Can you ever be too old for Pilates?

Chris Hunt Pilates

Can you ever be too old for Pilates?

The population is getting older, we are living longer and longer. I have had the pleasure of teaching many people who are in what would traditionally be considered their later life.  In the UK Pilates Rehab Limited helps many elderly people to improve and sustain a quality of life that they thought had been lost.

So my opinion is you are never too old to do Pilates, and this is shared by 90 year-old Celia Pemberton who got a birthday surprise last week at her Pilates class in the UK.

She was laying one her mat relaxing at the end of the session with her eyes closed, when her teacher crept out to return with presents. “And when I opened my eyes, I saw the most wonderful cakes in chocolate, and Bucks Fizz and flowers and vouchers for the theatre,” Celia said.

The reason for all the fuss was that Celia had just celebrated her 90th birthday. She’s the oldest person in the class, and she has been doing pilates for about eight years. She took it up, like many other people, on medical advice after suffering from the brittle bone condition osteoporosis.

“It’s marvellous for mobility and general strengthening,” she says. She says she enjoys the class partly because of the “tremendous range of ages – from yummy mummies up to me. I’m the oldest person by many years.”

Celia says she’s always kept fit, and so have her three children – “well, I say ‘children’, but the oldest one is going to be 65 soon”. Her other keep-fit activities are “gardening, walking – and not living in a bungalow”.

She is clearly a special woman, and it got me thinking who old is the oldest person you teach Pilates? I believe that no one is too old to do Pilates; do you agree?

The Pilates system that we all love can give pleasure and improve the quality of life for an amazing range of people.

UPDATE 22.10.2014!!

Today I found out about Sam Heggessey, a great-grandfather who enjoys yoga, pilates and tai chi has been labelled Britain’s oldest gym buff after celebrating his 100th birthday! Can anyone beat 100 years old?!?!

Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

 

Should Pilates make you sweaty? Melanie Griffith has an opinion

Chris Hunt Pilates Melanie Griffith

Should Pilates make you sweaty? Melanie Griffith has an opinion

I wrote yesterday about hot Pilates and yoga (Hot Pilates and yoga: Is it just a lot of hot air?), but today I want to ask another question about getting sweaty and today it’s nothing to do with high temperatures in the room.

It’s Friday so I have that Celebrity feeling again, my compromise after a week of serious blogs. I have explained before that I am not obsessed with celebrity. I have never bought Hello Magazine. What I am obsessed with is Pilates. And whilst not every one agrees, it’s my opinion that if someone starts Pilates because their friend, neighbour, sporting hero or favourite celebrity does Pilates, then why not?

I’ve had comments about glamorising Pilates, about how privileged celebrities are, about creating false hope, about living on a different planet… Whilst I always respect the opinion of everyone, it is my humble opinion that these people are missing the point of my posts and they are taking everything a little too seriously. All I am doing is raising the awareness of Pilates. If you do not or can not understand that, then I am sorry for wasting your time and please do not read my blog today! 🙂

The media reported this week that Melanie Griffith “proved she was putting plenty of effort into improving her mental and physical well being on Wednesday afternoon when she stepped out with sweat-soaked hair following an intense Pilates class. The Working Girl actress showcased her gym-honed shape as she left her class looking exhausted behind her shades as she left the Los Angeles session.”

Melanie has her Pilates sessions with Mari Winsor, a famous celebrity trainer in the US who studied with Romana. Melanie boasted on Twitter about her Pilates instructor later that day: ‘Check out my gorgeous kick ass Pilates instructor @mariwinsor. She rocks!!!’ Clearly she is very happy with the exercise she is getting.

Whilst her “sweat-soaked hair” maybe more as a result of a shower after the session, for the media to infer that people do and should leave a Pilates session looking exhausted and very sweaty is not a general image of Pilates that I endorse. Whilst everyone sweats to varying degrees depending on many different factors, my general question to you today is how sweaty do you make your clients and do you agree that Pilates should make them very sweaty?

Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

 

Scientific Studies into Pilates: Where is the evidence?

Chris Hunt Pilates

Scientific Studies into Pilates: Where is the evidence?

Today there have been media reports of a new study into the effects of Pilates.

It is argued in certain quaters that there remains a distinct lack of scientific evidence that categorically proves the beneficial effects of Pilates. Whilst the anecdotal evidence of Pilates practitioners and others in the areas of rehabilitation and health such as physiotherapists is conclusive, sceptics are still not all convinced.

Because of this, I find any new scientific study into Pilates very interesting.

Dr. Bijan Najafi is an Associate Professor of Surgery and a member of the University of Arizona Centre on Aging. According to Najafi, the science between aging and exercise is simple. Exercises, like Pilates, allow the brain to correct motor errors, and in layman’s terms, retrain the brain to move correctly.

A recent study in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science he concludes that Pilates can help balance ability in senior citizens. “Of course, the general term is that you should, ‘move it or lose it,'” Associate Professor of Surgery and member of the University of Arizona Center on Aging, Dr. Bijan Najafi said. “Usually, if you become very active, you can overcome many pains,” Najafi added.

I have written before about Pilates in older age, for example the British Actress Felicity Kendal is a great example at the age of 67, read Felicity Kendal at 67: Pilates is better than botox.

I am still trying to obtain a full copy of Dr Najafi’s study because the above quotes are far from convincing and can mostly be put down to common sense. As soon as I have the study I will publish it here.

In the meantime, I am interested to know which previous studies you rely on when substantiating the benefits of Pilates to those who require more than anecdotal evidence. It will be useful I am sure if we compile a “top-ten” scientific studies that teachers can draw upon.

Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

Пилатес и танцы: Не зашли ли мы слишком далеко?

Chris Hunt Pilates Pilates and Dance blog www.pilatesevo.com

Пилатес и танцы: Что влияет на что?

Пилатес и танцы: Не зашли ли мы слишком далеко?
Я не ищу полемики, но в тоже время, я не боюсь высказывать свое мнение, ведь блог должен быть для этого. Я не пишу статьи для создания враждебности или нерпиятных чувств, по этому, помните об этом, прежде чем читать эту статью или оставить комментарий. Я пишу опираясь на собственное мнение, по этому очевидно, что вы, возможно, будете думать, что я прав или неправ в зависимости от вашего собственного мнения, но у всех нас есть право на наш собственный взгляд. Я уважаю ваше мнение, поэтому, пожалуйста, уважайте и моё.

С учетом сказанного я хочу поговорить о пилатесе и танецах. Мы все знаем, что Джозеф Пилатес не был танцовщиком, и что в его ранние дни он не работал с танцорами. Любовный роман между пилатесом и танецем начался с открытия полатес студии по соседству с Балетом Нью-Йорка,и продолжается по сей день.
Мы также знаем точно, почему Пилатес настолько подходит для танцоров, так что я не буду одсуждать это сегодня. Сегодня я хочу поговорить о не столько, о том как Пилатес повлиял на танец и танцоров, а насколько танец и танцоры влияют на пилатес.

Я знаю много бывших танцоров которые являются замечательными преподавателями пилатеса, некоторые из которых были моими первыми преподавателями и оказали влияние на моё решение стать Пилатес профессионалом. Однако, я вижу , как некоторые ведущие призентеры преобразовывают пилатес в танцевальную хореографию. Это означает, что я встречаю пилатес учителей, которые были подготовленны и обученны только в этом направлении и поэтому их идея пилатеса четко и принципиально зависит от танца.

Так как же научить учителей новым методам Пилатеса?
У каждого свой индивидуальный взгляд на нашу любимую систему, включая и меня (см пилатес EVO: От Сердца ). Я уважаю идеи каждого, и многие из этих индивидуальных подходов замечательны. Но для меня основные принципы священны и являются классической основой. Я преподаю и обучаю пилатес EVO только учителям, которые уже имеют полную квалификацию. Я вижу это в качестве дополнения к фундаментальным знаниям людей, а не начальную точку.

Я не думаю, что это хорошо, когда люди не имеют фундаментальной подготовки и изучают различные типы пилатеса, потаму что в этом случае, очень сложно действительно понять, что разные презентнры изменяют и как интерпритируют метод.
Так что вы думаете о пилатесе и танецах? Согласны ли вы, что есть доля правды в том, что я говорю, или вы думаете по-другому? Я хотел бы знать. Поэтому, пожалуйста, поделитесь своим нением.

 

 

Olympic snowboarder’s rehabilitation creates a new Pilates teacher

Chris Hunt Pilates Pilates Rehab

www.chrishuntpilates.com

Olympic snowboarder’s rehabilitation creates a new Pilates teacher

We all know that Pilates is great for rehabilitation from many different injuries and conditions.

I love a happy ending. Some people have accused me of being negative in some of my articles (it’s impossible to please everyone and of course when reaching such conclusions, people are often reflecting their own negativity). Life is not always fluffy and sunny, there are sometimes difficult issues that I feel need to be discussed and not avoided: not because I like negativity, but because I am not afraid to speak my mind and debate issues that others may rather avoid.

In fact I am a very positive person. I practise mindfulness meditation and I am Buddhist. So back to my blog today, which is about two of my very favourite things in the world: Pilates and snowboarding. One of the reasons that I moved to Barcelona was because it is very close to the Spanish Pyrenees.

Today I want you to know about the Olympian who broke her back attempting a snowboard jump, spent four years in rehabilitation, found Pilates, and now she’s a Pilates instructor.

Steph Prem had one bad jump in the World Cup finals in Italy in 2010 changed the Olympian snowboarder’s life forever. The 24-year-old from Melbourne fractured vertebrae, compressed discs, dislocated her hip, broke five ribs and tore her pelvis and hamstring. She is now 29, and having had to give up her snowboarding career she discovered Pilates and teaches others from her own studio.

During her rehabilitation she finally accepted that she would never snowboard competitively again but by then she had gained a love of Pilates throughout her long and arduous road to recovery. She tried everything for her constant pain including Valium, spinal cortisone injections and nerve ending operations but nothing worked.

After much trial and error, it was a combination of both traditional methods along with alternative measures that has worked for her. She says ‘I had to try a lot of different things and be open-minded to a lot of different treatments because I was finding I was in a lot of pain for a long time and not a lot was helping.’

But it wasn’t until she tried Pilates three years ago that she discovered exercises she could do without experiencing any pain. After that she says that her quality of life improved out of sight. ‘It completely changed my whole way of being because before the accident I was addicted to daily exercise as a professional athlete but I lost that with my injury,’ she said. ‘I had been so limited and restricted in what I could do that it was so awesome to discover Pilates because a lot of the work was protected using the machinery. But also the lower deeper intrinsic work that I was doing gave me back that daily outlet and there was so much I could achieve,’ she said. ‘It gives you strength from the inside out – it helped me massively mentally and physically because I could do something again.’

Whilst my own story is nothing as extreme as Prem’s, my journey of acute back pain due to a spinal condition I was born with to marathon runner, amateur snowboarder, surfer and most importantly professional Pilates presenter, does have some similarities as Pilates was the rehabilitation technique that also changed my life. This is why I will always be so passionate about it (read more about Pilates EVO from the heart).

I created Pilates Rehab Limited in the UK to give easy access to a range of people who want and need professional Pilates services they can trust and rely on. Still to this day nothing gives me more satisfaction that knowing that I am helping too provide people with the means for them to take responsibility for their rehabilitation and improve their quality of life. I also love to work with sportsmen and women in the UK and in Barcelona.

I am very interested to hear your personal stories of your own rehabilitation thanks to Pilates or those of your clients. The more we can share experiences and raise awareness, the more people we can help to help themselves to a better quality of life.

That was a happy ending and a positively sunny blog for a Monday.

Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

Fitness-und Sporturlaub in Barcelona, Spanien

Personal training and fitness holidays in Barcelona www.barcelonabienestar.com

Fitness- und Sporturlaub in Barcelona, Spanien

Urlaub bedeutet für jeden etwas anderes!

Manche Menschen machen Urlaub in einem Strandresort, um in der Sonne zu entspannen, andere sind eher auf Abenteuerurlaub aus. Wiederum andere entscheiden sich für Sightseeing oder Gastroferien, um die Kultur besser kennen zu lernen. Manche machen Sport- bzw. Fitnessurlaub, um ihrem Hobby nachzugehen oder aber um andere Sportarten wie Golf, Reiten, Skifahren, Snowboarden, Mountainbiken, Kitesurfen, Wellenreiten, SUP (Stand Up Paddle) oder Wandern auszuprobieren.

Also wieso sollte man sich für Urlaub in Barcelona entscheiden? Ganz einfach – hier ist all dies möglich!

Die Tage der Pauschalreisen sind in Zeiten des Internets gezählt. Jeder von uns möchte gerne einen indiviudellen Urlaub, geplant nach seinen eigenen Wünschen und Vorstellungen sowie nach seinem individuellen Zeitplan, geniessen.

Genau dort setzt Bienestar an. Hier wird auf die einzelnen Bedürfnisse eingegangen. Es gibt nichts, was wir nicht für unsere Reisenden aus aller Welt organisieren. Barcelona ist eine unglaublich vielseitige und pulsierende Stadt. Wir helfen Ihnen, dies zu entdecken, indem wir einen persönlichen Urlaubsplan für Sie erstellen.

Wir bieten Gesundheits- und Wellnesspakete ganz auf Ihren Geschmack abgestimmt an. Unsere Fitnessaktivitäten umfassen Personal Training, Pilates, TRX, Boxen, weight vest training, funktionelles Training, HIIT, sowie Programme für spezifische Sportarten wie Stand Up Paddle (SUP), Fitness, Ski / Snowboard, Surfen, Wandern, Mountainbiken, Klettern und vieles mehr. Für all diese Aktivitäten organisieren wir nicht nur ein Sportprogramm sondern Sie haben auch die Zeit, das Meer, die Piste und die Berge zu geniessen.

Aber wir bieten nicht nur sportliche Aktivitäten an sondern auch Wellness- und Beautybehandlungen wie bspw. Massagen, Ernährungsberatung, Abnehmkurse, Mani- und Pediküre. Des Weiteren organisieren wir Kunst- und Gastrotouren, empfehlen landestypische Lokale und Trips zu den schönsten Sehenswürdigkeiten.

Wir nehmen Ihnen den Organisationsstress ab, aber Sie bestimmen weiterhin Ihr individuelles Programm. Also ein massgeschneiderter Urlaub – ganz ohne Hektik. Hotels, Transfers, Sportaktivitäten, Kultur, Ausflüge etc. – Sie entscheiden was gefällt und wir kümmern uns darum.

Unsere Urlauber kommen aus aller Welt, z.B. Amerika, England, Deutschland, Schweden, Russland, China, Frankreich, Italien, Holland sowie Australien.

Für weitere Informationen klicken Sie auf www.barcelonabienestar.com oder kontaktieren Sie uns für die Organistion Ihres Traumurlaubes. Barcelona und das Bienestarteam warten auf Sie!

www.barcelonabienestar.com

 

 

How we define ourselves: Tinder, Facebook and Kung Fu Panda

Chris Hunt Pilates WellnessAfter a week of writing (quite) serious articles about subjects like Action Bias and fitness, and why I think Pilates has been influenced too much by some Pilates educators who were former dancers, it’s the weekend so it’s the time when I talk more personally about life (and clearly write very long sentences…)

Before I begin, how many song titles did you get in my post last week?

Today I want to write about how we perceive ourselves, and how we present ourselves to others.

Social media and online dating has given us previously unknown ways to present ourselves to the world, and it fascinates me how some people do it. Maybe in a simple picture we can see how an individual portrays them self, what they think defines them.

For example, Tinder Man has recently had a lot of publicity. If you do not know what Tinder is, it’s a simple dating app where you are matched with people close to you by using a very simple set of criteria, and whether you accept the matches is pretty much determined by one picture and a simple swipe left for no or right for yes. Tinder Man has become famous by copying in his own style some of the funnier pictures that people use. And believe me people use very funny pictures of themselves. But it’s not just the strange pictures that people choose that I find interesting. I think it can be pertinent when people use pictures of their children, friends or their pets. As a way to introduce yourself to a potential partner, I think that a picture of anything or anyone that is not you is a rather interesting statement to be making to the world about yourself.

People define themselves by using very different things. It can be their children or dog, or it can be a club they support, a pop star they idolise, and sometimes by their partner. I am not criticising anyone, all I am suggesting is that my profile on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter is my profile, so why would I use for my profile picture anything other than a picture of me? That’s not being conceited or ostentatious, it’s simply my profile. My passport does not have a picture of a dog. 🙂

Whilst you will tell that I’m not being totally serious about the profile picture discussion, I have said before that for me the important question is “am I someone” not “am I with someone”. I meet a lot of people and I know lots of people are with someone, but I’m not sure they are someone.

Those immortal words uttered by Tom Cruise “you complete me” only serve to perpetuate the popular myth many people have that we need someone or something else to somehow complete us. Of course this is not and never can be true. The only person or thing that can “complete” us is our-selves. Even Kung Fu Panda learnt this with the Dragon Scroll that contained the secret of limitless power being a reflection of himself. Any other “fix” is a temporary band-aid to try to cover our inadequacies or issues. As we know, after a few showers, a band-aid will lose its adhesive and fall away to leave exposed the wound we are trying to hide, and so it is in relationships as well.

It also interests me how we create an image of our life using social media which is not always a true reflection of the life we are living, it’s only a glimpse. Often it an image of the life we want to have, but is not always the real life we are living. Of course it’s true as well that for every picture we post on Instagram, we live through 10,000 other life experiences that we chose not to share with the world. Would be get so many hits if we posted a picture of us crying or feeling sad, bored or lonely? No, let’s go for the one of us on holiday holding a cocktail and laughing with friends on the beach.

Talking about online image, having just flown from Barcelona to London, it always makes me smile at airports to see people standing next to the VIP lounge so they can post and tag themselves as being in that lounge. But then again, it’s also a little sad when people who are actually in those lounges post their location as some sort of status symbol? Well I’m here to tell those people that you are impressing no one, and if by chance someone is impressed, then they are probably not worth impressing.

People have lost their job, not new jobs, lost relationships and much more seriously caused upset and even suicide by using social media. Some people have also met their partner and shared a lot of love and happiness with their pictures.

We have power at our finger-tips like never before. I hope we use it wisely for good, never forgetting who we are.

Chris is an international Pilates and functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also organises Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona, as well as retreats. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.