Pilates & Weight Loss
Posted originally on February 14, 2024 by pilatesnative
Fitness on social media is like the Wild West and frequently calls to mind “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.
Lately, my social feeds have been taken over by ads for “Wall Pilates”. These videos typically feature extremely lean and fit AI-generated women in barely-there sports bras and booty shorts demonstrating extremely suggestive poses. Ass out, knees splayed, and some sort of gyration happening. Most of the exercises shown in these ads aren’t even Pilates and an overwhelming number of these posts proclaim magical impossible weight loss results from the program.
Let’s not even talk about the lack of legitimate functional anatomical movements in these ads. 😤
It’s no secret that online marketing for health and fitness is frequently dominated by quick-fix trends and overnight results. “Wall Pilates”, with its visually striking and frequently impractical poses and promises of body changing weight loss, is just another marketing trend that successfully draws in countless hopefuls.
The comments on these ads are overflowing with excitement, anticipation, and enthusiasm as folks ask if these programs can help with their knee pain, back pain, hip pain. With their weight loss and their spare tires. With their mental health. Other commentors, most likely paid bots, proclaim their amazing results with losing inches, pounds, sizes and disappearing pain.
At the same time, the wisdom being shared by actual Personal Trainers, Pilates Instructors, and Physical Therapists offering functional, anatomically sound advice goes largely unnoticed.
Why is it that Weight Loss dominates and drives the Fitness World?When I was teaching Pilates as part of a work wellness program, an older lady attended every week without fail. After every class, she told me how amazing she felt.
Before every class, she told me how much stronger she was, how she was moving better, had better balance, was standing taller, was noticing when she wasn’t engaging her muscles during other activities and could then turn them on.
At the end of the 15 week program, she told me that while she had LOVED her Pilates classes, she wouldn’t be continuing because she had looked up the average calorie burn per class, and Pilates just wasn’t worth it. She only did things that burned calories.
I was devastated.
This was someone who had not only experienced but noticed major changes in her body due to her weekly Pilates practice. She was stronger, more mobile, moving better, breathing better, having less pain, enjoying better posture, and felt amazing after every class.
But her ONLY metric for fitness was weight loss.
Unfortunately, that’s the norm in the fitness world. There are a ton of really amazing benefits to Pilates, and exercise in general, that folks miss out on because their only metric is weight loss.
Ask any personal trainer, fitness professional, nutritionist or health professional and they’ll tell you that weight loss is 80% diet. What you eat, how you eat, when you eat, how much you eat. Not to mention hormones, stress, sleep patterns, health issues, allergies. Even things like where you live, the type of job you have, your race, your culture; all contribute to weight loss.
Weight loss is a much more complicated conversation that requires a deeper understanding of your body and your habits than social media and marketing would have you believe.
Here’s My Unpopular Stance: There are so many reasons to do Pilates that aren’t weight loss motivated.
Pilates gives us the opportunity to do so much more than just lose weight. To my emphasize my point, here are 30 non-weight loss reasons to do Pilates.
30 Non-Weight Loss Reasons to do Pilates
A strong and stable core, including abdominal, back, and pelvic floor muscles
Promotes better breathing patterns
Improved flexibility and range of motion
Reduced stiffness in joints and muscles
Promotes ease of movement in all directions
Builds lean muscle mass, promoting a toned and sculpted physique
Promotes better posture and postural awareness during normal activities
Improved body awareness
Offers an effective low impact exercise option
Helps maintain joint health and functional mobility
Develops balance and coordination
Reduces the risk of falls and enhances overall stability
Builds endurance and stamina through controlled and precise movements
Strengthens muscles around joints, reducing the risk of injuries (this is especially important for hypermobility and EDS)
Complements other forms of exercise, contributing to improved performance in various sports and physical activities
Fosters a deep mind-body connection
Promotes awareness and presence in the moment
Relieves stress and tension through controlled breathing and mindful movements
Enhances focus and concentration
Releases endorphins, promoting a positive mood and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression
Supports the down regulation of the nervous system
Is a form of somatic movement and can help participants process thoughts, emotions and feelings somatically
Serves as an active meditation practice
Supports rehabilitation from injuries and muscle imbalances
Offers a safe and effective exercise option for pre- and postnatal women, addressing core strength, pelvic floor health and stability
Offers a safe and effective exercise option post-surgery
Contributes to overall physical, mental, and emotional well-being
Develops fine motor skills
Provides a sense of community and belonging
Offers a fun and mentally engaging way to exercise
Based on this giant list of benefits that aren’t weight loss related, it’s time to redefine our metrics for fitness.
Instead of the entire scale, weight loss should only be a single metric in a long list of equally valuable metrics. Quality of life should rank higher on the list, along with strength, functional mobility, and holistic well-being.
Instead of falling prey to the allure of online crazes that offer a magical solution to lose 7 pounds in 7 days, let’s stop and consider the real, tangible non-weight loss related benefits that Pilates, and exercise in general, has to offer.
Take care friends.
-Rubecca
p.s. As always, I LOVE to hear your thoughts on these posts. Feel free to reply to email or bring up this topic in your next session. 🙂
And just so we’re clear, if you’ve done Pilates, you know instructors can take anything, even a wall, and turn it into a prop. So “Wall Pilates” is a thing. It’s just not the thing we see on these ads.
What I Learned from a Year on Hard Mode
Posted on December 15, 2023 by pilatesnative
Leaving 2022, I was feeling fat, lost, alone, old and frumpy. For the first time in almost twenty years, my identity wasn’t tied in some way to engineering. I was at my heaviest non-pregnancy weight, managing food allergies felt like an endless losing game of whack-a-mole and the only peace was found at the studio. When thinking about how to shake out of those ugly feelings, I decided that I was going to jump off the deep end and spend 2023 doing all of the things that I’m really bad at or afraid of. While I anticipated doing a few challenging activities that shook off the funk, I did not anticipate the total shift of my world view.
From learning simple things like how to play chess and taking River fishing with just the two of us, to much heavier and challenging things like one-on-one Life Coaching, public speaking, dance performances, and attending a party alone, this year really ran the gauntlet. Here’s a quick list of what I learned from an entire year spent intentionally on hard mode.
1) There are so many people to thank.
The expectation of this challenge was that it would be a solo project. The reality is that there were so so many people who were ready and willing to help and who happily contributed to this year and helped me reach, push and enjoy the year. Thank you all so much!
2) Fear Patterns quickly emerged.
Pretty quickly, it became very apparent that I struggle with 3 main things. Heights, water and people came up over and over again this year. The more I immersed in these things, the easier they got. While I still may not be ready for a ski lift, I did have a blast doing a high ropes course, practically lived on the paddle board this summer and I actually went to multiple parties solo this year. (We won’t talk about the total foot in mouth moment I had when meeting a friend’s girlfriend for the first time. hahaha)
3) A little vulnerability pays off big time.
Turns out vulnerability opens a lot of doors. Every time I reached a plateau or hit a door, the key was vulnerability. There were times when the last thing I wanted to do was be vulnerable or take that next step. But, time after time, reaching out, being honest, and following up really really changed the way this year operated.
4) I didn’t die.
This sounds silly, but nervous systems aren’t always logical and mine loves to live in the BUT THAT’S A SCARY THING PANIC space. By doing scary or hard things over and over again, my nervous system actually calmed down. Surprisingly, the anxiety and panic attacks have almost completely tapered off. Yes, leaving a stressful job situation probably helped with most of that, but facing scary things and surviving has built in an extra layer of resilience into my nervous system. In clinical speak, these are corrective experiences. And man oh man, did I have plenty of those this year.
5) I’m a lot stronger than I think I am.
I am so very privileged to have a strong healthy body. This realization hit hard anytime I was doing something and realized that while my mind and nervous system were losing their shit, my body had quietly taken over and was doing the thing with relative ease. There’s nothing quite like realizing this when you’re 50 feet above ground and strapped into a ropes course harness. We tend to take our bodies for granted and this year really highlighted how capable and strong my body actually is. I am very grateful to Pilates and to my personal trainer for pushing me in a way that allowed this to be true.
6) It’s totally ok to try and fail.
There were a few times this year where I set out to do a thing and then just totally bombed. Or I set a goal and just missed it. While it was disappointing, nothing bad happened and no one died. “Failing up” is something I got real comfortable with this year.
And finally, the big one. It’s ok to be bad at things. (Yes, seriously.)
Prior to this year, my inner type-a perfectionist would have shuddered at the casualness of how I just typed this sentence. Prior to this year, I would rather not do something than to do something badly and risk any possible embarrassment. Here’s the thing. That mentality kept me locked up in a very safe (and sometimes boring!) box. Spending an entire year doing things I’m bad at gave me permission to be bad at a whole lot of things. And with that permission came freedom. Freedom to look stupid, freedom to ask a ton of questions, freedom to be silly and just in general a freedom to try things without any expectations at all.
While this year has not been easy and there were times where it was incredibly frustrating and made me cry, it has been a ton of fun. I’ve learned, grown, failed and embarrassed myself thoroughly lol. 10/10 would recommend. 10/10 would do again.
Thank you, my friends, for reading and for those of you that held space for the challenges of the year. I am so grateful for all of you.
Have a great December.
-Rubecca
5 Books to Add to Your Wellness Reading List
Posted on November 8, 2023 by pilatesnative
This month, I wanted to share my top 5 book recommendations for Fitness/Wellness books this year. These books are all related to movement in someway and either inspired, validated, created action or taught me something new. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
-Rubecca
p.s. I read 1-2 books a week and am always sharing these reads on Instagram and am always on the lookout for new books! If you love #pilatesandbooks as much as I do, you’re in the right place!
1) Caged Lion
Joseph Pilates was a wild character and it can often be difficult to separate fact from fiction. This is all the harder due to the fact that Joe himself often embellished stories as a way to market his method.
Caged Lion is a great read for any Pilates enthusiast looking to learn more about Joseph Pilates and his life. Written by his personal lawyer and Pilates student, this book provides some valuable insight into Joe’s life, his marriage to Clara and how they ran their original NYC Contrology studio.
I got to meet John Howard Steel at Momentumfest last summer and was able to enjoy an author talk and Q&A with him about this book. He’s a very sweet guy and even in his 70’s, he’s still a Pilates enthusiast. This book was super interesting and I loved getting John’s take on Joe’s life, especially after having read all of Joe’s books.
2) Let’s Get Physical
Let’s Get Physical was probably my favorite audio book of the year. Author Danielle Friedman digs into the history of women and exercise; from being prohibited completely from exercise because of “medical advice” that their uterus would fall out, to sneaking into marathons dressed as men, to the now multi-billion dollar fitness industry powered by women.
This book does a great job digging into specific trends through each decade and talks about the big names behind those movements. Unlike other pop culture fitness books which paint fitness gurus and trends in a favorable light, Friedman holds no punches and lays out the dirty laundry for all to view.
I honestly had no idea how much societal trends, culture and government policies influenced women’s fitness. This book is a must read for all women or folks who work with women in fitness.
*It was super light on the Pilates info. Maybe 2 sentences. Total bummer there, but the rest of the info was fantastic.
3) how to keep house while drowning
“how to keep house while drowning” isn’t technically a fitness book. It’s more of a cleaning and organization book for folks with ADD/ADHD. However, this little book packs a wallop and really stood out with some sound advice. Plus, I really liked how the entire book was formatted and easy to read. (I did audio and print book for this one.)
One of my favorites from this book was the concept of doing your future self a favor. I have sat with this phrase for a long time and find myself doing little things like going for that extra dog walk instead of having a hyper dog later, cleaning up the studio right now instead of tomorrow, finishing up a small task today instead of saving it for tomorrow. These small things in the now make life a little easier for future me.
There’s a current Instagram trend that encourages women to ditch their goals of training for a “summer body” and working out instead for their “old lady body”. This idea of doing my future self a favor really plays well into this idea. Doing Pilates, Strength Training and Running are how I’m training for my old lady body and doing my future self a few favors.
4) Yoga for Bendy People
Yoga for Bendy People is a MUST READ for all of my hypermobile and hEDS folks. While hypermobility is nothing new and it’s something fitness trainers have been working with for decades, diagnosis of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is fairly new and it’s an extremely difficult and obscure process.
Libby Hinsley does a great job of taking this very complex and often misunderstood topic and really making it personable, easy to read and scientific. And she does it all without oversharing her own story, writing a dull/dry scientific paper or adding confusion to an already obscure topic.
I really enjoyed this book and learned SO SO much. EDS and Hypermobility are definitely things for all movement instructors and bodyworkers to be familiar with, and this book provides an excellent intro into further research and study of the topic.
5) The Way Out
Last, but not least, we have The Way Out. If you are living with chronic pain, this book will blow your mind. When you’re in the studio with me and we’re working past injuries or old pain patterns, we talk a lot about Mental and Emotional safety. We spend so much time building confidence and awareness around specific movements and muscle patterns, in order to reach functional movement.
It turns out, that what I have been teaching totally by instinct, is an actual scientific thing, called Corrective Experiences. Part of the Pain Reduction Therapy (PRT) protocol, Corrective Experiences are the things you do that affirm that you are safe in your body and that doing certain activities are safe.
The Way Out details multiple scientific studies and the research done by Alan Gordon and his team around chronic pain. One of the controversial takes from this book, is that the majority of chronic pain is mental. Gordon presents his position that pain without structural cause is caused by our brains misfiring.
This book was fascinating and gave me some new tools to use while working with clients, as well as validated some of the work that I’m already doing. If you have chronic pain or work with folks who do, this is an excellent read.
That’s all for this month! Have an awesome weekend and hope to see you in the studio soon! Let me know if you read of any these books and what you think!
Happy 4th Birthday Pilates Native!
Happy Birthday, Pilates Native!
The story behind Pilates Native is one of luck and timing.
Fourteen years ago, in a city far, far away…I was living in Houston, laid-off from my engineering job and wondering what to do. My friends at Spine and Sports Therapy were hiring, and brought me on as their Sports Therapist. They sent me to get my Pilates and Stretch certifications and gave me free reign to design the Therapy programs for patients working through their sports injuries with chiro.
A first year teacher will usually do a few sessions a week, building up their client base and gaining momentum. I hit the ground running, with a 40 hour a week workload. I loved the work and the clients, but the hours were killing me. After teaching literally thousands of sessions in just two years, I was burned out. When my old Engineering Manager called, I happily went back to Welding Engineering.
Luckily, my brother owned “The Fit Box”, a local kickboxing studio in Denver, and I kept teaching Pilates and offering stretch sessions every time I came back home. When we moved back to Denver, I was able to teach and stretch regularly, something I had missed wholeheartedly.
Four years ago, the evolution cometh
Four years ago, I was renting a small office space in Lakewood and working remotely as a Welding Engineer. The space was big enough to fit my personal reformer, so I brought it to the office, with the intention of working out during lunch breaks to help combat my terrible desk posture.
After a few weeks, I figured I could probably teach a few sessions a week on Friday afternoons and cover the rent on the space fairly easily.
One Facebook post later, I had three clients and three pre-paid six-week packages to fulfill.
Suddenly, I was running a business…Cue scene: Late night research on small businesses, scrambling to put together an LLC, drafting a business plan, basically hitting the ground running…again…
I named the first iteration of the studio “Engineered Evolution”, inspired by the idea that we weren’t just working out, we were intentionally evolving the way we moved and how we thought about movement. I had also learned a few things from my last go round and decided this business would run intentionally and be engineered towards my ambivert personality. No burn-out for this round.
After a few weeks, those three clients told three friends and pretty soon, I had added lunch sessions to the schedule, three days a week.
From there, the ball just kept rolling and “The Beast”, my first real commercial reformer, replaced the home reformer. Engineered Evolution rebranded as Pilates Native, a nod to my Grandparents, our Colorado roots and the idea that movement is native to the body.
Pilates Native moved into The Green Mountain Wellness Center in July 2020, The Beast was replaced by Bumble Bee in ‘21, and I quit engineering to run Pilates Native full time in ‘22. We’ve added a few folks to the team, started running instructor training, made some friends and had a bang-up good time along the way.
It is with a heart bursting that I’m so happy to announce that Pilates Native turns four on October 11th!!!
To celebrate, I’m going full ‘90’s mode and making t-shirts! If you’d like to join me in this awesome milestone celebration and snag a t-shirt, let me know. Until then, I’ll be eating chocolate and doing Pilates in my awesome new t-shirt.
Have an awesome day!
Cheers!
-Rubecca
Good ol’ imposter syndrome
Posted on August 2, 2023 by pilatesnative
I’ve been running for over 25 years.
In sleet, snow, mud, rain, hail, wind, heat advisories and alligator parks.
I’ve run in joy…and in grief.
In panic…and in celebration.
In prayer…and in hope.
I’ve run in love…and in anger.
In solitude…and in community.
In Alaska and Mexico and almost every state in between.
I’ve run road races and trails, sand and mud, rattlesnake territory and sunrise trails.
In bare feet and homemade sandals, in the latest and greatest trainers.
I’ve run with a broken toe, a pulled ab, a torn shoulder.
I’ve even run while 38 weeks pregnant.
And yet…I still get imposter syndrome.
Baaaad.
There are times when I’ll see another runner doing something that I’m not doing, and I’ll start to panic and doubt myself. Are they the “real” runner on the trail and should I be doing what they’re doing?
Should I have brought my camelback?
Should I have left the camelback at home?
Did I get up here too late? Too early?
Am I running too fast? Too slow? Too far? Not far enough?
Usually, my brain will just tell itself to “shut up and run”. Which normally works. But last week, I let the old noodle wander and spent some time ruminating on what determines a “real runner”.
Is it mileage? Dedication? Time? Pace? Weight, height, size, age? Is it years of experience? Number of PR’s? The bib collection from 5ks, 10ks, marathons? Is it ultra marathon status?
When do I get to call myself a “real” runner?
In the midst of this brain meander, I was researching 14’ers and came across a Facebook post written by a man from the Pacific North West (PWN). I’m paraphrasing, but in his opinion “Because most Colorado 14’ers have established routes and trails, they’re essentially a walk in the park.” He continued to opine that folks shouldn’t be nearly as proud of themselves for summiting a 14’er as they were and that “real” mountaineering could only be found in the PNW…at 6,000 feet to 10,000 feet, where bushwhacking and trailblazing was a mandatory part of wayfinding to the summit. (I have no idea if that’s true or not, btw.)
My first reaction was that this guy was an uneducated jackass.
While Colorado 14’ers do have established routes, which help protect the extremely fragile tundra ecosystem, they’re hardly “a walk in the park”. Ask anyone who’s summited and they’ll tell you about the ridiculously early wake up, the long mileage, the gain in elevation, the altitude, the exposure, the solitude, the lack of cell service and emergency access, the wayfinding and the meticulous attention to the clouds rolling in.
Folks hoping to summit do so knowing they may encounter altitude sickness, lightning, electrical storms, wind, sleet, snow, hail, rain, mud, ice, exposure, and some rock scrambling, all while knowing they are ultimately responsible for their own well being.
14’ers are an entire category of hiking and trail running unlike any other. Even the “easy” ones can take some serious work.
In one fell sweep, this dude’s comment just completely negated all of the work, training, fitness and mental strength that it takes to summit a 14’er.
Reading through the comments and his replies, I realized 2 things.
1) This dude was the epitome of gatekeeping.
Folks couldn’t be real mountaineers or hikers unless they met his standards.
They shouldn’t feel proud or excited about their accomplishments, which had absolutely nothing to do with him, because they didn’t meet thearbitrary standards that he’d just made up. LAME.
And
2) This ridiculous illogical gatekeeping is EXACTLY what our brains do to us when they slip into imposter syndrome.
Our brain goes into douchey gatekeeper mode and tells us that all of the work, training, time, and effort we’ve put into something doesn’t matter, because well…there’s some arbitrary reason why that probably doesn’t even make sense.
My second reaction, was recognizing that this dude’s behavior was EXACTLY how I was treating my running practice and it made me feel super icky.
If 25 years and thousands of miles doesn’t make me a runner, then what does?
What are those arbitrary, bushwhacking, wayfinding markers that I’ve been holding myself to? And why? What benefit do they serve? How do they serve me?
Are they really just holding me back from a stellar running experience?
Or like this dude, are my thoughts putting limits on celebrating my awesome experiences and achievements just because they’re not good enough (on a super stupid and arbitrary scale that doesn’t even exist)?
What are those arbitrary, bushwhacking, wayfinding markers that you’ve been holding yourself to?
What benefit do they serve? How do they serve you? Are they really just holding you back from a stellar experience in whatever it is that you love to do?
Or like that annoying gatekeeper dude, are your thoughts putting limits on celebrating your awesome experiences and achievements because they’re not good enough (on a super stupid and arbitrary scale that doesn’t even exist)?
Can we clean up those gatekeeping imposter syndrome thoughts and commit to “I do the thing, therefore I am the thing”?
Can we commit to celebrating our wins, no matter how small or no matter who’s doing it better?
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Shoot me a text, email or let’s talk about it at your next Pilates or Stretch session.
Until next time, my friends. Have an amazing summer. Enjoy the sunshine!
-Rubecca
6 Things I’ve Learned from Taking Private Ballroom Dance Lessons
Posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
I’ve been dancing since I was four years old. Starting with the traditional Mexican Ballet Folklorico and moving through jazz, hip-hop, modern, swing, belly dancing, and even African dance and Danza Azteca, I danced everything except Ballet and Tap. I was on the dance team, the pep squad, the flag team and very briefly on a cheer team.
In college, we spent Tuesdays at The Mercury Cafe, our $5 entry fee covering a Swing Dance group lesson and the night’s party. Weekend club dancing and salsa lessons became standard. In Houston, we’d take two-step lessons on Sundays. The $10 entry fee bought us access to the nacho bar, a dance lesson and a night of dancing. Friday nights and $5 got us a blues bar dance floor. I attended every free or cheap dance lesson I could find, even doing free Zumba in the park after work on Wednesdays.
In all of that time, I never took a single private dance lesson. Not one.
In November, an opportunity opened up for me to take private ballroom dance lessons with Todd, an accomplished instructor here in Lakewood. During our first lesson, it became apparent that we were playing a game of “fix all of the bad habits you’ve learned”. While I’d taken a million different dance classes, had performed a million different group dance routines and had a quick mind for memorizing steps, I’d never had the one-on-one attention of an instructor or formal training in partner dancing.
As a movement instructor who specializes in private sessions tailored to individual needs, I know the power of that personalized attention. I know how important it is. Yet, somehow, in my own life, I’d never done private dance classes.
And friends, let me tell you, taking private lessons has taught me a few things.
1. Budgeting my priorities
Private sessions aren’t cheap. If I’m going to dance weekly and enjoy those private in-person coaching sessions, my budget needs to accommodate that, and so does my schedule.
Dancing weekly with Todd means that I need to find time in my schedule, every week, to head over to his dance studio. That means every Thursday is scheduled around that lesson. Hikes, runs, bikes, meetups, meetings, volunteering…everything now hinges on being done by 11am, showered and fed by 11:45 and to the studio by noon.
Recognizing that private dance lessons require almost all of my discretionary budget is a big deal. And a big commitment. It means a whole lot less Amazon and a whole lot less spending on random fun stuff in general. Every purchase is filtered through “Dance lessons or new shoes?” “Dance lessons or concert tickets?”
So far, dance lessons keep winning.
2. Commitment
There is no way around it. Private sessions force you to commit.
While it was super easy to slink out of $5 group class because I lost track of time and the instructor had no idea who I was anyway, I can’t just bail on private dance lessons and then come back 6 months later.
Todd is a professional and has excellent late cancel policies. Flaking out costs me a lot of money.
I also respect him and his team, and believe their time is valuable. Canceling without good cause communicates that I believe the opposite of that.
(And for the record, I truly believe things like health issues, injuries, kid stuff and work emergencies are all appropriate reasons to cancel. Especially for my own clients. If you have a migraine or your kid just puked everywhere, it’s probably a good idea to call and we’ll figure something out.)
3. There will be humble pie. (Sooo much humble pie.)
You can’t hide bad habits in a private session.
Everything I’ve ever learned about dance has come from group classes, gym classes and bar dance lessons. That means I know next to nothing about ballroom dance AND have a lot of really bad habits. Yippee!
This means my ego takes a major back seat every week and I frequently have to temper my frustration with a reframe.
I know I love to dance. I know I want to be the kind of ballroom dancer that makes it look effortless and fluid. I know that Todd knows how to do that. And for now, I know that means my lessons consist of a lot of technique clean-up paired with learning new things.
The bonus here is that the new things are mostly sans bad habits. Because Todd won’t let me keep the bad habits and makes me redo steps until I have done it properly 10 times…and then 10 times more.
4. It takes time.
Y’all, I teach movement for a living. I instruct people on how to access and utilize their deep core all day…every day. It still took me six months to figure out how the eff to use my core while dancing. Thanks to a particularly slow rumba, I finally got it. And now, I can’t believe I didn’t get it. But it takes time. And if I’d never taken private sessions or quit after 3 lessons, I never would have understood this technique.
5. Be ready to be amazed at your progress.
Every week, there is something that just clicks into place. Like dancing from your core or knowing that a certain hand gesture means spin once, while another gesture means spin twice.
Because I get 60 minutes of undivided attention, I also get 60 minutes to ask all of my weird questions and redo the steps I don’t quite understand until we get them. Sometimes that means we do two steps for the entire class. (thanks brain!) Other times, we get through the entire bronze syllabus in a single session. Private sessions mean we do whatever my brain and body need to do to understand the movement. And we can take as much time as we need to make that happen.
In just 6 months, I have gone from wall-flower status, watching the other folks dance at the Friday night socials, to being able to follow almost every dance. While I still haven’t attempted waltz or tango, I have ventured into Cha Cha, Foxtrot, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Rumba, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Hustle, Nightclub Two-Step and this weird Samba line dance that I absolutely cannot figure out.
And finally, the absolutely most important thing I’ve learned from taking private lessons is…
6. You have to know your why.
No matter what you’re doing, if you don’t know why you’re taking private sessions, the incentive to budget your time, your money, your schedule, and your priorities just isn’t there. Without a solid why, you can’t justify the commitment or manage the taste of that humble pie.
Knowing your why helps you stick to the plan, even when it’s harder than you thought or takes way longer than you thought it would or should.
And…knowing your why makes it even sweeter when you hit that first accomplishment.
If you’ve been struggling to prioritize Pilates or Stretch lately or you haven’t managed to pull the trigger on an Initial Assessment yet, dig a little deeper into your why.
Why are you taking Pilates sessions? Why are you coming to Stretch Therapy?
Do you want to be pain free? Move easier? Train hard without pain? Work longevity into your training plans? Fix a wonky knee? Stand up on your paddle board? Stop bumping into chairs and walls? Get some restorative support as you train for a big event? Are you curiosity driven like me and just love the practice and exploring all it brings?
Whatever your why is, let’s talk about it and let’s recommit.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on your whys. Shoot me a text, respond to this email, or bring it up next time you’re in the studio.
Have a great day!
-Rubecca
p.s. now is a great time to commit to your why and book a session!
How do I safely increase my running, hiking or cycling mileage?
Posted on July 1, 2023 by pilatesnative
In this quick video, we’ll go over how you can safely increase your running, hiking or cycling mileage. This method is one of the best ways to help prevent injury while increasing training.
2 Truths…and a Lie
posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
“Two truths and a lie”, my college poetry professor announced. As part of a free write exercise, each of us needed to anonymously write down two truths and a lie on sticky notes, fold them up and place them in a basket in the middle of the table.
Once the basket was full, we each took turns picking out a folded square and reading them out loud to the class. After we’d laughed ourselves into a coma, we set about writing poetry with the three statements we’d selected.
Flash forward a lot of years and “2 truths and a lie” has become a super popular marketing game for business owners to share on their social media accounts.
Thinking about this game brought up my favorite “2 truths and a lie”.
My application was rejected for art school.
I took 1st place in a Girls Basketball Tournament.
I spent 6 months backpacking through Europe.
Any guesses on which of these are true and which is a lie?
Well, I was totally rejected from art school. That one is TRUE.
While I wish I’d spent 6 months backpacking through Europe, I have mostly concentrated my travel efforts on the US. This one is a LIE!
Which leaves “I took 1st place in a Girls Basketball Tournament” as my second TRUTH!
If you know me IRL, you’re probably dying laughing. I’m five feet tall. How the F did I win a Girls Basketball Tournament?
When I was 14, my brother signed up for a boys Basketball Tournament.
Seeing that it was free and included a girls event, my mom signed me up too. Two birds, one stone. It didn’t matter that my only knowledge and experience of basketball was from driveway pickup games with my brother and his friends when one team was a man down and they needed an extra person to play a “real game”. It didn’t matter that their explanation of the rules was simply “no blood, no foul” and cheating was a matter of opinion. It most certainly didn’t matter that I was 5’ tall and was on the dance team. Nope. My mom saw a chance at getting two angsty teenagers out of her house for an entire day and she took full advantage of it.
While the gym was overflowing with teenage boys, there were only two girls present.
Me and another girl who bailed as soon as she realized it was just the two of us. As she slinked out, I realized I had two choices. I could be miserable and moody on the benches, alone…all day. Ooorrr, I could play basketball. A sport I had absolutely zero genetic inclination to play and no idea about the rules. Seeing how cell phones weren’t a thing back then, basketball won over a very long day of staring at sweaty boys crowing at each other all day.
Luckily for me, it was a *skills* competition.
Shooting, layups, passing drills, dribbling through cones, that sort of thing. While the boys had a wide field of competition, I had a solo court and private tutoring. At every station, the coaches taught me the skill, spent time explaining the technique and then gave me the entire time allotted to perfect my skill before scoring the final attempt.
At the end of the day, I was thanked for showing up, for working hard and was awarded the Girls 1st place Basketball Skills trophy. Sure, no one else was there and I still have no f-ing clue how basketball works (skills trophy, remember), but I learned a very very powerful lesson.
Show up.Be there.But don’t just show up and be there. Keep the attitude. Do the work.
No one was going to give me a trophy for showing up and benching myself all day. But by showing up and doing the work, I earned that trophy.
Showing up is how I, an extremely weak swimmer, took home a 2nd place medal for my 1st sprint triathlon. When half the field bailed over a predicted Houston rain storm, I still showed up. And took 2nd place (completely drenched but not drowned).
When a company from Houston showed up randomly on the Mines campus with a request for seniors to interview, I showed up. And kickstarted a 15 year career in Welding Engineering that I loved.
When the universe put Pilates Native in my lap, I showed up. And created a dream career that includes each of you.
As we move deeper into the virtual world, with Zoom everything and replays on demand, showing up has become somewhat of an archaic practice.
This ancient practice has become my super power.
I just show up to things. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they’re fun, sometimes they’re not. But I’m not really a bench kinda gal.
And if you’re not either, Pilates Native have some awesome ways for you to show up this month, from group classes, one-on-ones, stretch sessions or Soul Stretch.
As always, I am so grateful for y’all and cannot wait to show up and see you in the studio this week. I also can’t wait to hear your 2 truths and a lie.
See you soon!
-Rubecca
Pressure, Compensations & The Pelvic Floor
Posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
As a Pilates instructor that specializes in sports injuries, I spend a lot of time explaining why we’re strengthening the obliques when the shoulder hurts. Or why we’re focused on balance when there’s back pain. Working with the pelvic floor and deep core with the “Restore Your Core” (RYC) work has brought this up even more. Why are we working thoracic extension for hypertonic pelvic floor? What does hip mobility and posture even have to do with core strength and pelvic floor dysfunction?
Whether it’s the good old “Abs of Steel” concept, the new juicy booty butt-lift programs, or gym equipment that promises to target one area, as a culture, we’ve been conditioned that we can spot check our problem areas.
This is true to some extent with Physical Therapy, where we really need to focus and rehab one area of the body. However, it’s most definitely a lot more complicated when it comes to moving away from PT and incorporating fully functional movement back into our bodies.
Most of my clients very quickly understand that their knees don’t operate in a vacuum.
Knee pain or knee dysfunction frequently requires us to work on a whole slew of areas: balance, ankle mobility, ankle stability, proprioception, quads, muscle memory, hamstrings, hip stabilizers, hip mobility, core strength, posture…the whole gauntlet.
In that same vein, the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles also do not operate in a vacuum. Treating them as if they function alone by spot checking or focusing strictly on problem areas can very frequently lead to more problems. The muscles can become too strong, we can develop a hypervigilance around the area, or we can train even more dysfunction into the target area and make things worse. From my experience, the holistic full body approach is the power behind why Pilates, Stretch Therapy and now RYC, work so well. When we look at our body, we intuitively know that our systems work together. But for some reason, when we move to exercise, we lose that approach to connection. Pilates, Stretch Therapy and RYC help build that connection back into the body, in a particularly hard to reach area…the pelvic floor and deep core.
So why do we focus on the thoracic spine when dealing with pelvic floor dysfunction? Why bother with breathing and balance? What about all of that hip and posture work?
The two simplest answers are 1) pressure and 2) compensations.
When we are extremely tight and restricted in our movement, whether it’s a tight thoracic spine, limited spinal rotation, a locked up ribcage or tight hips, we create a system in which our body cannot move freely.
That tightness and restriction means that we are 1) having to move through compensation patterns to get to where we’re going with our bodies, and 2) we are moving in a way that causes additional pressure on our core and pelvic floor.
Compensations may lead to improper movement and recruitment patterns, weakness, tightness, pain and dysfunction. Additional pressure on the pelvic floor and core can lead to things like the inability to engage the abdominal muscles, stress incontinence, prolapse, unhealing or worsening diastasis recti…and more compensation patterns, improper muscle engagements, weakness, tightness, pain and dysfunction.
Being able to blend the RYC tools into both my personal and professional Pilates and Stretch practice has opened up a new level of body awareness and understanding for both myself and my clients. Incorporating the concept of pressure reduction to movement has created an entirely new map for how I approach sports injuries.
While social media thrives on the big, flashy, sexy movements, the real changes my clients are experiencing are coming from the deeper, slower, more consistent work that focuses on functionality and intention.
The nervous system thrives on slower, intentional movement.
When we slow down and focus, we can actually do the deeper healing work, the reprogramming of movement patterns, the upgrading in neural connections and the fine tuning of our body systems. We can change our posture, change our breathing, and change our pain patterns.
We can also reprogram our brain to move our bodies more efficiently.
Efficient movement = better strength, faster speed and higher endurance.
Taking the RYC course has been extremely validating in how I have been working with clients for the last 13 years and is really a testament to the power behind a functional + holistic approach to movement.
As a super active mama, who had no guidance post child birth and ran a half marathon at 6 months postpartum, I’m particularly excited to incorporate more post natal recovery work into my offerings. If you’re interested in learning more about how I’m using RYC with Pilates and Stretch Therapy, shoot me a line or hop on in for a session.
-Rubecca
No pain. No Gain.
Posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
No pain, no gain.
These words are on nearly every gym wall in the country. On t-shirts. Motivational posters. Popping out of every fitness instructor’s mouth when things get tough.
No pain, no gain.
But who equated pain with progress?
Since the dawn of time, humans have pushed our bodies to their very edges. Pheidippides, a Greek messenger ran 300 miles in 3 days to successfully deliver his message, before keeling over and dying. The Tarahumara Indians of the Copper Canyon in Mexico hunt by chasing their prey until the deer die of sheer exhaustion. Ballerinas en pointe are frequently pushed to the point of blood, foot bone disfunction and severe muscle instability to create the shapes required by their sport. Rhabdomyolysis, a once obscure condition of excessive and toxic muscle breakdown that can cause kidney injury or death, has become well known thanks to Ultrarunners and Cross Fitters who push their bodies to the literal point of failure.
For fitness hobbyists like myself, pulled muscles, strains, tears, and pain are accepted as just par for the course. Spending hundreds (if not thousands) on the latest recovery tools, PT programs, massages, and gear is seen as a badge of honor. It’s normal for fitness folks to circle for a pre or post workout pissing contest, sharing battle stories of how they got various injuries and how they pushed through despite their body’s resistance to continue.
But why?
Why are we so conditioned to push our bodies to the point of failure, for fun?
I’ve been an athlete for over 35 years and running for more than 25. I can tell you that dealing with a super intense level of training and the aftermath of injuries is anything BUT fun. Along with my physical health, my mental and emotional health suffered, and so did my relationships. There are certain injuries that I ignored, dismissed, or never properly healed that have haunted me for years, through muscle imbalances, compensations, and mental state.
When I finally backed off and really started to focus on healing and having fun, rather than pushing through to another PR, I learned a few things.
First, “no pain, no gain” is bullshit.
Pain is the body’s way of very very clearly communication that something is wrong. If you are actively in pain before, during or after a workout, something is very very wrong. If a trusted fitness pro is pushing you to work out through actual legitimate pain, they are doing something very very wrong and they are actively causing damage to your body. If YOU are pushing your body to work out through actual legitimate pain, YOU are doing something very very wrong and YOU are actively causing damage to your body.
Pushing through actual pain isn’t admirable, heroic, or badass. It’s dumb and it’s toxic for us to keep buying into a culture that keeps us chained to an injury treadmill.
Second, “no pain, no gain” doesn’t mean what we’ve been brainwashed to think it means.
When a really good fitness instructor talks about “pain”, they aren’t talking about physical hurt or body damage. They aren’t talking about running so far you puke or lifting so heavy you tear muscles or herniate disks. They aren’t telling us that we need to push so far past our limits that we break our bodies down with irreparable damage.
They are talking about the pain of dedication, the pain of consistency, the pain of starting at the bottom and working to the top of our ability. They are talking about the pain of prioritizing, the pain of making decisions and the pain of following through. They are talking about the pain of building emotional stamina and breaking through mental barriers. They are talking about the pain of starting something and not giving up.
They are not talking about physical, mental or emotional pain. They are talking about the discomfort that comes with growth.
Unfortunately, “dedication, consistency, priorities and discomfort from growth” isn’t catchy and it doesn’t rhyme with anything. It’s not exactly inspiring and it’s a terrible catch phrase for marketing.
If you’re tired of being in pain all of the time and bouncing around between injuries but you also aren’t ready to quit training, I get it. I full intend to run until I die.
At Pilates Native, I can teach you how to work with your body, instead of against it.
I can teach you how to get strong without sacrificing mobility, how to get mobility without sacrificing strength. I can teach you how to tap into your nervous system to help heal the physical, mental and emotional damage caused by your sport. I can teach you how to protect your body from further injury when you are going full throttle.
If you’re ready to step out on pain and try on “dedication, consistency, priorities, and discomfort from growth”, come on over. I got you.
-Rubecca
The Power of Practice, Patience & Consistency
Posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
This week, I had the immense pleasure to watch three separate clients perform incredibly advanced Pilates moves without even breaking a sweat.
The first, lifted beautifully, seemingly effortlessly into a graceful and strong teaser. The lack of gripping and tension in the muscles and face was notable. The move was organic, natural and the culmination of years of work.
The second folded back into a thigh stretch and noted how easy it was. The strength of the posture, the noticeably long neutral spine and ease of movement was apparent. The move again was organic, natural and the culmination of nearly a year of practice.
The third, in a powerful exhale, performed the most beautiful pushup that I have ever seen. The move was so powerful, so strong and yet so effortless, it looked like they had levitated from the floor to the plank position. The strength, the organization of the spine, the control of the entire body, the focus…all were equally demonstrated in a way that was organic, natural and the culmination of months and months of work.
The exercises performed by all three clients were new to them. And yet, they nailed it on their first try. How is it even possible to perform such advanced moves, so flawlessly, when we’ve never done it before?
Practice. Consistency. Patience.
Each of these clients has spent months and even years working with me.
We have spent hours and hours working on foundational basics: stability, proprioception, balance, control, focus.
We have spent hours working on strength, range of motion, coordination and mastering their biomechanics.
We have taken countless “detours” in their Pilates practice to work on something that caught my eye in their patterns.
Seeing them nail these poses yesterday was exciting! It was like watching hours of work align into one beautiful perfect moment.
In November, I started taking private ballroom dance lessons. Every Thursday at noon, I am put through the paces of stability, proprioception, balance, control, focus, strength, range of motion, biomechanics and coordination, as it applies to dance. In the last twelve weeks, I have yet to make it through a full dance without the instructor stopping to correct something, introduce something, connect something. It’s quite similar to how I teach Pilates. Piece by piece.
At times, it can be maddening. I want to GO! To dance, to just keep moving. But Todd, my hilarious and good natured instructor, pumps the brakes and we spend 45 minutes working on foot placement, or hand holds, or trying to get one hip to move in a way it most stubbornly does not want to go. Very frequently, we spend a lot of time unlearning a lifetime of bad habits. (more on that later)
Being on this side of the instructor/client relationship is always a powerful experience and a great reminder of the client journey.
On Friday night, we joined the group party at the dance studio. In this laid back setting, I found myself able to dance through an entire song, following cues without even thinking about it. I also was able to follow a new dance partner in a dance style that I have never heard of. Like magic, all of the pieces we’ve been working on for 12 weeks, just clicked.
Practice, patience, consistency.
It takes the human body 6-8 weeks to start adapting to something new. It takes 7 repetitions of something to turn it into a noticeable habit. It takes 6-12 weeks to recover from the physical act of childbirth, and sometimes years to recover from the body changes caused by pregnancy and the birthing process. It can take months, sometimes years, to heal the body after a traumatic injury/event. It takes months, sometimes years to lose the weight, to gain the muscle, to train and compete at the level we want to perform at.
And yet, most of us quit after 2 weeks without results.
We do one round of classes and give up because our life long patterns have not been resolved.
We discount or discredit the instructor encouraging us to commit to the process and allow our minds and bodies time to grow, change and develop.
As a general rule, society expects immediate gratification and scoffs at anything that requires commitment, consistency and delayed gratification.
While technology and the rest of the world moves at light speed and two day turnarounds, the body is not wired that way. Humans, after all, are still just cave-men. Our systems are still bound by the laws of evolution. And evolution moves slowly.
If you’ve quit your movement practice for lack of results or feel like your progress is too slow, I’d encourage you to keep going, but embrace the slow. Allow yourself time to unwind years of patterns and muscle habits. Embrace the foundational basics. Allow yourself time to build a strong foundation. Allow yourself time for practice, patience and consistency.
Doing so may find you doing things you never thought possible…in a way that is natural, organic and injury-free.
Hope to see you in the studio soon!
-Rubecca
What is Thai Yoga Bodywork?
Posted on June 14, 2023 by pilatesnative
Thai Yoga Bodywork is frequently called Thai Massage, Thai Yoga or Thai Bodywork. It fuses assisted stretch, massage therapy and energy work into a single modality. Combining yoga influenced stretches with the physical pressure of massage, Thai Yoga Bodywork focuses on the energetic lines of Ayurveda and Chinese acupuncture.
What to expect
Thai Yoga Bodywork is performed fully clothed while laying on a thicky cushy floor mat. The practitioner may use their body, hands or feet to create leverage and pressure in different poses or stretches. Thai Yoga Bodywork is done in a slow methodical process, which helps the brain and body relax.
Common Benefits of Thai Yoga Bodywork:
Deep relaxation
Stress relief
Increased flexibility
Relief from muscle tension
Improved range of motion
Improved circulation and lymphatic flow
Reduced headaches
Increased energy level
Doesn’t that all sound amazing?
Pilates Native is lucky enough to have Laura, a certified Thai Yoga Bodyworker, on the team. In addition to Pilate, she also offers Thai Yoga Bodywork. If you’d like to try it out, you can book on our appointments page. As always, we are a tip-free studio. Gratuity is never expected.