Wellbeing

Why we chose this as the focus for our May Challenge

When coming up with the challenges for the studio, I try to focus on more than just the Booty Burn style Pilates class. Although I love a good glute workout so don’t be fooled, but primarily a well rounded challenge for members is what I aim for.

Week one of the Wellbeing Challenge - our focus was to ‘Energise’ - the aim was to give you Energy and make you feel like you had a bounce in your step, not that you worked out so much you felt burnt out. We paired it with Mayde Energise herbal tea for the weekly prize and had snacks from Daily Bar that were bursting with energy packed nutrients.

Week Two - Full body - this in itself takes away from just burning out one body part and gives you a well rounded workout.

Week Three - Mobility - this is always a huge focus for me when planning out classes and Pilates has lots to offer! Full body roll up featured plenty this week. Opening up tension in our bodies whether its our hips, shoulders, chest. The aim is to increase mobility and range of movement and have you feeling better for coming to class.

Final week (Still to come) - Breath and connection - We love to teach a progressive form of Pilates at Studio Lennox, but the fundamentals of Pilates is why I fell in love with this form of training, and that is why it is part of the wellbeing challenge. You hear me speak about lateral breathing throughout many classes and this is so important when moving through Sculpt, Sweat or Stretch classes with us.

There are a number of reasons why this breathing technique is used in Pilates.

It facilitates correct muscle activation, and increases the safety of the exercises.

The reason why it is important to focus on directing the breath into the sides of the ribs (rather than the lower stomach) is that this helps to keep the abdominals activated when performing exercises. If you direct the breathing lower down into the stomach, the abdomen expands/sticks out which makes sustaining an abdominal contraction very difficult and leaves the lower back unprotected throughout the inhalation.

Another reason why we direct the breath into the sides of the ribs is to prevent shallow breathing into the upper chest, which causes the neck and shoulder muscles to tense.

Our aim will always be with your Wellbeing in mind when we put on Challenges! If you missed this one, don’t worry there will be another mini one coming up in the coming months. xx