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Pilates Industry is Booming!!!!!!

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

This spring, CNBC reported that Pilates is the nation’s fastest-growing activity, with 8.6 million participants, up more than 450% since 2000, based on the most recent report from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. In reality, participation may have peaked mid-decade (American Sports Data Inc. reported 10.5 million participants in 2004), but clearly Pilates has staying power. The 2010 IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Trends report found that Pilates continues to grow while several other mind-body formats are declining. And the American College of Sports Medicine ranked Pilates in its top 10 trends for 2010, along with two close cousins, core training and functional fitness.

A Healthy Outlook, Despite the Recession

Overall, Pilates has held its own in a challenging economy. “We’re currently very busy,” says Tom McCook, founder of Center of Balance, a personal trainer and a nationally recognized ﬁtness and movement specialist. “The only thing we’ve noticed is that some of the mat classes have gotten bigger because it’s an economical way to experience Pilates. We’re in the heart of Silicon Valley. There has been some drop in income in our area, but most people don’t want to let go of what makes them feel good.”

The recession has driven the growth of group classes and training sessions. “When we started our Pilates studio, the trend was just personal training; now it’s back to group,” say Katherine and Kimberly Corp, who own and operate Pilates on Fifth, in midtown Manhattan, and founded the Pilates Academy International. “Our best year was in 2008, but then revenue decreased about 35% in 3 months. We diversified to rebound, with more group mat classes, group reformer classes,GYROTONIC® exercise classes, a ballet bar workout and other programs. Group programs brought a huge influx of clients. We also started renting out space to physical therapists, who refer patients to us.”

“The economy has affected everyone, from the largest to the smallest business,” says Kevin Bowen, education director at Peak Pilates and co-founder of the Pilates Method Alliance. “We may see more Pilates in health clubs and fewer smaller studios, but people aren’t going to stop doing Pilates. We just aren’t going to see the growth rate we had for a while, with new studios opening just blocks from each other.”

Pilates for Cross-Training

Experts believe Pilates is likely to become increasingly popular as a cross-trainingtool. “We see more athletes, performers and weekend warriors looking for Pilates as a cross-training method to complement their other fitness activities,” say Katherine and Kimberly Corp. “People like that we offer a wide variety of activities at our studio, not just Pilates. No one method ‘does it all.’ Pilates is a major piece of the fitness puzzle, but it’s not the whole puzzle.”

Enormous public interest in Pilates may initially have created unrealistic expectations, says Michael King, who has been working with the Pilates technique for more than 27 years and is the founding director of the Pilates Institute in London. “We have to give credit to the media for all the great coverage of Pilates, but there have also been times when I have questioned the validity of extreme claims about weight loss or cardiovascular benefits.”

New Markets Ahead

The versatility of Pilates may be its best asset for the future. Experts believe that a number of markets have yet to be fully developed, including men, older adults and teens.

Merrithew Health and Fitness, through its premier brand STOTT PILATES®, has created “Specialty Tracks” to educate instructors on working with postrehab patients, athletes, the active-aging population, teens and pre/postnatal women. Reaching out to new markets can also spur innovation. In creating programming specific to rehab and postrehab clients, Merrithew has developed reformers that are higher off the ground (for easier mounts and dismounts) and that allow for a greater range of functional movement.

More specialization of skills is also anticipated. “Now we have Pilates in hospitals; physical therapy clinics; spas; football, rugby and tennis clubs; [and] many golf clubs,” notes King. “Pilates will become much more specialized.”

For more insights into the future of Pilates, please refer to the complete article,“The Pilates Phenomenon: Where Do We Go From Here?” in the online IDEA Library or in July–August 2010 IDEA Fitness Journal.

To learn about the latest in Pilates programming, techniques and equipment, attend the Inner IDEA® Conference in Palm Springs, September 23–26. To register, visit www.inneridea.com.

Tags: encino, exercise routine, fitness, health, los angeles, muscle building, nutrition and pilates, personal training, pilates, pilates business, pilates certification, pilates education, pilates income, pilates master training program, pilates money, pilates partnership, pilates sports center, pilates teacher training, psc, weight loss pilates
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Finding Your Pilates Voice

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

FINDING YOUR VOICE

By: Maria Sevilla, Master Trainer, Pilates Sports Center

PMA Nationally Certified

The Pilates Life, Spokane, WA

www.thepilateslife.com

“Draw your navel to your spine and knit your ribs in.”  How many times have we heard ourselves saying these exact words.  We say them automatically without any thought to how the client responds to these cues.  We say them because we have been told this is how to cue.  We say them because we have heard them ourselves a hundred times.

But delivering good cues comes from experience.  That experience becomes the real journey of our profession.  Even though we are all drawn to Pilates for different reasons – injury, dance, doctors or friends recommendations – we all experience that same thing, that moment when something clicks and we are hooked.  It is from there that we decide to teach and learn everything there is to becoming Pilates instructors.  And that is where the journey begins.

Teacher training is just the tip of the iceberg.  A 450 hour program may sound like a lot of time, but it really is just the beginning.  There we sit as eager students, ready to learn, to suck it all in.  Memorizing each exercise and its nuances.  We all speak each other’s language. We all know how to draw the navel to the spine and understand what “knit your ribs in” means.  It seems so perfect.  Upon graduation, passing our exams, completing all of our hours, we are ready to teach or so we think. Then we realize………”I know nothing.”

How do we take all that we have learned, all that we have experienced, and become good teachers.  How do we assimilate the work and help clients that know nothing about their transverse abdominals or who have never heard of the concept of neutral spine. When we say “Knit your ribs in” and the clients look at you like you are speaking a foreign language, this is when we start to find our own voice and become real pilates teachers.

So how do we do it?  How do we become good teachers?  There is no formula.  I wish there was.  Just as our clients have to learn and discover at their own pace so do we.  We need to have just as much patience with ourselves as we do with them.

As a daughter of lifelong educators, I remember my father saying the year after he retired from teaching for 35 plus years that his best year of teaching was that last year.  His 35th year was his best year!  I think about that often when I am teaching and I remember that I still have a long way to go and that I am on my own journey as a student of Pilates and as a teacher.

Although there is no formula to becoming a great teacher, there are some tips that I give my students as they begin their journey.  Some of these tips are even for those of us that have been at this for a while.  Just because someone has 10+ years of experience teaching doesn’t mean that he/she is still not on their own journey and looking to improve and learn. Again, just like the body, we have to be willing to adapt, so if something doesn’t work in your teaching…modify.

1.  For the first year work with Healthy bodies.

There is no need to dive into post-rehab just yet, unless you are a PT and you want to incorporate Pilates into your practice. Working with healthy bodies will be challenging enough.  This is where we can start putting our knowledge in to practice. We use those cues we learned, see how they fit with our own voice, and possibly come up with some new ones. Not every body is the same and we will have to continue to modify and adjust to each new person that walks in our door.  This is the biggest part of our learning post grad. It’s not just posture and movement patterns we have to learn about our clients but their personality and learning style plays a role as well, which leads me to my next tip.

2.  Be willing to experiment with different programming.

Not all programs are created equal.  Some clients may need more extension in their workout or more hip work or more shoulder stability exercises.  From that first day they walk in the door, you will be developing and changing their program.  If your first attempt doesn’t work, be willing to try something new.  Remember a Roll Up can be performed from supine, standing, seated and on almost all the equipment.  Sometimes the client may just need to approach an exercise from a different body position and “voila,” they get the movement in the body.   How do you know when to change it up?

3.  Listen.

Listen to what they are saying, not only what they tell you feels good or how they might verbally respond to an exercise, but listen to what their body is saying to you.  Their bodies will start to talk to you.  You just have to listen.  Be open to it. The body wants to feel good and it wants to function properly.  We have to learn how to be its advocate and we have to teach the client how to listen too.

4.  Teach your client.

Two hours in a Pilates studio a week is not enough to make significant changes.  Teach your clients the basics.  Teach them how to listen to their own body, give them some exercises they can do at home.  Get them involved in the process.  You don’t have to teach them everything you know, just an understanding of their own movement patterns and how to better them.

5.  Have Fun.

Remember, Pilates is an exercise and some of us just take it all too seriously. Clientswant to feel good and improve function but they don’t want to leave feeling lost orhopeless because they cannot perform a Teaser.  Empower them and have fun in the process.  Make it enjoyable even when it’s hard work.

6.  Continue to Learn and be Honest.

It’s OK to say to clients you don’t know why something catches in their hip or why when they twist a certain way their back hurts. Most of us are not Doctors or Physical Therapists. We don’t always know for sure and unless we are in these professions, it’s not our job to diagnose.  Continue to learn and take workshops yearly.  It will keep you fresh and give you added tools to use during your teaching.

7.   Respect other teachers and programs.

We are all in this together -  Classical, contemporary, authentic Pilates, etc.  We will gravitate to one style and feel like it’s the best and no other style or program compares, but there is a place for everything and we can all learn from each other.  Collaboration is the key.  When you get stumped working with a client you should have colleagues that you can turn to for a new perspective and if another teacher is more suited for that person, we should be able to refer knowing we helped our client.  It’s better to continue to do Pilates than not do it at all.

8.  At the end of the day we still have to feel good about what we accomplished.

There are going to be bad days.  There are going to be days where we missed something important in a session, or we had a client in class doing an exercise he or she shouldn’t be doing.  We will go home and we will beat ourselves up for not being the best teacher that day.  Let’s not overwhelm ourselves with the “should have, could have” of our jobs.  Of course, there is always something we could do better, but we need to feel that we are doing the best we can everyday and honor our own process as teachers. Just as there are bad days there are going to be days where our clients walk in and say how good they feel or how great that class was and we will go home feeling triumphant.

This is a journey.  We are all finding our voice; who are we as teachers and how we want to carry on Joe’s legacy.  I think the best way is to be patient with ourselves, our clients, other teachers and  to learn from each other so that after 30 years of teaching we can say, “that was my best year.”

*Thank you so much to Maria Sevilla! We appreciate Maria’s passion for the work and her willingness to share her thoughts and expertise with us from a Master Trainer who is truly “sharing her voice.”

Pilates Life Studio is located in Spokane, WA.   They offer a full Pilates studio, personal and group trainings as well as comprehensive Teacher Training through the Pilates Sports Center. PSC teaches a cutting-edge, contemporary approach to the method that preserves the essence of the original technique but incorporates today’s knowledge and principals.

Please visit their website at:

www.thepilateslife.com

Tags: cues, pilates, pilates cues, pilates cuing, pilates education, pilates ethics, pilates training
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Pilates and Parkinsons

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Greetings PSC, I’m a teacher in training with you through Body Be Well in Red Hook, NY, owned by Chelsea L Streifeneder. I started Pilates with her in 2008 and was encouraged by her to become an instructor. She’s my young hero who brought me through a very upsetting time in my life. What I’ve done in the past ten months with her I hadn’t accomplished in my first forty-five years of life. The other side of me is journalism; writing about, listening to and playing (I host The Jazz Disturbance on WGXC 90.7 FM in Hudson, NY) America’s “classical” music, jazz. At first blush, Pilates and jazz don’t seem like likely bedfellows, but… Award-winning documentary filmmaker Burrill Crohn has asked me to assist with his upcoming documentary Playing with Parkinson’s. It’s about musician, writer, painter, poet, mediator and philosopher Sangeeta Michael Berardi. In the sixties, he played guitar with trombonist Roswell Rudd, saxophonist Archie Shepp, pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane (saxophonist John Coltrane’s wife) as well as other leading figures of free/avant garde jazz. The main focus of Playing with Parkinson’s is Sangeeta, but there are other communities that we’d like to include in our project; those involved in jazz and music for one (Sangeeta’s musicality has transferred to playing bowls) and Pilates for another. Along with seeking funding for success, we’re looking for encouragement, ideas, information, etc. I’m asking you for all of this. We’re considering having a segment of the documentary demonstrate the benefits of Pilates with Parkinson’s patients. We invite you to visit the website Playing with Parkinson’s documentary website: http://www.playingwithparkinsons.com/Welcome/The_Documentary.html Our project on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/e/CXuZR/projects/1033639232/playing-with-parkinsons-documentar <http://www.kickstarter.com/e/CXuZR/projects/1033639232/playing-with-parkinsons-documentary> And information and excerpts from some of Playing with Parkinson’s at: www.burrillcrohn.com. We have until June 8, 2011 to raise $9,500 for Playing with Parkinson’s and give it wings to fly. I hope to speak with you soon for your feedback, questions and hopefully your involvement with our project. I think it would be fantastic to feature Pilates as an ingredient to management care of Parkinson’s patients.
Thank you for your time.