What’s on this week: 19 – 24 June

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 What’s on this Week: 19 – 24 June
Let’s look at Bridging!

Dear <<First Name>>,

Wow –  it has been hot this week!  We have had the fans on in the Studio to help keep everyone cool.  Many of you have commented that, as your muscles are warm (or even hot!) you’ve been able to get more from your practice.

We’ve been encouraging everyone to work at a steady pace in the heat.  We’ve built in time for recovery, including the lovely rolldown reach on the spine corrector, which we discussed in an earlier newsletter.  We hope that you are taking time for recovery in your exercise programs away from Pilates.

It’s also crucial in this heat, to stay hydrated!  As most of you know, we provide nicely chilled water in the Studio, but ask you to bring your own water bottle please.  (We stopped offering plastic cups some time ago, as part of our commitment to protecting the planet!)

We’re now into Week 4 of our Rowing program.  This week, in Community Corner (below) we’ll be taking a look at Bridging.  Read on to learn more about one of the key Pilates movements.

If you’d like to experience Reformer Pilates, we have a range of classes to meet everyone’s needs:

  • we have classes at 10am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays – and at 9am on Fridays;
  • we have lunchtime classes at 12.30pm on Mondays and Tuesdays – a perfect way to lengthen, realign and reenergise before returning to your desk;
  • on Tuesdays, we have classes at 6pm and 7pm – a great way to unwind (quite literally) after a day at the desk, in the car, on your feet – or even lounging in your garden!
  • for those new to Reformer Pilates, we have Reformer Fundamentals classes on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm and on Thursdays at 6.30pm.

So, there’s no excuse not to join in – we’d love to see you there!  Check out the full timetable below.

You can book your place in any of our classes using the link below.

We hope you have a great week and we look forward to seeing you in the studio or online soon!

Book Now!

All Things Pilates Community Corner!

This week we thought we’re looking at Bridging – it’s one of the movements in our Rowing Program.  (Actually, it comes into many of our programs – it’s such a great exercise, as you’ll discover below!)

Bridging is one of the first things we learn when practising Pilates and we continue to focus on Bridging as our practice develops.

Variations of bridging can be done on the Matthe Reformer, the ladder barrel, the trapeze table and the chair, so pretty much everywhere.  Some of you will remember bridging with your feet on your sofa or a chair during lockdowns – you may also have done it with your feet balanced on a gym ball, or against a wall.

Why is it so important in the Pilates repertoire?

Bridging is great for those of us who sit for long periods of time – that probably applies to just about all of us!  If we sit for long periods, our hip flexors (at the front of our hips) can shorten and weaken.  This limits our ability to stand up fully straight.  If our hip flexors are tight, they pull the pelvis out of alignment and can cause compression and pain in the lower back.

Bridging helps counter this by opening, lengthening and strengthening our hip flexors.

Bridging is also great for improving our hamstring strength (the big muscles at the back of our legs).  Some of us find it hard to get our hamstrings to work effectively – with our quadriceps (the muscles at the front of our legs) taking the load.  That can lead to imbalances when we move (walking, running, cycling etc).  Bridging really helps isolate the hamstring muscles to get them working.  (If you can’t feel your hamstrings working – have a word with your teacher!)

In our current program, we’ve incorporated Bridging with the Pilates Ring.  We start with the ring outside of our knees/thighs and use the outer thigh muscles to keep pressure on the ring as we float into our Bridge.  This helps activate the outer thighs, but importantly, it also prevents us from rolling our knees inwards – a problem for many of us!  Using the ring between our thighs and squeezing helps us activate the inner thigh muscles – and a bit of choreography is always fun!

When we progress to single leg bridging, we’re increasing the challenge, but more importantly, we’re focused on keeping the hips and pelvis level throughout the movement.  A stable, balanced pelvis is so important for our posture and in our daily movement (eg. walking).  Misalignment in our pelvis can ‘travel’ downwards to cause problems in our knees, ankles or feet; and it can ‘travel’ upwards to cause problems in our spine, shoulders and neck.

That’s why Bridging is fundamental to the Pilates repertoire.

All of that said, Bridging is also just a ‘feel-good’ exercise.  The feeling of the pelvis and spine floating and becoming weightless as they glide from and to the floor helps release tensions in the body as it finds length and space!

If you’d like to experience the joy of Bridging, reserve your place below!

Book Now

Class Timetable: June

Best Wishes,

Gemma and the All Things Pilates team

Tel: 0208 549 2892
Email: admin@allthingspilates.co.uk
Website: www.allthingspilates.co.uk
Address: All Things Pilates, Unit 03 Princess Court, Horace Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2SL

Questions? Feedback?

For more information about the above, or if you have questions, please contact us and stay up to date with All Things Pilates:

(Apologies in advance if you have received this in duplicate or inappropriately – we are constantly updating our contacts database so it would help if you could let us know either way.)

Stay safe, stay well and enjoy your time at All Things Pilates!

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