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Monthly Archives

June 2018

Is Bridge to Brisbane your next goal?

Bridge to Brisbane

Have you been bitten by the running bug?

About to run the Bridge to Brisbane or training for a marathon? Or do you just love running for your regular dose of cardio? Whatever your goals are… you’re a runner!

Simply put, running involves a repetitive series of movements that often leads to muscle imbalances, namely overdeveloped hip flexors and weak gluteal muscles and hamstrings. Running is also high impact and can cause a lot of stress on your ankle, knee and hip joints. Injuries to these joints are common in those who run regularly and/or long distances, and covering more kilometres generally leads to more injuries.

When you take on a new challenge, like your first Bridge to Brisbane, you need to ensure that your training regime incorporates exercises that compliment running, and which build strength in the right muscles. Take a look at any online marathon training program and you can be sure it will include regular core stability and strength training.

 

The Runity program is the answer!

The Runity Running Program is a unique running technique training program developed to help people get back to running pain-free and achieve their running goals. Running is one of the most natural forms of movement for humans, however, many runners struggle with injuries that inhibit their ability to perform.

The physiotherapists at The Body Refinery work with the latest scientific knowledge and technology. Surrounded by a community of runners and movement professionals, they continually deepen their knowledge and understanding of running biomechanics.

The Runity Program involves a video analysis of your running technique and an exercise-based rehabilitation program to improve your running technique, cadence and tempo. You will learn about the running fundamentals in order to improve your technique, which will make you run more efficiently and biomechanically safer.

 

Pilates can help too!

Pilates offers a massive repertoire of exercises that focus on pelvic stability, movement control and motor awareness. Since all of the major muscles of running attach to the pelvis, it makes sense that having a stable (pelvis) core will optimise the efficiency and power output of these muscles and lead to better performance.

Moreover, performing Pilates exercises in standing and running positions facilitates maximal carryover to your running stride. Learning how your body should look and feel in standing position, and during movement, is the first step to improving your running technique and enhancing your performance.

For the runner, Pilates has the added benefits of improving balance, and optimising hamstring and calf length, thus enhancing foot and ankle stability.

The Pilates exercises that are most appropriate for you will largely depend on what you are trying to achieve, so appropriate exercises can be selected to: help manage/rehabilitate an existing running injury and/or to improve performance.

 

So if you are preparing for the Bridge to Brisbane, or a similar event (Gold Coast Marathon) , and you want to get to that start line in peak condition (and injury free), Pilates can help you get there!

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Join The Body Refinery and let Pilates help you reach your goals!

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5 Ways to Make Your Pilates Pop This Year!

Pilates Pop

For beginners, and the experienced Pilates pilgrims…let’s get back to basics!

Revising your foundation mat Pilates techniques with a Physiotherapist at The Body Refinery is a great way to change the way you think about your practice, advance your exercises on both the mat and the equipment, discover new challenging movements for your body, and reignite your Pilates passion to get more out of your sessions. The Physiotherapists at The Body Refinery can help you rediscover this and feel great again!

There’s something satisfying about getting back to basics…and back on the mat, so we thought we’d look at 5 exercises that Pilates devotees love to do daily from home:

1. The Perfect Pilates Mermaid…or Merman!

· Great for moving your spine and stretching the muscles along the side of your back
· Improves posture and movement in your shoulder and hips
· This is everyone’s go to move. If you feel like you have tight back muscles you will LOVE this! …Plus it just feels so good!
· Pro Tip: Switch it up at the end and reach in the opposite direction for a stretch on your other side

Pilates PopPilates Pop

Pilates Pop    Pilates Pop

2. Target Your Trouble Zones with Arm Arcs

· Improves shoulder mobility and back stability
· Stretches your muscles down the side of your trunk and in your shoulder
· Pro Tip: Make your shoulders feel ‘heavy’ into the mat and draw your shoulder blades down as you reach above your head

      

 

3. Toning Hack: Squeeze your Butt Bridges

· Great for moving your spine
· Improve your hamstring and gluteal strength
· Stretch the muscles at the front of your hips
· Pro Tip: Think about drawing your sit bones together, pressing down through your heels and lengthening your knees over your feet as you move up into the bridge

    

 

4. Quick Fix Quadruped

· Great for movement/control of your spine, shoulders and hips
· Improves core control and balance
· Pro Tip: Alternate lifting your arms and legs to challenge yourself!

  

5. Build a Better Back with Prone Press Ups

· Helps strengthen back muscles
· Opens up the front of your chest and shoulders
· Improves your posture
· Activates your core while extending your back
· Pro Tip: Take a deep breath in as you come up and breath all the way out as
you lay back down…It feels so good!

  

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Book in with one of our Pilates certified Physiotherapist’s at The Body Refinery, New Farm, to either start or progress your Pilates journey. Call us today to secure your spot in one of our Clinical Pilates Classes or for a Private Clinical Session with a Physiotherapist.

Pilates for Men… and for Everyone!

men pilates

Pilates was created by a cigar smoking, whiskey drinking, boxer, acrobat, and gymnast named Joseph Pilates, who created his exercise program, first and foremost, for men. Watching old footage of Joseph Pilates teaching high energy mat classes to large groups of men outdoors in a field, it is clear that the men in the class were getting a strong workout.

Joseph started his Contrology method (as it was originally called) with mat-based exercises.  However, during his internment in England during World War I, he further developed his method, attaching springs to the beds of the bedridden, to rehabilitate them. The object of his exercises was to return the injured men to their full function.

 

Pilates for Athletes

Joseph Pilates originally trained athletes, boxers, wrestlers, skiers, gymnasts, and circus performers. It wasn’t until choreographer, George Balanchine, and dancer, Martha Graham, caught onto his method, that dancers started to seek out his studio, and embrace the Pilates method. This is perhaps when the gender shift in the method started to occur, hence the misconceptions that Pilates is primarily best suited to women or dancers. It is reported that Joseph Pilates did not like to train dancers and he would send them to his wife, Clara.

More men are now starting to discover the Pilates method and its benefits for their own distinct goals. Male clients at The Body Refinery studio often seek to improve their balance, flexibility, coordination and posture, increase their core strength, address low back pain and muscular imbalances, as well as for improving fitness and muscle tone, and to rehabilitate from injury.

Many male athletes have turned to Pilates to give them a competitive edge and strengthen their game. Just some of the golfers who have made Pilates integral to their physical conditioning are Tiger Woods, Rocco Mediate, and Phil Mickelson. Here in Australia, some AFL teams have invested in Pilates equipment to incorporate the method into their training.

 

Pilates to improve everyday life

Apart from improving sporting performance, Pilates compliments everyday movement and activity, whether it be sitting behind a desk, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or lifting children. It heightens coordination and improves balance, flexibility, and posture. It is an intelligent workout that can sharpen your focus and increase your ability to concentrate.

It re-educates the body on how to move efficiently, initiating from the “powerhouse” muscles (at the centre of the body), and develop core strength in the deep muscles of the back in order to stabilize and protect the back.

Pilates is for everyone: men, women, teens and children, seniors, athletes, the injured, the sedentary and the deconditioned, the flexible and the inflexible, the coordinated and the uncoordinated.

For any men out there with a misconception that Pilates isn’t for them, or for those who are intrigued by Pilates but have been hesitant to try it for one reason or another, there’s no better time than now to improve your body, your performance and your mind…  give Pilates a try and explore the benefits it will provide to you.

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Book your initial appointment in our New Farm studio by contacting us on info@thebodyrefinery.com.au or 07 3358 3915.

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