FIND TIME FOR
PILATES
BY I N D I A N N A F R A N K E | T H E L I V I N G W E L L ST U D I O
W
e at The Living Well Studio argue that you need to
be conditioned to participate well in your chosen
sport, the sport itself won’t make you conditioned.
Physio based pilates is an invaluable tool for this
conditioning. It is a service we provide where we marry the art and
science of physiotherapy and exercise science with the principles,
repertoire and equipment of Pilates. This combination can give
the winning edge to any athlete no matter what sport and level.
Physio based pilates programs are based around a
comprehensive individual assessment that searches for strengths
and weaknesses in the body in terms of balance, control,
coordination, flexibility and strength. We work to improve any
issues found in the assessment and prevent any potential injuries
from occurring with the aim of contributing to the longevity of
the athlete in their sport. This individual approach means that the
program can be outcome driven, goal oriented and really support
the athlete to achieve what they are working towards.
We have many world class athletes attending our sessions and
we see them develop gains in the areas outlined below:
NEUROMUSCULAR CONTROL
Neuromuscular control is a term used by physios to describe how
well our nervous system can connect to the muscles to make well-
coordinated movement happen. Sometimes when we continually
perform the same movements over and over we develop strong
neuromuscular patterns for those movement but unless we are
challenged with other tasks and skills we can become vulnerable
as we lose the ability to perform varied and diverse movement in a
coordinated manner. Physio based Pilates provides neuromuscular
activation exercises that help to gain better control over your
muscles, improve muscle strength, gain overall improvement of
your balance and allow the muscles to work in conjunction with
each other which not only helps you get more from your workouts,
but it can help you move more fluently and functionally through
life in general!
MOBILITY
Mobility is your ability to move your joints through a full range of
motion with good control. Repetitive activity associated with sport
and work can leave parts of the body less mobile than others.
This can result in impaired function and freedom in the body. It's
taken a long time for science to back mobility exercise as being
important. It's been part of pilates and yoga for centuries. The
research now shows that improving mobility through exercises
can improve athletic performance. All good physio based pilates
programs incorporate mobility exercises.
BALANCE
Balance has been shown to be an integral part of an exercise
program. Using the pilates equipment such as the reformer we
can challenge your balance in both a static and dynamic way. The
research is not 100% on how much balance is needed in your
workout each week but it’s suggesting at least two sessions per
week. Balance is related to neuromuscular control. Certain sports
can make you unbalanced in the body meaning you are more
confident and stronger on one side more than the other, and
this can lead to injury. Our physio based pilates sessions work to
correct this by directly addressing these imbalances.
STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE
For a long time people viewed pilates as low impact, low
resistance mobility based exercise with a bit of core thrown in.
We firmly want to break this stereotype. Our physio based pilates
sessions harness the resistance found in pulleys, springs and free
weights to create all types of strength and endurance gains in
areas that are needed by the athlete. Often in our assessments we
find there are deficits in strength and endurance and we address
this in each session with strong strength and endurance based
exercises. One point that must be made is that we stress technique
in all of these exercises and will not substitute repetitions for
technique, which ensures injury prevention and greater body
awareness.
BODY AWARENESS
Physio based pilates asks the athlete to feel what their body
is doing, there is an almost forced mindfulness that happens
as many of the exercises cannot be performed without 100%
concentration on what many parts of the body are doing. This
helps build awareness of where the limbs and trunk are in space
and in connection with each other. This also helps to build
confidence in the athlete to make subtle changes to specific areas
of their body to prevent injury and perform the movement more
correctly.
RESTORATION
A key part of physio based pilates is making sure every client
understands the wisdom of the breath. Breath can be harnessed
for all types of action. One of these important actions is
restoration. Athletes work hard and fill their lives with action-
based training and often overlook the importance of restoration
for performance. Our physio based pilates method works to help
the patient tap into the parasympathetic nervous state, that is
the rest and digest state where your body restores. We do this by
prescribing specific breath techniques and mobility exercises.
Click here for a a physio-based mobility program that we use in our clinic for athletes to
use at home. This program doesn’t incorporate much equipment. We recommend finding
a physio based pilates practitioner near you to give you a specific program for your
needs and get you using pilates as part of your regular routine.
We Are The Pilates Professionals
Each session is tailored to your needs.
Our instructors work from your detailed
assessment to assist in achieving your goals.
Search: The Living Well Studio
Physio Based Pilates Studio
& Complimentary Health Services
Burleigh, Gold Coast
07 5535 5667
MULTISPORT MAGAZINE | 41
www.thelivingwellstudio.com.au