You Can Do It: Three Tips for Pilates Rookies

Most people understand the health benefits of regular exercise and desire to infuse those benefits into their bodies, but it’s often psychological barriers that prevent people from achieving their fitness goals. We have a tendency to talk ourselves out of opportunities that might feel mysterious, intimidating, or even threatening if we’ve never tried them before. You have probably heard information about Pilates or even seen the great results that others have achieved through consistent workouts. It can feel intimidating to try something new, so here are a few tips to help you be prepared for your first Pilates class:

What to Wear

Most people choose to arrive barefoot to Pilates classes, similar to yoga. If it’s fall or winter weather, feel free to wear socks until your body warms up enough for bare feet. Wear clothing that is loose enough for you to move but not so baggy that the instructor can’t see your body. The instructor will need to be able to see which muscles are engaging to ensure that you’re doing the moves properly for maximum results and to prevent injury. Many of the moves require bending over, so if you’re a woman, be sure to plan for modesty. Wear a sports bra if you choose to wear a loose-fitting shirt.

What to Bring

Most Pilates classrooms will have the supplies you need, but you might consider bringing your own mat to a mat class. Pilates mats tend to be thicker than yoga mats, because so many of the moves are done on the mat. Your own yoga mat can bring extra cushion to the classroom mats, and covering the classroom mat with your mat can prevent the spread of germs. Consider covering the mats with a towel as well. You may work up a bit of a sweat as you increase intensity, so bring a towel and some water.

Give Yourself Grace

If you’re just starting out, you won’t be perfect, and chances are your classmates will remember their first classes as well. Be sure to inform the instructor that you’re new, so the instructor can offer modifications to the moves in case you’re not ready for some of the more advanced moves. Take it at your own pace, and enjoy it, as Pilates is a great, low-impact exercise that targets important areas for improved health and wellness.

3 Simple Habits to Keep You Healthy

In a world where we’re bombarded with information at all times and in a culture that’s obsessed with skinniness, it can be easy to get confused about what is really healthy and how to get healthy. In truth, health is fairly simple, and it’s easier to achieve if you quiet the outside voices vying for your attention and focus on a few simple healthful hints that will, over time, help you achieve your goals, have more energy, and sleep better.

Make Yourself a Priority

This is easier said than done, but it’s the foundation of achieving a healthful life. Remember that your state of mind affects everything you do, and health can help you have a better state of mind more often. Making yourself a priority means taking the time to exercise a few times a week, eating delicious, nutrient-rich meals, planning fun things to do, making time for naps, and making time for other things that you enjoy. If possible, bring kids and spouse along, or arrange for yourself to have some time away. You may also want to think about planning the occasional splurge, such as a spa treatment or haircut.

Develop a Few Good Habits

It takes about twenty-one days of consistency to develop a habit. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to change too much too soon. Start with three easy things that will nurture you: drink plenty of water, exercise at least twice a week, and plan your meals. Go grocery shopping once a week. If you’re shopping for yourself, this may mean you’re only picking up one bag of items, but you want to make sure you have healthy things you like on hand at all times. Your exercise plan should push you to improve in health, but if you’re just starting out, don’t push yourself too hard. Develop the habit of walking a few times a week and gradually build more challenges into the routine once exercise is a habit. Keep a cup of water with you at all times, especially if you work at a desk.

Make Your Sleep Sweet

Your good habits should help increase the quality of your sleep. Be sure to take a few minutes before bed to wind down. This may include listening to soothing music, doing a few yoga stretches in a darkened room, or separating yourself from technology. Sweet dreams!

What Barre Classes Can Do For You

There’s been a lot of hype recently surrounding Barre classes. They’ve been around for a few years now, and their popularity hasn’t waned much, thanks to the fast results most people experience after taking them and celebrity endorsements from many celebrities, including Kelly Ripa, Anna Paquin, and even Madonna. It’s easy to envision participants spread across a mirrored room, mimicking ballet moves against a bar, but what do Barre classes really do for you?

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Muscle Pulses

The classes are focused on small, tight muscle movements that deeply work the core and lower body, though some classes are focused on the upper body as well. There’s a big emphasis on form and alignment to make sure you’re getting the most out of your moves. The repeated, deep muscle movements can have you sore in just a few classes, but the intense soreness can also lead to great (and relatively fast) results. It may seem silly to make such small movements, but Barre classes really do prove that how far you move matters much less than how you do it. If you’re attending a Barre class for the first time, make sure your instructor knows that you’re new, so the instructor can keep an eye on your form. It’s best to get it right before you form bad habits.

Mind-Body Connection

Like Yoga classes, Barre focuses on mind-body connection and creating a space where your mind and your body work together. Deep breathing exercises are part of the moves, which may help alleviate some of the intensity and ensure that oxygen is flowing properly to your muscles. Many of the moves are adapted from dance, so if you are a dancer or have been in the past, you may love the connection your mind makes with your memories.

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Body Sculpting

You’ve seen the graceful, lithe bodies of ballerinas. While not everyone has the genetic makeup to achieve their graceful muscles, Barre classes will likely get you as close to that as Mother Nature will allow. Though some of the movements can feel intense in the moment, it’s those very movements that will help you achieve the body you want. Your abs, butt, and thighs will probably be most affected, but those areas are target areas for the majority of gym rats anyway. Focus in on them and quickly get the results you want with Barre classes at Pilates X. You can view our schedule HERE. 

Stress Melt: How Pilates Can Help Manage, Cope, and Recover

With the onslaught of information, fast-paced workplaces, busy lives, and many hats most individuals must wear on a daily basis, it’s hard to go through a single day without feeling stress. Some of us manage stress on a daily basis, and others feel overtaken by stress. Stress has three phases: Management, Coping, and Recovery. Pilates can help with each of these, as well as living an overall healthy lifestyle.

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Management

Stress management is a proactive phase. Individuals who manage their stress are typically at peace with the fact that many stresses will be part of life, and they’ve integrated pieces of their daily routine to help manage stress and keep it at a healthy level. Stress can be a good thing if it’s managed well – without stress, muscles will never grow and students may never learn. Managed stress can be embraced. Individuals who manage their stress typically have built healthy boundaries. They know what their limits are and how to graciously say no. They make Pilates a priority, not only focusing on the physical aspects of exercise, but also their breathing techniques, mindfulness, balance, and harmony. They get enough sleep. They eat well without sweating the occasional splurge. Management is the best place to be when it comes to stress.

Coping

Individuals who are coping have typically gone through an experience that has caused some deep stress and are trying to maintain their healthy management in spite of the stress. Seasons of coping will come from time to time in anyone’s life and may be triggered by a multitude of things: illness, death of a loved one, divorce, a lost job, or a traumatic experience. It may be easy to stop exercising and maintaining healthy balance in these situations. Some days it can seem difficult to keep going. In these seasons, it’s even more important to nurture your body and stay healthy. Surround yourself with loving people who encourage good habits.

Recovery

Individuals in recovery have just gone through the coping phase with a stressful experience. They’ve come to peace with the situation and may have even been able to move on, if only slightly. Recovery can be a long journey, but it’s important to let your mind and body experience it to bring closure and restore health. Pilates can help speed up recovery and bring peace along with it.

Healthy CLIF bars

Growing up, one of my favorite packaged "health" foods were CLIF bars. They are chewy, great-tasting and include many organic food products- or so I thought.

However, they are NOT clean and include many hidden GMOs such as soy protein isolate and soy lecithin. So, I took the initiative to try to create my own recipe since I need a fiber-filled snack at hand at all times while nursing my newborn daughter.

I am still working on perfecting this recipe, (and finding a substitute for the soy rice crisps) but for now they were made with dates, oats, coconut, almonds, ground flax seeds, peanut butter and maple syrup. They tasted very much like the CLIF bars I have been craving but without any of the additives and GMOs!

I hope you will enjoy these too. 

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup uncooked oats (gluten free if you need it)
3 Tbsp grounded flax seeds
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup maple syrup Grade B
2 Tbsp coconut palm sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ chocolate chips (optional)

1) In a food processor, blend oats and almonds until grounded. Then add coconut, flaxseed and dates and pulse until well blended.
2) In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat maple syrup and coconut sugar until melted and boiling point. Quickly reduce heat and add peanut butter and vanilla and blend until thoroughly mixed.
3) In a large bowl, add the oats mixture. Add wet mix to oats mixture and blend. Once cooled, carefully add chocolate chips and mix with hands.
4) In between two parchment papers, flatten with a rolling pin and cut into squares. Wrap into waxed parchment paper.

Keep in your fridge and try not to eat them all!

Chantal Jura is a holistic nutritionist student that believes passionately that we can help prevent and treat disease with whole, clean, high-quality, minimally processed foods. After working over 7 years in marketing & public relations across Canada and the U.S., she was inspired to return to her first initial love- nutrition. She believes that our nutritional goals in life should not be to get thin quickly, or to succumb to emotional eating, but to eat a balanced diet based on our individual needs and have it become a lifestyle. Chantal likes to address digestion, balance, and moderation for each individual and their needs. As a current student at the Edison Institute of Nutrition, Chantal is committed to working toward the expertise and mastery of holistic nutrition to one day soon be able to practice and help others attain their optimal health. Additionally, Chantal holds a B.A. in French Studies from California State University, Long Beach. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chantal currently lives in Quebec City in Canada with her family. You can also follow her posts on her Facebook page: Sexy Turnip Health and Nutrition 

Weekend Dessert - Zucchini Brownies

These sweet and tasty treats are guilt free since they are vegan, low in sugar, high in fiber and gluten free yet still intense in chocolate flavor! 

Zucchinis are high in folic acid, which is necessary for women trying to conceive and in the early stages of pregnancy. It also contains high amounts of Vitamin A, potassium and magnesium. So go ahead and indulge in one (or two!) of these brownies to fill in that chocolate craving! 

· 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 zucchini) 

· 1/3 cup applesauce 

· 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water 

· 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

· 3 tbsp grounded flax or chia seeds

· 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut oil 

· 3/4 cup cocoa powder 

· 1 cup coconut flour or whole wheat pastry flour if not GF 

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 1/2 tsp baking soda

· 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

· 1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350F, and line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 6 ingredients and let sit at least 5 minutes.

Combine all other ingredients in a separate bowl, and stir very well. Pour wet into dry, stir until evenly mixed, then pour into the baking dish. Using a full sheet of parchment or wax paper, press down very firmly until the brownie batter evenly covers the pan. 

Bake about 20 minutes, then pat down with a sheet of parchment. 

Let sit 15 minutes before trying to cut into squares. Makes 20-24 squares.

Chantal Jura is a holistic nutritionist student that believes passionately that we can help prevent and treat disease with whole, clean, high-quality, minimally processed foods. After working over 7 years in marketing & public relations across Canada and the U.S., she was inspired to return to her first initial love- nutrition. She believes that our nutritional goals in life should not be to get thin quickly, or to succumb to emotional eating, but to eat a balanced diet based on our individual needs and have it become a lifestyle. Chantal likes to address digestion, balance, and moderation for each individual and their needs. As a current student at the Edison Institute of Nutrition, Chantal is committed to working toward the expertise and mastery of holistic nutrition to one day soon be able to practice and help others attain their optimal health. Additionally, Chantal holds a B.A. in French Studies from California State University, Long Beach. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chantal currently lives in Quebec City in Canada with her family. You can also follow her posts on her Facebook page: Sexy Turnip Health and Nutrition 

Overnight Oats - Recipe from Pilates X Instructor Alli

Enjoy this post from our Pilates X instructor Alli, aka Allison Anderson! 

Thanks Alli! 

OVERNIGHT OATS

The past couple of weeks I have been trying to eat/find something that is filling but cool because of the heat. I love oatmeal. Full of fiber and protein to keep you full. I grew up on the instant packages because they are so convenient and filling but in my latest effort to try to cut down on sugar, I had to give up the instant oatmeal because they are HIDDEN with LOADS of SUGAR!! So I started making my own and looked online for some overnight oats because I saw it on Pinterest and yes I am a “pin-a-holic.” Now that it is summer I thought I make add tropical flavors to these overnight oats.

What you’ll need:

1 jar

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup Greek yogurt (optional)

½ cup mango

½ banana

1 tbsp shredded coconut

1 tbsp chia seeds

Prep:

Start layering all the ingredients in the jar. First I put the chia seeds and some of the fruit on the bottom on the bottom. Then ½ cup Greek yogurt (optional). Next rolled Oats then the coconut milk and top it with the rest of the fruit, chia sheeds and shredded coconut. Place lid on tight and leave in fridge overnight.