Pilates Tips from the Pros | FusionPilatesEDU.com

Pilates and Rotation

When rotating our torsos, most of us find that we must retract the shoulders and/or shift our hips to turn our bodies. Moving in this way prevents us from accessing the many joints in our spine. Each vertebra has one joint on each side. There are seven cervical vertebra, twelve thoracic, and five lumbar. With […]…

The Pilates Show Mondays! – Morning Upgrade

In this episode, Casey shares her morning Joe ritual!…

The Pilates Dork! “Intake”

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The Pilates Show! – Hanging Out with the Shoulder Girdle

In this episode, Casey is going to deal with Shoulder Girdle and will answer a question about men and the pelvic floor. SHOW NOTES: Find other posts about Anatomy HERE. Check out Lesley Powell’s Scapula Revolution workshop HERE. Add your thoughts about Margherita’s question at the FORUM! You can find some of the props used […]…

The Pilates Show Mondays! – Get On the Floor

Welcome to The Pilates Show! The Pilates Show Mondays are short episodes where we get the heck out of the studio and explore our Pilates Lifestyle. The main show is on Wednesdays where we’ll cover Pilates Tips and Techniques and answer viewer questions. On Fridays, enjoy our comic strip, “The Pilates Dork”. Join us every […]…

Fascial Anatomy

Ok, get ready. There is some mind numbing anatomy later in this post. But I want to tell you that it is all going to end up at a place where we can make sense of it. Of course for that to happen you might have to pull out 2 or 3 anatomy books. But […]…

Glute Strengthening in the Side Lying Position

Many of us have trouble toning and sculpting the sides of the glutes and upper leg. We often hear this area referred to as the saddlebags. As we learned in our last post, the gluteus medius serves to abduct the leg (moving the leg away from the center line of the body). This is the […]…

Good Postures for Labor

Arming your pregnant clients with as much information and skills as possible for an easy labor and delivery is essential as you are guiding them through this extraordinary time in their life. By practicing postures for labor, as well as breath patterns that go with them, your clients will be able to go into these […]…

Mat Leg Circles

Mat Leg Circles is a very important part of the Pilates repertoire. This exercise teaches so many beautiful skills for the clients to master such as lumbo/pelvic stability as well as differentiation of movement between the leg and the pelvis. The goal of the exercise is not that you complete the circles in their prescribed […]…

Back Lengthening & Opening with the Foam Roller

Here are some incredible self-massage techniques with the foam roller. This set of gentle back openings takes only five to ten minutes (depending on how long you have to hold them). These are great to do by themselves or before or after a workout to warm up or cool down. As always we want to […]…

Deep Hip Openings with the Stability Ball

We’ve explored some leg and hip openings using the stability ball. Today we are going to delve into the hips a bit deeper. You want to be warm before going into these, so take a brisk walk, for example, and start with some of the lighter stretches from the last article: hamstring, inner thigh, and […]…

Initiation of the Long Box Arms

Training the shoulder girdle can be a daunting task with clients. There is so much room for error when working with the arms due to their extreme mobility or lack thereof. Fine tuning and attention to detail is primary when working with this area of the body. The slightest rotation of the humerus can change […]…

Lateral Rib Cage Breathing

Building better breathers is a primary concern for Pilates teachers. If we can arm our clients with one thing, it is the power to cue into and work on their breath. This skill building is something that they can take with them in all facets of their life. We are primarily concerned with the breath […]…

Toning the Inner & Outer Thigh with Magic Circle

As we already know, the Magic Circle is an easy, inexpensive, and effective tool that will help you achieve your Pilates body. Try to find just twenty to thirty minutes a day to use your Circle to tone and lengthen. If you’re consistent you will start to feel and see the results within the month! […]…

Initiation of the Mermaid on the Foam Roller

Mermaid is such a great exercise whether it is on the mat, Reformer, Cadillac, or chair. The side bending of the spine gives the vertebrae a wonderful opportunity to yawn and expand from side to side. This is so helpful in encouraging spinal articulation in all ways. By using the foam roller here as a […]…

Using Pilates to Prevent and Heal Lower Back Pain: Stretches

Millions of us live with moderate to severe back pain on a daily basis. Our hectic lives of spending long hours at a desk, in front of a computer, or behind the wheel of a car makes it difficult to maintain good back health. Many of us are learning what professional athletes have known for […]…

How to Care for Your Ladder Barrel

The ladder barrel is a wonderful piece of apparatus that any well equipped studio must have. Its uses are many, and to get the best results from it, caring for the equipment is a high priority. Even if it is not your own, taking pride in your workspace is essential. Working with the equipment requires […]…

Kathy Grant: A Teacher’s Teacher

I never had the privilege of meeting or working with Kathy Grant, but have many friends and colleagues who did work with her extensively. My mentor, Marie-José Blom from Long Beach Dance Conditioning, was quite close to her and speaks of her often. In fact, on the day of Kathy Grant’s death I was with […]…

Help! My Clients Always Cramp in Bridge!

Clients who cramp usually have a variety of reasons why this is a problem in movement. It can be anything from nutritional deficiencies to medication side effects. But it also comes from starting to innervate and move an area of the body that isn’t used to being called on. When repatterning the body to move […]…

Mary Bond Interview

We were so happy to have Mary Bond join us in Asheville for an amazing live workshop and to shoot a couple of great online workshops. If you’re not familiar with her work, you should be! Enjoy this interview – and see below for some more info on Mary. Hope you enjoyed the interview – […]…