Over the past month, I had the pleasure of listening to a medical professional describe the ramification of the practice of the hip position “tucked/tilted/clenched” while standing. He confirmed that neutral is the most structurally safe place that your cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine are in alignment. As you know from my previous blog posts, I […]
While teaching group fitness classes, one of the most important things to be aware of is the safety need of your class participants. However, when teaching public classes, you often do not know the entire class’s limitations prior to creating your class. It’s vital for all group fitness instructors to have a few tricks up […]
Personally, I like using a lot of pieces of equipment to ensure that my clients get the best experience possible in my classes. When creating compound movements, sometimes you need a little help to ensure the participant is in the correct position and executing the movement properly. This is when a Barre Band, Bender Ball, […]
One of the most common causes of injury while working out is that a person can strain a muscle. This can be caused by a lack of proper stretching. Repeating a strenuous motion required in a lot of exercises only exacerbates the problem. Flexibility is a key part of any strong and well-rounded fitness regime. […]
When talking about strength training, most people immediately think of barbells, free weights, and single-joint actions. But Barre Bands are easily more functional, as well as infinitely more mobile, than those options. Single-joint actions are not functional in daily life. Instead of focusing on simple motions, we should be training multiple muscle groups at once, […]
Barre fitness classes are hot right now. These group fitness classes focus on muscular endurance, while incorporating standing Pilates, yoga, and ballet-inspired movements. The fitness barre movement does not have actual ballet motions, as a ballet barre class would, but instead focuses on repeating a strength exercise to the level of fatigue, while moving to […]
Have you looked at your class participants as they walk into your class? Most are hunched forward, in a similar position to sitting at a desk all day long. If you were to ask them to stay in the same posture, but lay on the floor, what exercise would they then resemble? If you just […]
Group fitness classes should teach movements that are easily replicated in the “real world” life of our clients. The motions we teach should be functional and need to move in the natural alignment of the body. If we start to teach exercises that are not in natural positions, we risk injuries for our clients. It […]
Trainers, are you contantly asked “Can I spot reduce my gluteus (a.k.a. booty) in your barre class?” I am! And my answer is always…”Nope!” And when asked if one can roll it with a foam roller or similar device to break-up the cellulite and cause the booty to be smaller, I give the similar answer of “Nope!” […]
Last week in my blog 3 Common Barre Misconceptions, I did not speak of the infamous “tuck” position found in some barre classes. I felt that this position shouldn’t be lumped together with other misconceptions, but rather discussed on its own. So this week, let’s investigate this position. I mean seriously, what the tuck? The […]