Pilates For Sprinting

People are becoming more and more aware of the importance of fitness and exercise. Whether inside or outdoors, you’ll see people working to get and stay healthy. Outdoor exercise is a particularly good way to improve your health and enjoy life at the same time!
Gyms are a wonderful asset to people who can afford them, and for people who have the discipline to keep coming back after they’ve paid their membership dues. Home gyms are effective ways to work out for people with lots of space and money. Sports and organized activities are a good way for social types to take care of their health while they are “seeing” and “being seen.”
But what about those who live simply – who are happy playing with their kids or their dog, who don’t need or want the structure of a gym, who can’t afford expensive equipment, who can’t work out and talk at the same time, and who don’t like competition. Are they oddballs? No! Exercising outdoors is a fun, simple way to keep fit and enjoy nature.
Outdoor exercise doesn’t cost much. It doesn’t require a lot of preparation. And it is a healthy lifestyle choice for anyone. Among the many benefits of outdoor exercise are:
- you can do it without equipment
- you don’t have to mess with crowded gyms and obnoxious people
- you don’t have to make a long trip to get there
- you can breathe fresh air and feel the wind in your hair
- you don’t have to pay a membership fee or make a down-payment
- you don’t have to put on that special outfit
- you don’t have to wear makeup
- you do get lots of sunshine and vitamin D for health bones and skin
- you can do it anytime, anywhere you want to
Having established that outdoor exercise is a great way to stay fit and enjoy a healthy life, you might be wondering what to do when you get outside.
Here are seven popular outdoor exercises that will give you a good work out and leave you feeling sweaty, exhausted, and absolutely great!
1. Lunges
A wonderful outdoor exercise, this is a great way to work your bottom and hamstrings, lunges come in many different variations. This is the basic drop-knee style. Stand with your feet about three feet apart with your knees at a 90-degree angle. Bend your knees and lower back toward the ground, making sure your heel is flat to the ground and your knees are directly over the center of your feet. Keep your upper body straight as you push through the front heel and return to the starting position. Don’t lock your knees. Just repeat in a flowing motion.
2. Push-ups
Great for your upper body, push-ups also have many variations, including standard, wide, and close grips. They’re a perfect outdoor exercise, and if you rotate the three movements, you’ll work more muscle groups and get a better result. For easier motion, elevate your hands. For more resistance, elevate your feet. If you’re really brave, try clapping your hands as you bounce. Start with your back and knees straight and parallel to the ground. Slowly lower your body until your nose touches the ground and then return to your starting position with a quick upward press. Repeat as many times as you can without over-stressing.
3. Squats
Very easy to do for outdoor exercise, if they’re done the right way, squats have tremendous power. If done improperly, they’re less effective. Squats also have many variations – standing, one leg, wide-stance, pile, and overhead. As you do repetitions, you’ll feel your legs getting tired. This is a good thing. They’re great for developing your hips, butt, and thighs. Stand evenly with your feet apart. Keep your back straight and your stomach in. Your knees should be just behind your toes. Squat to the height of a chair, and squeeze your butt as you stand. Repeat. For more vigorous exercise, hold weights in your hands as you squat.
4. Step-ups
Done properly, this can be a brutal outdoor exercise. You can use a bench as your equipment. All you have to do is step up and down, being sure to hold your head up and your back straight. Stand behind the platform (weights in hand for more power). Put your right foot on the bench, transferring your weight to the heel as you come into the step. Use your right leg only, using your left leg for balance. Slowly step back. Repeat this at least 10 times with your right leg before switching to the left.
5. Chin-ups
Also known as pull-ups. You can use a tree branch or playground equipment. Grab your pull-up bar with an overhand grip. Your grip should be just wider than your shoulders. Left your body upward as high as you can, and return gently (don’t fall) to your starting position. Repeat the movement as many times as you can. This outdoor exercise will get the sweat going!
6. Uphill sprints
Only people who can do a 100-meter dash should try this one. The essential outdoor exercise, all you have to do is find a hillside, and run up it as fast as you can. Walk down and repeat.
7. Duck walks
For the un-embarrassed! Simple, but hard, this outdoor exercise will give you strong legs and endurance. Simply squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Walk in that position about ten steps, and then return. Repeat as much as you can (probably won’t be much!).
Doing outdoor exercise is a good workout. If done properly, these outdoor exercises will give you benefits as good, as not better, than you’ll get in the fanciest gym in town using the most expensive equipment on the floor. Outdoor exercise also lets you remember how great it is to be outside, rain or shine, breathing fresh air and listening to the birds sing. So, go to it! Try some outdoor exercise now!

As the human body ages there is a greater tendency for discomfort and pain for the muscles and joints to the point where the body feels like it has stiffened up. This can make routine movements such as bending over or reaching uncomfortable at best and almost impossible at worst. By learning how to do Pilates, the greater flexibility and movement achieved will certainly alleviate these problems.

The actual problem of restrictive movement and discomfort does not emanate from the joints or bones but is due to the muscles and connective tissues that move the joints. Flexibility is used to describe the full range of motion of a body joint and the greater such range, the more flexible a joint will be. The problem lies in a situation where the muscles and joints are not moved in any discernable way on a regular basis through undergoing their full ranges of motion and this will obviously lead to a reduction in their overall capability. Once this occurs and there is a demand placed upon the body to undetake movement that it is not normally asked of it there really should be no surprise that some level of discomfort or pain is experienced, the result being a discouragement from further use. The muscles become shortened through prolonged periods of inactivity which can lead to the creation of spasms and cramps that can often become irritating and at times extremely painful.

For someone who does not get enough activity and movement on a daily basis any suggestion of undertaking any form of exercise can be met with a negative response as the imagined outcome will be pain and discomfort. All is not lost as there is available a range of movement exercises and techniques that are possible to use within daily routines even for people who, up until now, have never considered or wanted to undertake any form of regular exercise. A popular and acknowledged exercise regime to assist with improved body movement and greater flexibility is Pilates which anyone of any age and fitness level can immediately start to benefit from.

There are many different exercises included within a Pilates fitness program for any levels of fitness and age with the target being the improved tone and core strength of the muscles, greater flexibility plus also increasing the awareness of body form. The effect of undertakeing the techniques will be the reprogramming of the body with efficient muscle use resulting in great benefits such as improved posture.

By learning how to do Pilates and incorporating it into an existing exercise program or to use it on its own, you will notice beneficial results quite quickly that often elude those that wish to gain better fitness and greater body flexibility. With better conditioning of the body’s core muscles, the problem of muscle ache will reduce and over time disappear as you reap the benefits from the better conditioned, reprogrammed you.

Pilates in an exercise ball. Pilates fitness band. Pilates with yoga. Pilates for tango dancing. Pilates in the pool. The list goes on, but are we really talking about Pilates even when presented mostly in the context of a system of exercises? Much of the Pilates community would say no, and much would say yes.

Joseph Pilates developed a wide repertoire of exercises based on the principles of very specific movement. Their exercises are done on a mat or one of the many pieces of equipment he invented, as the magic circle, a Pilates chair or reformer. That’s near the end of the story for many traditionalists in the world of Pilates. However, as the Pilates method has influenced the exercise science and vice versa, many new approaches and equipment have found their way in the formation of Pilates.

The key question then is: How far from traditional Pilates is too far? If you take a class or buy a Pilates video and pretending to be something, say Pilates and ballroom dancing, but there are only two traditional Pilates exercises in the whole thing, is Pilates? “And if we add fundamental building work? If you do a Pilates class and the instructor ball no more than a day “Pilates on the ball” certification from one of the many self-appointed certification companies, you will reap the benefits associated with doing Pilates correctly?

I can not answer those questions. My job is to bring to your attention and alert you that the fact that while most of Pilates-based instruction is excellent, there are a lot of Pilates combined with other teams and traditions and is derived from Pilates there is no real is in it – other than as a noun or as a marketing tool.

So how do you know if you go to a fusion of Pilates experience that Pilates gives you enough to be worthwhile, especially if there is no traditional Pilates taught? The 5 tips below will help you be a demanding customer:

1. The best solution is to know about Pilates. Take some Pilates classes, equipment or mate, with a fully certified Pilates instructor. Then go to the combination of Pilates with this or that. At least you have an idea of the basics of Pilates movement, and you will be able to see the principles in its fusion instructor or not.

2. Find out how much of his instructional Pilates Fusion Pilates teacher actually does. Do not settle for a one day workshop. If the instructor is the combination of Pilates with something else, yoga or ballet, for example, must be well trained in both.

3. Look for the basics of Pilates inspired instruction and an emphasis on abs who retired in supporting the core, the length and alignment, exercise modification, including the stability of the ABS base, shoulder and pelvis integrated breathing, and a sense of the principles of Pilates.

4. Ask yourself how you feel after a class. Are you getting the benefits associated with Pilates training? Do your limbs feel more and feel taller? Are you getting the strength without the stress? His posture is better and breathing is easy and completely? Are you more flexible?

Just a few years ago, Kim Gibilisco, a choreographer, dancer and Polestar- and Stott Pilates–trained instructor, was teaching private Pilates sessions in her Manhattan studio. Today, she is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, and the woman responsible for bringing a Pilates mat certification program to the school. Here she discusses how she came to be SU’s Pilates Program Coordinator and where Pilates fits in the university setting.

PP: How did the idea of a collegiate Pilates program come about, and what did it take to convince school officials?KG: When I accepted my position in the Dance Department at SU, my chairperson, Erica Helm, and I discussed the possibility of offering a Mat Teacher Training course to our students. I designed the curriculum in the summer of 2005 then applied for Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) approval as an Educational Member. Applying to the PMA was an important part of the process, as I wanted to be sure that our program was properly sanctioned. I also wanted to ensure that our graduates could apply for PMA membership and be accepted into Apparatus programs in the future if they wanted to pursue more. The Mat program was approved and we began running the program in Fall 2005. The program was embraced from the very beginning by our university.

PP: How did you design the curriculum and what are the requirements?KG: I designed the curriculum specifically for a student population (ages 19-25) who may not have had any experience with the method. One semester of college level anatomy is required to enroll. Since our students are in a four-year program (versus typical weekend-based training seminars), I wanted to capitalize on the available time I had to teach the material. I determined that a two-semester sequence was the most effective way to teach the material to this population.  Students must earn at least an 84% in the first semester to advance to the second semester.

The first semester entails 2 hour of Mat experiential and 1 hour of lecture per week. In the second semester, students take Mat once a week with me. Then students rotate in teaching the whole group a Mat class once a week. Following a student Mat class, participants offer feedback on the effectiveness and teaching style of the student instructor. In the second semester, the lectures focus on teaching methods and class design. Using their understanding of the Trilogy, the 6 Pilates Principles (control, centering, concentration, flowing movement, precision and breath) and the 5 Pilates Lab Principles (use of inhalation and exhalation, pelvic floor, restorative poses, visual gaze and neutral spine) students design a class with a theme or concept they want to address. Written and practical midterms and finals are also administered.

Using some of the Mat Teacher Training models I researched, I designed the curriculum to include lectures and practicums that I believe are important in becoming a well-rounded teacher of the method. For example, our students are tested in physical practicums where they must demonstrate their mastery of the 34 exercises as well as in teaching practicums where they must demonstrate their ability to teach confidently and effectively. I also wanted to offer students course work on the various props used in the Mat work, (e.g.: magic circle, foam roller and thera-bands and thera-ball) so that they did not need to attend continuing education courses outside of the university setting to develop their breadth of knowledge. In addition, I teach contra-indications for diabetes, orthopedic issues and pregnancy so that our graduates feel comfortable with teaching a variety of populations. What I stress the most is the importance of “knowing what you don’t know and to teach ONLY what you know.” For example, if a client asks them about an orthopedic issue that is out of their scope of practice, they know to refer them to a medical professional. Our students are taught how to self-assess and where to look for more information if they are unclear.

PP: Are you the only instructor involved with the Pilates program?KG: Yes, as per the PMA, all teachers must have at least 5 years of teaching experience to instruct teacher trainers.

PP: What type of students does the program attract?KG: Up until 2007, we have had primarily dance majors enrolled in the program. However, this academic year our Music Theatre majors and staff have also enrolled and successfully completed the program.  For the 2008-2009 academic year, we have dance majors, music theatre majors, SU alumni and community members enrolled.

PP: Are students who complete all the requirements considered certified Pilates instructors?KG: Only the PMA can “certify” teachers in the method. As an Educational Member of the PMA, our teacher trainers are given a certificate of completion with the SU and PMA logos on it.

PP: Is Pilates an actual major, and if not, how does it work into a student’s graduation plan?KG: Our Teacher Training Program is an elective course that can fulfill a dance elective requirement.

PP: How many students have been through the program, and are they actively teaching now?KG: We have had 26 students complete the Mat Teacher Training course of which 14 students are actively teaching Pilates Mat.

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