Rapid Rehab LA Pilates Based Physical Therapy Brentwood California

Welcome to the first RR Studio Pilates Newsletter!!! This will be available monthly now as our way of keeping you further connected to us, more involved and well-informed.

There are some changes taking place in the RR family we are excited to tell you about. First and foremost, as many of you are aware, after 7 wonderful years with us, Lauren, the managing director, has decided to move on- to a brighter more relaxing future! Katie will now be taking her place - welcoming any new ideas and concerns.

Beginning this month on a trial basis, we will be opening up the studio to “Open Gym” time, available Mondays and Wednesdays only, 2pm-4pm. Pay a $10 fee and you’re welcome to come in and workout for as long as you’d like. There’s no need to book in advance- all equipment is available to you on a first-come first-serve basis

Also, in an effort to thank you for your continued business, we are starting a new referral program. For every friend you refer to our studio, you’ll receive a free Pilates Class. No limits apply! (Please see the front desk for further details)

In addition to our referral program, we are starting a Private Session Raffle Program. Give us your business card and at the end of the month, at random, someone will be chosen to receive a free 45-Minute Private Pilates Session with the Instructor of the Month.

Over the coming weeks, you’ll notice more small changes- so let us know what you think.

“THE GREATEST WEALTH IS HEALTH”  ~Virgil

Pilates is known for its multitude of benefits for professional and recreational athlete, the aging community, and for the injured seeking rehabilitation. Ballerinas, celebrities and moms have praised it’s benefits, so it may come as no surprise that Pilates has gained popularity in another sub culture of athleticism: the equestrian lifestyle.

Creating a relationship with your horse, through movement and control is what all horse lovers and professionals aspire to achieve. Moving within the saddle while maintaining a stable base with proper form is one of the major concerns of accomplished equestrians.

Based upon habits in the daily bank of movement, improper form and spinal irregularities can develop over time. What happens outside of the arena, how you move the body during the day, directly affects the health of the rider and sometimes the performance of the horse itself.

When riding a horse, common body postures such as rounded shoulders, tight hamstrings, or a tight lower back can limit opportunities for the rider to excel or improve. Pilates improves posture, flexibility, core strength, and balance. Pilates also focuses on lengthening the spine. This elongation allows for a tall and regal look in the saddle and can protect the trunk of the body from spinal compression conditions, and improves overall spinal health.

Common benefits that may be of interest to the equestrian include: hip freedom and strengthen, supple lower back muscles, abdominal strengthening, lengthens the leg, and improves body length. In order to assist a rider in creating the ultimate riding experience, the body needs to be listened to and the mind in control. Jostling, and improper form can result in injury and muscular imbalances.

A nonpartisan hip placement is necessary for a rider to follow the movement of the horse with ease and yet still own subtle command. Jumping form can also be improved through the study of Pilates, as it can help a person to absorb the horse’s movement with whole-body control. As any equestrian knows your body can easily get jostled around in the seat if not held down by a necessary “deep seat” position. Pilates can help you deepen the seat and will ease you into recovery after a certain ride may leave you sore or tender.

Above all, developing a clear line of communication with your horse and earning its trust, as a capable rider and caretaker will improve the horses’ performance as well as the quality of the rides. So much time in training is spent on form, horse and rider positions, the use of aids, and proper movements.

Pilates opens up the flow of focus into the mind, spirit, and being of the rider. Performance will follow, once the thought life is in line with the body’s movements. Jumping further, holding a position longer, and sitting deeper into the saddle will not become tasks to remember, but rather just natural progression of one single thought.

For further information on how Pilates can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the equestrian and the horse, Betsy Steiner has written a book called, “Equilates: A Gymnastic Riding System Using Mind, Body, and Spirit Progressive Training for Rider and Horse”. With principles taken and built upon from the Pilates handbook, it even details a Pilates based workout for the horse.

Perhaps one of the loftiest goals for the senior community has nothing to do with retirement, vacation homes, or accumulation of material things. When one comes full circle in life, there is an amazing clarity that is found about the luxury of good health.

A person’s priorities are then organized accordingly, making their health and fitness levels of supreme importance. For a senior, maintaining mobility, independence, and strong sense of self is what keeps them the happiest in their later years, and keeps them the most able to remain safely engaged in the normal routine of life.

Since daily exercise has just in recent years become a blip on the radar of the American mind, as a result of the American Health Association and innumerable case studies that have proven the positive effects of exercise on the quality of life.

However, there are a few older generations that have to piece together the entire conflicting world of health and exercise education all by themselves. Trying to discover what the safest and most appropriate exercises may be for their health to benefit can be overwhelming and confusing.

Even though this may be taking place later in life, it is important for all senior citizens to know that there is a type of exercise that can and will benefit them without injury, while increasing their health and longevity. This can be done without the high risk of injury or unnecessary weight bearing impact, because of the nature of Pilates rehabilitation and exercise techniques. These methods lie in stark contrast to the more traditional gym environments, which often offer high impact or strenuous therapy and weight lifting as an alternative to a sedentary lifestyle.

Pilates has its roots in physical rehabilitation. Because of its gentle and controlled movements, it can benefit those who may not have a lot of muscular strength and are wishing to reintroduce functional ability into their lives. Pilates increases flexibility, and since with age, joints get worn down and bones become more fragile, there is a limited amount of stress that the joints and bones can take during exercise.

Pilates focuses on increasing mobility and alignment within the spine a majority of all aches and pains, muscular imbalances, and chronic and acute pain stem from a misaligned spine or back discomfort which can stem from a pinched nerve within the spinal column.

Pilates focus on the moderate lengthening of the spine, and allows for movement around the joints to be done with ease. Spine mobility greatly releases stress and stiffness from the back, and will enable the rest of the body to move more freely as well.

Even after a few weeks an older client will be able to notice the great benefits of increased strength and improved posture. Stability and safe footing can also be increased through Pilates. It helps develop core strength, which becomes significantly better balance. The better balance, and aware of your center, that a person can have the less risk there will be for a senior to take a fall or slip and have to suffer from broken bones.

Pilates is a functional exercise. This means that not only does it improve your health, physical appearance, and overall wellness, but it a practical addition that improves the quality of movement in your everyday life. Scapular stability is one of those everyday factors that Pilates improves.

When the shoulder bones are properly aligned with the spinal column and neck and head, this becomes critical. To perform Pilates exercises efficiently and to improve postural habits, shoulder stability will decrease the risk of nerve injury and muscular imbalances throughout the entire upper trunk.

The shoulder bones are irregular shaped bones, almost like wings, located in the middle of the upper back. Otherwise known as the shoulder blades. Not only do the shoulders allow for movement in the upper body, but they also act as protection for the spine and neck. The most common way to conclude how aligned or misaligned your shoulder girdle is, is by first looking to your own posture in the neutral position.

Some of us sit slightly to the left or right, or lean on our elbows, this absent-minded body behavior creates an open position between the shoulder blades, known as adduction. When the shoulders are separated for long periods of time, the upper body can begin to settle into that open space and create a hunched over appearance. In addition, rounding our shoulders forward is a common neutral position that is usually associated with shoulder adduction and can make the condition worse.

Similarly, some people tend to abduct their shoulders, by pulling them tight together. This puts strain on the front of the shoulder as well as increases tightness in the upper back. Pilates discourages both of these shoulder positions. Its goal is to reintroduce the scapular stability to the body, by incorporating physical reminders of how the body should feel at rest, as well as in motion.

Pilates instructors will often say, “Pull the shoulders down. Relax the shoulders.” Having shoulders that lie flat against the back is the ideal placement for the shoulder blades. This type of simple instruction can help us identify what it is that our bodies tend to naturally do on their own, without keeping alignment in mind.

The body is predisposed to improper posture and alignment, since in most sitting and standing positions we tend to slump. This is all a direct result of inconsistent body positioning.

Just like exercise we must be aware of our body positions throughout he day, not just during our workouts. It’s the little changes we make in our body’s improper postures will enable us to see and feel the greatest benefits that Pilates has to offer, balance and stability being two of those.

By redirecting our common day postures we are able to utilize our energy more efficiently, improve bone structure health, and keep our nervous system protected by the framework of our bodies.

Just a few times in a Pilates studio with the correct scapular stability positions intact, and you will be able to recognize when you are allowing your shoulders to round, retract, or pinch when they shouldn’t be. Pilates is all about reintroduce each body part, whether it’s muscle, tissue or bone, back into the working world of your body. And giving each piece of your body the chance to work, act and function just like it is supposed to.

Pilates is known for its intense core strengthening proponents. Some women, even celebrities like Madonna, have been used as Pilates poster children for the six-pack that one can acquire from rigorous core training.

However, some people may have misconceptions of what is means to “pull in” the abdominals. Words like “powerhouse” and “pelvic floor” can be lost on some Pilates students, because “sucking in” and “pulling in” are two completely different forms of muscle integration.

Engaging the core is not easily done because it requires the innate knowledge of body mechanics. Put simply it requires prior “core” muscle memory. To know the difference between using their core and destabilizing their body by holding in their breath, you have had to feel the difference.

There is one misconception about core training that often gets caught up in the “sales” aspect of Pilates, and it is connected to this abdominal powerhouse concept. The six-pack abs that are visibly and verbally advertised throughout Pilates studios as a by-product, aren’t necessarily the target muscles that Pilates hopes to train.

The deep muscle training that you will find in Pilates core work, goes way beyond the traditional ideology of crunches or sit ups. The rectus abdominis, which is the Hollywood star of abdominal muscles, make up the surface of the belly, when the core is engaged the abdominal muscles that are not visible, the transverse and pelvic floor muscles are used.

Why this is important can mean the difference between working the surface muscles and the deeper core muscles. The deeper core muscles are not as easy to “work”, because they are not familiar muscles to our “exercise” brain. If we cannot see a muscle pumping, such as the biceps or triceps, our minds have a hard time understanding if we are correctly and effectively exerting the muscles energy.

This is where Pilates makes finding and defining the underlying stomach muscles easier to identify and incorporate. Such visible instruction in Pilates like, “pull your belly button to your spine”, and “pretend you got punched in the stomach”, or “pull the muscles down towards the hip girdle” are helpful, but not comprehensive in direction.

A better description, would be to focus on the lower abs, and pulling them back as if you were trying to push the deeper muscles into the back of your spine. Continue this “pulling” all the way up through the lower abdominals, into the middle, and up into the upper. A rolling effect of core muscles will effectively allow you to put each muscle of the trunk into action.

Pulling in your abdominals is simply a way to develop a foundation for efficient movement. The powerhouse muscles are what will increase your stamina, protect the other muscles in the body and give you the highest intensity out of your Pilates workout. Once you can strengthen the underlying muscles beneath the surface six-pack, it will only be a matter of time before you develop both.

Pilates and pregnancy have developed a very effective working relationship over the years. Women, physicians and trainers can attest to the benefits from Pilates that can be found during and after their pregnancy.

Pilates strengthens the body in slow and controlled movements while encouraging gentle toning. Pilates is known for ushering in the benefits of relaxation through breathing techniques and proper body alignment.

This connects the mother to the child in an intrinsic natural manner. The core, or the “powerhouse” of the body, includes the abdomen, the back, and the floor muscles (which include the Kegel muscles). These areas during pregnancy will be under the most stress during the delivery, and Pilates taps into the strength potential within the body.

Pilates alleviates some of the pain of childbirth, by training the body to use its core strength effectively and safely. Not to mention it is a great way to reintroduce exercise into a new mom’s schedule and allows for an excellent way to get back into shape after birth, without the high impact or weight resistance methods of more conventional training.

When choosing to continue to include Pilates in your prenatal regime, be sure to consult with your physician first. After permission is granted, feel free to continue safely into prenatal Pilates, but this is a step that cannot be overlooked.  For you and your babies safety it is HIGHLY recommended that woman be previously doing pilates training before pregnancy.  Some of the exercises may become uncomfortable, since they are performed on the back, but there are modifications that can be made as the pregnancy progresses to enable a comfortable and calming environment.

Also a condition called “diastasis” may occur later in the pregnancy, which is when the abdomen separates, if this does occur extra special attention must be paid to further modification of your Pilates regime, or it may need to be discontinued until after baby is born.

Since there are many hormonal changes that occur in the women’s body during pregnancy, heightened body awareness will need to be strictly paid attention to. Some of the poses, movements, or machine work that you may have been able to perform few weeks ago will not be executed with such ease. This is simply because the body is changing and sending signals to the areas of the body that need to be treated with care.

Also, ligaments and tendons become more pliable as the pregnancy progresses to prepare the body for birth. Since deep stretching is a building block of Pilates training one must be sure not to stretch too much and keep their safety, as well as the baby’s, forefront in their physical training agenda.

The benefits of Pilates during pregnancy are numerous, it will increase the circulatory blood flow to the body, which is imperative to the healthy development of your child, it will make delivery and recovery easier, and it will connect the mind to the body. The most important part of pregnancy is staying healthy, Pilates creates that healthy environment for you to relax and enjoy the beautiful evolution of woman to mother.

Controversy has surrounded the certification process of Pilates Method instructors ever since Joseph Pilates himself began training students. It wasn’t until the year 2000, when the trademark exclusivity of the Pilates name was lifted, and then Pilates became a term that could be used as loosely or as appropriately as desired.

The good news about the trademark dissipation was that it benefited trainers who had been teaching Pilates for years and were highly qualified in their field. They could finally attach the highly refutable term to their work. Up until that point, qualified trainers have had to use a variation of the word Pilates, such as Pilates-based, or Pilates-inspired to describe what they teach.

Also, in recent years the PMA (Pilates Method Association) has begun development on a standardized test, which has been put in place to protect the public from under qualified Pilates trainers. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies has guidelines, which acted as the blueprint for the newly formed Pilates certification exams.

This was issued from the PMA in their mission statement: “The PMA has established recommended industry performance parameters guiding the practice of all PMA Certified and non-certified Pilates teachers. The PMA has established these standards to further bring professionalism to Pilates.”

However, the downside to the new liberty with which Pilates is used, is that there are Pilates instructors who claim to be teaching the “whole-body connection”, but their methods are fleeced with inaccuracies and lack proper Pilates education. Because the term Pilates is now used so freely, which does unfortunately include Pilates imposters, it makes it that much more important for an individual to do extensive research before choosing which studio and trainer to practice Pilates with.

There are a serious of questions that a new Pilates client should feel at absolute liberty in asking. Questions such as: Where did you study Pilates? How were you certified and by what association? How long have you been certified? How long did you study to become a Pilates trainer? How many hours have you accumulated towards your Pilates in-field knowledge? Do you have liability insurance? What is your teaching philosophy? Is there any type of client, injured or healthy, that you will not train? Can you shadow while the trainer is with another client?

These questions are absolutely necessary in defining the parameters of a Pilates instructor’s abilities and knowledge. In addition it can fast track an honest and open relationship with your trainer.

Since Pilates is such a balance of body awareness and physical empowerment, a trainer will need to have the same mental approach to health that you have or would like to have. Each Pilates instructor may have a different reason as to why they decided to teach holistic healing, and that will be an important conversation to have with your potential instructor.

Once you can better access what you stand to gain from training and what to expect from Pilates itself, the better the results and experience will be. The PMA has a website where you can search for certified personal trainers in your area: www.pmapilatescertified.com

In traditional gym environments you will typically overhear trainers tell their clients to focus on the muscles they are using. During a bicep curl, when you focus on using the bicep muscle only, more muscle fibers are called into action within that muscle.

The same principle can be applied during Pilates when developing the mind-body connection. However with Pilates instead of just strengthening one small muscle in your body at a time, you are lengthening and strengthening the entire body simultaneously. The focus shifts from, “work harder”, “do more reps” to “work smarter” and “take deep breaths.”

When explaining this phenomenon, Joseph Pilates said, “One of the major results of…(mind-body exercise), is the mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body.” The purpose of exercise needs to be acknowledged before the results will appear. By gaining control over all of your muscles at once, an entirely new level of balance, flexibility, and core strength is developed. Focus and centering oneself, will create the proper alignment, form, as well as safe and effective body positioning needed to tap into the core’s powerhouse.

Stress, however, is one of the main antagonists for those wishing to develop their own mind-body connection. Our thoughts run wild through the weeds of daily responsibility. Going to work, picking up the kids, making the meals, paying the bills on time, and any and all types of unforeseen change can wear down sensitivity to our body’s needs.

Stress management is oftentimes curbed by medication, but in a culture that tends to rely on outside influences to change internal issues, a holistic approach to stress management is another alternative.

Pilates offers a unique platform for quieting the inner rooms of busyness, and cleaning out the clutter of distraction. As Americans, we pride ourselves on being able to handle it all, work long hours, and slave away at the gym, all while trying to maintain a family unit.

We pump our fists in the air while guzzling down our triple latte’s and call it “doing it all”. But we are really running ourselves ragged, fueled on by caffeine and adrenaline. Stress develops within the body, when the mind begins to feel the wear and tear of overactive living.

Very rarely do we listen to our own breathing long enough to realize the importance of oxygen integration in the blood. With Pilates, the deep breathing patterns enable more oxygen to be released into the blood, and the ability to think clearer, do more, and feel more energized is increased.

Quieting the restlessness in our lives for just one hour can have exceptional, long-term benefits. In addition to low impact cardio, such as swimming, bicycling, and walking, Pilates can create that outlet for stress management. Our bodies crave to be active.

They desire to be one with our thoughts. If you can visualize where you want to be, your body will follow suit. Not only will you develop a long, lean healthy physique, but also you will develop a peace of mind that will surpass stress and improve your quality of life.

“Physical fitness is the first requisite to happiness.” Joseph Pilates made this statement in his Pilates handbook, Return to Life Through Controlology in 1945. What he may or may have not known when he first started developing Pilates is that the mind-body connection in conjunction with over-all wellness has been studied and practiced for centuries by different cultures all throughout the world.

Joseph Pilates had stumbled upon a treasure trove of methods in which he was gaining an understanding and developing a practical structure for study through his rehabilitative practice, Pilates.

Eastern meditation methodology as well as western approaches to wellness, such as Greco-Roman practices, all drew the same conclusions about the mind body connection: there is power when behavioral patterns and thought patterns coincide with a common goal, wellness. Concentration on the development of the mind-body connection yields numerous benefits, and Joseph Pilates himself knew this firsthand.

Far too often in this day and age our mind and our movements have separate existences, severing the unity of consciousness. We get up and go to work. We move throughout our day without much concentrated efforts on our movements and body positioning.

Our posture deteriorates at our desks, as we slouch into our chairs. Our core never feels engaged, making our mind seem detached from our body. Lethargy will then begin to dictate our lifestyle instead of the mind’s capacity for vitality being the headship of our bodies. When the mind and body become separate entities, a loss of grounding and centering takes place, which can lead to depression, sleep depravation, and even bodily injury.

The simple phrase, “mind-body connection” can send some of us into a mental back flip. What does it mean to engage our thoughts with our bodies, isn’t that a natural connection? When I need to do something I tell my body to do it, and so it does. However, a simple demand and result relationship between the body and the mind develops a breach of understanding between the two, sacrificing unity and implementing dictatorship.

Our thoughts directly affect our moods, social behaviors, the way we carry ourselves, and where we end up in the spectrum of healthy living. Some people are married to their counter-productive thought patterns making healthful living something they believe they cannot physically do.

When the mind is conditioned to think it cannot accomplish something, the body responds accordingly. But think how greatly the body would be positively affected if the tides of negative mind-body connection communication could be swayed. What a powerful portal of energy, dedication, and healthy living could be found.

Our will to engage in complete body awareness begins in the mind, and Pilates encourages this type of mental “tapping”. Conscious control of the body is found through deep breathing patterns while incorporating the fluidity of Pilates’ movements.

The natural gliding exemplar and exercises found in mat and machine Pilates instigates the groundwork needed to develop your own mind-body connection. Once you learn the basics of how to sew together the gaping space between the mind and the body, you will be able to engage this dynamic tool whenever you need to, whether its in a Pilates studio or elsewhere.