strength. I guess I hadn't really noticed how strong I was becoming. My flexibility has improved no end since I started but I hadn't thought of the strength I've gained in my arms, back and hips... My greatest surprise coming when we lifted the outdoor setting. When we first moved in we had to shift it into position and move it about 5 m - I remember needing to take a break and complaining about how heavy it was. This time I picked it up and walked it off a truck - I had to lift it pretty much up to my face to angle it out of the truck and to be honest I was surprised at how light it was!!!” - Jenni S

A common misconception about our classes is that they mainly improve flexibility. Pilates these days is often associated with "feel the burn" or "abs, butts and thighs"...very similar to a Les Mills type gym based exercise program. This is definitely not the modus operandi of Contemporary Pilates and Slings Myofascial Training.

There are several reasons why people don't always feel the strengthening component in the many of the exercises, especially at first. The three we will discuss today are:

1.We are strengthening the deepest, most intrinsic, stabilising muscles in our bodies. These are unfamiliar to us as we have a very poor muscle to brain connection to them, meaning they don't provide much sensory feedback. Simply put, we just can't feel them yet. Deep stabilisers are not only found in what's commonly (and overly) referred to as "the core". They are found in every joint, throughout the body. All are equally important.

2.These muscles require a very low load to become activated and strengthened. If too much load is added to an exercise, the body recruits additional muscles to assist and this prevents the deep stabilisers from being strengthened properly and continues to strengthen the more superficial and dominant muscles that are already overactive. These dominant muscles groups are the most "feelable" muscles and we need time and practice to dampen them to be able to deeply strengthen from the inside out. Simply put, you can be wasting your time and decreasing your core stability and strength by performing a lot of feelable and commonly thought of as "core strengthening exercises".

3.Each of us have different postural imbalances. These imbalances can inhibit the activity of the deep, stabilising muscles. When we perform balanced, functional exercises we slowly unwind these imbalances, optimising our structural balance and the ability of our deep stabilisers to be activated and strengthened throughout the body. We need to balance 'core strength' with 'core stability' and the people you are looking to for instruction must understand the difference between the two and be able to structure intelligent movement systems that balance them with every class.

This is one of the unique aspects of Contemporary Pilates and Slings.