Hello Young Athlete Parents!
June 30, 2023
As summer is in full swing, your child may be doing a lot more extra hours in their sport. This is so good for them on so many different levels. It teaches them:
- You have to work hard to achieve something
- How work through challenges and obstacles
- They meet fear in the face
- Failure is only a stepping stone to learning something new or about themselves
- And most importantly their bodies
As a young athlete at one time myself and having two children who are athletic, I understand the importance of support. You as their parent you are their biggest fan, you are there to dry tears on the hard practice days, cheer the loudest at the meets and you want to help them succeed not just in their sport but life as well. One of the biggest takes aways I learned while training and into professionally dancing was taking care of my body. It is really challenging for a child to pin point what might be bothering them, or they know what bugs them, but don’t know where it’s coming from. Our bodies are complex yet within ligaments, muscles, and bones it all connects.
This is why my daughter’s coach came to me, because the young athlete HAS TO TAKE EXTRA TIME TO CARE FOR THEIR BODIES. As I have trained elite golfers, professional football players, professional dancers, fitness instructors, gymnast and tennis players, one thing rings truer than true, THEY HAVE GOT TO STRETCH after the practice, before the meet or even on a slow evening. As one of my dance teachers said, move your body and move it well. That isn’t going happen with tight pecs, low back pain or tight calves, no it won’t. So, by way of brainstorming with my daughters coach and talking to other parents who have young athletes, I came up with Stretches For the Young Athlete. These videos are of the areas that need stretching out the most and they are the most common areas for an athlete.
There are 5 different videos.
Stretching for:
- Shoulders and Arms
- Low back tightness and pain
- Feet
- Legs
- Hips
The reason for separate videos is so that your young athlete can go to a specific video when those specific areas are bugging them.
The downloadable video is at low cost of $20.00.
Click the link below to purchase today!
Personal Pilates Training is harder than you think. That’s actually the point. Most people don’t know what actually happens in a personal Pilates private session. It’s not just the exercises. It’s a process. It’s starts before you even get on the apparatus. When you first come in, you fill out a questionnaire that gives me good information about you. We talk about what your goals are. What are your needs and want? From there I do a body analysis that lets me see your posture, how does your body move doing small movements, it also tells me where your imbalances are. This is all important information so that I know how to build your body strong. The more I know and learn about your body, the more you will get out of your Pilates journey. We will have a real conversation about where your body is right now. Then we build your foundation. Firstly, you learn the Fundamentals. When we start that process, it's teaching me how you learn. What needs attention first? Are there any past injuries that are showing up when you move? Everyone’s Private Pilates session looks different from one another. You have your own unique body and unique way that you learn and move. It should look different because you are coming to me for your reason and not theirs. There is no comparing. The other nice thing about doing Privates is that you are on your own road to go through the exercises. Some times what took one client 3 weeks to learn another could take 6-8 weeks to learn. There is no rush. That’s how transformation actually happens. Just you, learning to move from within. The more I know about the you, the better I know how to train you. Before you know it, you are feeling better in your body, have a better understanding of the Pilates Method and are learning the Pilates exercises.
Mat Classes Who are they for and what to expect. These questions will be answered differently by different studios and teachers. After years of teaching, what I have found is that those who invest in the fundamentals of Pilates will go further. Starting in a beginning mat class builds the foundation that actually helps you progress. Sure, there are movers who can do a plank, but are you doing it in the best alignment that will protect your shoulders? Can you isolate body parts? Are you aware of where your body is in space? That's what a Mat class is really about. This is a mind body experience. You're not just moving. You're thinking about how you're moving. Every exercise is whole body. If Joe Pilates himself were asked what any single exercise was for, his answer was always the whole body. That's exactly how I teach it; head to toe, and what you get out of it, is exactly what you put in. Think of it at like a martial art. There is focus awareness, strength, and stretch. If you walk in thinking it will be like a gym exercise class, you are going to be disappointed.
Where’s Your Studio? Over the years of teaching, I have taught at other Pilates studios, in a back house, my garage studio, two store fronts, in my home and now Downtown in Wenatchee in a store front. A fellow teacher said, it’s the home studios where you’re going to find the golden teacher; I think all of my clients would agree with the statement. Growing up, I had baton lessons in a garage studio and in a living room and both times when it came to competitions..we/ I always placed. When I won my Dance Title, my teacher was in a rec center 45 minutes away from San Jose in Half Moon Bay, California. I’ll go to a back alley or to some far away land if I’m going to get a good lesson from a good teacher. Where I teach has nothing to do with my knowledge, that goes with me wherever I go. I loved having my studio in my home. I was spoiled with having everything I need right in the next room. 8pm workouts, roll outs or stretches were normal for me. It was my safe haven. I loved how bright it was. It gave me more so that I can give back to my clients. The tug of leaving my home was too much to ignore anymore. It was time to separate my personal life from my professional one, and having my own space outside of home, made that possible. When I started looking, I saw my new space with the sign in the window and honestly, my first thought was, “that’s too good to be true.” So, I drove pass it… for more times than I’d like to admit. My self-made due date was coming up and the pressure at home was becoming too much to bear, so I just started calling and just like that, I got the space. Oh gosh, it’s a dream. Every studio I taught in taught me something different, and I carried all of it here. The brick wall with the windows gives natural light, that my soul needs. The three independent spaces allow for gathering times for clients to meet, a space for Mat Classes or workshops and my apparatus room is my main working space. I love that I can see the mountains, the Pybus market and watch the busyness of the world pass me by. Would you like to come, is it? Did you know that I offer Free 30-minute Pilates Demos? You can book right through Vagaro. You can also book yourself a mat class or come in for Personal Training. I would love to show you the space. Come check it out.
Back in rhythm with new posts on shoulder, neck and hip pain, plus September Thera-Band mat classes, the 3-week Saturday Series and the online Pilates video library.
Hip pain is simply the worst; this pain most likely comes from two things, lack of strength and flexibility. Of course it can also come from injury as well, that could look like something torn, or the cartilage breaking down which is identified as arthritis. It can also come from a lack of movement since we spend most of our time sitting these days. Hip pain can travel down to the knee or up to the lower back. So, first thing first, how are your feet? When we are standing, having our weight be in the center of our feet is top of the list. Where are you putting your weight? Toes, heels, inside or outside? It’s important to get an even weight on our big toe, little toe and heel. Think of a tripod. That set up changes everything above them. How is your gait? If your feet go any direction other than straight, you are putting a lot of pressure on your ankles, knees and lastly hip. Keeping your toes straight ahead when walking is important to check. How is your leg alignment? If your knees face any direction other than straight, just like your feet, the pressure is not good for your knee joint, the rhythm of how your hip moves in the socket will be affected. And lastly, how is your strength and flexibility with and around your hip? This joint is a ball in socket so it should move freely in a nice circular motion. From our feet up to in the hip joint there is a rhythm from how our feet are to move in our gait, how the leg bones move with that rhythm all the way up to the hip joint. Ok- so let’s deal with it. Firstly, Rolling out. I know for some this is the dreaded part, but it really does have a strong impact on tightness. Roll out your feet, your glutes, IT band and quads to loosen any tightness imbalance caused. Then it’s interconnected between stretching and strengthen within your work. Whether you start with strengthening or stretching really is dependent of what’s going on. What is the dominant problem? Is the hip really weak or really tight? You need to work the muscles all around the hip. The back of the hip: glutes, hamstrings, the sides and inner thighs (abduction and adduction) the front of the hip, quads and hip flexors and most importantly rotation. Stretching out means getting into the front of my hip, the quads and hips flexors, in the socket by doing a figure 4 stretch and lastly a hamstring and IT band stretch. Start there and your hips will thank you.