Weekly Wellness Blog
In partnership with Pilates on Demand, we are excited to bring you the extensive library of pilates and wellness activities! Below are blogs incorporating Pilates On Demand's content, with additional content to fit the different lifestyles from around Trent University!
Health in Movement with Pilates on Demand’s Leslie Piekarski
Despite what many have been led to believe, fitness isn’t just about spending those grueling nights at the gym grinding for the body of your dreams — rather, it takes on a much larger role in promoting self-confidence, self-esteem, and overall self-wellness.
Trained dancer turned certified Barre Instructor, Leslie Piekarski of Pilates on Demand, has spent the last twenty years performing and choreographing dance, as well as earning both a Bachelor of Kinesiology and Master of Health Sciences in order to share with others on their journey to mental and physical wellness the many health benefits of Barre.
“Pilates, Barre and Yoga has made a difference in my life because it has kept me moving. I was able to stay active wherever I went,” Leslie explains when asked about the significance that Barre and other low-impact workouts have had in her life. “The low impact options helped me recover through injuries and taught me the importance of listening to your body through the healing process.”
If you’ve been keeping up with us these past few weeks, it should come as no surprise when we say that your physical and mental health go hand-in-hand — frankly, it’s quite difficult to function at all to your full potential having one without the other. This is exactly why low-impact workouts like Pilates, Barre, and Yoga are so important to keeping your stress at bay.
While it’s true that any exercise or athletic sport can help decrease stress, it’s fitness movements like Pilates, Barre, and Yoga that have shown so many great signs in improving mental health simply by using mindfulness techniques to restore control and stability over your body.
“When people take my classes, I want them to know that they can start where they are and still find joy in movement. It’s a chance to connect with your body, spend some time with yourself, likely sweat a little, but come out energized with a sense of accomplishment.”
Whether it’s online or in-person, Leslie thrives in leading classes that effectively engage the physical and mental wellness of those who attend, so that they too can uncover their full potential and flourish in full control of the body they love!
“Our bodies are capable of so much and learn to adapt, so it’s important that we make sure they’re adapting in a way that lets us lead a happier and healthier life.”
We’d love to thank Leslie for joining us today in offering insight on everything that Barre and low-impact workouts have to offer!
3 Pilates Workouts to Help you Sleep
It’s easy to forget just how fundamental a good night’s rest is to getting us through the week. In fact, it’s a lot more common for us to either not sleep enough hours or simply lack the quality of sleep we need. This is especially true for students, where staying up all night to study or finish assignments is all too common during midterms.
But this doesn’t mean that a lack of rest should be a student experience. A nighttime routine before bed can be a daunting task that although requires a lot of consistency and self-control, can do wonders for productivity and performance. But how exactly do you start?
Whether it’s setting aside an electronic-free hour before bed, making yourself a caffeine-free hot drink, taking a hot bath, meditating, listening to relaxing music or sounds; or even something as simple as doing light stretches or exercises can help a ton in improving your sleep.
Which brings us to our top picks for relaxing Pilates moves that will help you wind down from the day and keep you refreshed for tomorrow!
Let’s begin!
Seated Twists
- Step One: Sit down with your legs crossed and your spine stretched straight and tall.
- Step Two: Extend your arms out in a ‘T-pose’ position.
- Step Three: Rotate your spine as far back as you can to either side before returning to the starting position. Alternate sides and make sure to keep your arms out straight and to take deep breaths throughout.
Cat and Cow
- Step One: Kneel down on your knees and hands with your back straight. You should be in a ‘table’ position.
- Step Two: Arch your back up towards the ceiling and hold.
- Step Three: Look forward as you drop your arch down so that your back is now making a ‘U’ shape. Alternate between arching your back, and dropping it as you look forward. Take deep breaths.
Classic Child’s Pose
- Step One: Sit down on your knees with your hands flat in front of you.
- Step Two: Reach your hands as far forward on the mat as you can. Your belly should be against your thighs and you should be looking towards the ground.
- Step Three: Hold this position and take a deep breath before rolling back up on your knees. Repeat.
Not so bad, right? If you’re consistent enough, and willing to set aside some time each night to practice these stretches, there’s no doubt you’ll be going to bed relaxed and ready to face tomorrow’s challenges! If you want to learn and practice even more helpful bedtime stretches, check out Pilates on Demand’s list of sleep poses!
Interested in trying out Pilates or other fitness programs? We offer a variety of Pilates and other group fitness classes included with your membership.
How to Strengthen Your Core in 5 Easy Workouts
It’s a well-known fact that one of the fundamental elements of Pilates is its focus on improving your overall postural control, stability, and balance by working to strengthen your core abdominal muscles. However, this doesn’t mean that the road to achieving great posture, strength, and balance is an easy one!
Whether you’re completely new to Pilates or just need some extra practice, this list is here to guide you through simple workouts that will both tire you out and tone your core!
1) Plank
With your chest faced towards the floor, hold yourself up from the ground by extending your arms straight out in front of you with your hands in line with your shoulders. Your legs should be stretched backwards onto your toes, and your glutes squeezed tightly to help keep your back straight and stable. Hold this position for at least 30 to 60 seconds. Try doing 3 sets if you’re brave enough!
If you want more of a challenge, alternate between lifting each leg into the air behind you, making sure to not raise them too high over your shoulders.
2) Toe Taps
Lie flat on your back with your arms resting at your sides. Raise your legs into the air, bending at the knees, and hold. You should look like you’re sitting on an invisible chair. From here, simply bring either foot down with your knees still bent, and tap your toes onto the ground before returning to starting position. Alternate between each leg for at least 30 seconds for 3 sets.
Mountain Climbers
Like the Plank, hold yourself up from the ground with your arms extended and your hands in line with your shoulders. Bring either knee as close as you can towards its corresponding elbow (ie. right knee, right elbow) and then return to your plank pose. Alternate between your right and left knees for at least 30 seconds for 3 sets.
3) Hip Dips
Lie on your side with your elbow holding you up from the ground, making sure to keep it in line with your shoulder. With your feet stacked atop one another, lift your hips off the floor and hold, before returning back to the ground. Repeat for 30 seconds in 3 sets before alternating sides.
4) Swimmer’s Pose
Lie flat on your stomach with your arms reaching out in front of you in a ‘Superman’ pose, and your legs stretched back. Your body should be in a straight, horizontal line. Lift your arms and legs off the floor and flutter them slightly up and down for at least 30 seconds in 3 sets.
Because this exercise requires that you lift your head off the ground, you want to avoid looking up out in front of you to prevent putting extra strain on your neck. Instead, look directly towards the ground so that your neck is in line with your spine.
And that’s all for our list today! If you’re looking for 5 easy workouts that will strengthen and tone your abs and core muscles, then give any of these moves a try!
If you’re interested in trying out Pilates or other fitness programs, we offer a variety of Pilates and other group fitness classes included with your membership.
How Pilates De-Stresses Your Mind
With mid-terms just around the corner, it becomes especially easy to feel stuck or overwhelmed with work. As we approach these times, it’s important to remember that your mental health is just as important as your physical health.
You’ve heard it before — Pilates is an amazing fitness practice to get into if you want to promote overall stability, balance, and strength. But, while it’s helpful to focus on the physical fitness benefits of the practice, sometimes we forget about the variety of mental benefits and therapeutic skills that Pilates has to offer.
In this week’s blog, we’ll be looking at the many ways that Pilates can help you loosen up if you find yourself in need of some relief.
Let’s begin!
Improving Bodily Awareness
Pilates is a practice that prioritizes control over your body by using specific exercises that encourage and improve awareness of your body’s movements.
It’s no secret that physical and mental wellness are closely tied when it comes to confidence and self-esteem — so when you practice having full control and awareness of the way your body moves to make you strong and stable, it not only relieves the tension in your joints and muscles, but also in those moments of feeling overwhelmed with out-of-control situations.
Exercise Releases Endorphins!
That’s right — there’s actual scientific correlation behind exercise and mental wellbeing. Various studies have suggested that intense exercise triggers a release of endorphins in the brain — the chemical responsible for relieving pain, stress, and boosting your dopamine levels.
In other words, a simple workout can quite literally alter your brain chemistry and naturally boost your mood to make you feel ready to take on the day!
Relearning How to Breathe
Whether its weightlifting or cardio, breathing correctly is the foundation of every successful exercise — which is why one of the first principles of Pilates is learn how to breathe effectively in order to feel the best results by the end of the exercise!
It might take a bit of practice to be aware and mindful of your breathing, but once you have it nailed down, you can translate it to any tense situation that requires you to take a second, slow down, and breathe.
Improving Mindfulness
Pilates is also useful for strengthening your overall mindfulness skills.
Mindfulness allows you to objectively observe how your body moves in the present moment, how every inhale and exhale enters and exits your lungs, and how that hot bead of sweat is rolling down your cheek. It’s through accepting these objective observations with complete neutrality that mindfulness is achieved — allowing you to let go of any doubts, distractions, or external stressors.
But mindfulness isn’t just for Pilates. Like a muscle, the more work you put into it, the stronger it grows. By regularly practicing and applying these skills to other areas in your life, you can find yourself taking on stressful situations with much more ease and composure than before.
So, there you have it! Not only is Pilates a fun and effective fitness activity to take part in, but it also offers many mental health benefits and skills for you to take with you throughout the day!
If you’re interested in trying out Pilates or other fitness programs, We offer a variety of Pilates and other group fitness classes included with your membership.
Yoga vs. Pilates: Which Should You Choose?
September 29, 2021
It’s no secret that Yoga and Pilates are very similar in nature — sometimes even used interchangeably among the newcomers who are only just beginning their wellness journeys.
And while both practices are relatively low-effort and work to promote strength, stability, and balance — each ultimately has its own unique history, set of principles, and end goals.
Whether you can’t decide on which one to start, or are simply confused about all the small details between the two, let’s take a look at what makes each exercise so effective in achieving your fitness goals!
Yoga
To make a long story incredibly short: Yoga is a spiritual practice that originated in India over 5000 years ago. And while today it is a fairly popular fitness lifestyle, its spiritual principles remain central to the exercise in its meditative elements that not only aid your mental wellness, but help to promote your balance, strength, and flexibility. There are also many different types of Yoga that focus on specific techniques, goals, or ideas.
At its core, Yoga is about consciousness. Yes, it is an exercise — and a sweaty one at that — but it’s also fundamentally about your presence of mind and self-awareness that will ultimately improve the overall control and confidence you have over your body and mind.
Pilates
Now that you understand the general idea of Yoga and what it means to participate in it — let’s talk about Pilates.
Unlike Yoga, Pilates was created in only the last century by a physical trainer named Joseph Pilates. That’s roughly about a 5000-year difference from the creation of Yoga! And while the time of its creation does not negate the benefits of either practice, it does allow some insight into the creator’s specific goals to be achieved from Pilates— which were strictly about the promotion of physical strength, control, and stability.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing: Pilates does not carry the same spiritual basis that Yoga embraces. While Yoga places more emphasis around ideas of consciousness, tranquility, and inner spirit; the principles of Pilates focus on a variety of physical exercises and movements such as breathing, concentration, flow, control, and posture that — while amazing for mental wellness — are more intended to improve control over your body to prevent or rehabilitate injuries.
So, if you were still on the fence on which workouts to choose or start with, you can finally ask yourself what it is you need or want the most out of your fitness journey — or, simply just give both a try and see what works for you!
5 Reasons to Add Pilates to your Agenda this semester
September 15, 2021
The return to campus has been an exciting week for all members of the Trent community! With academics, activities, and different schedules in mind, the management of stress and mental health is just as important as we adjust to an in-person learning environment after a year of exclusively virtual classrooms.
While stress is a completely normal experience — especially during the academic year — it can lead to mental health concerns that can ultimately impact your ability to thrive in the classroom, at work, or even in daily life.
Fortunately, the remedy for stress may be as simple as finding a new hobby to decompress the mind during those vigorous days of responsibilities. With Trent University’s new partnership with Pilates on Demand, students, staff, and faculty all have easy access to start up pilates and other exercises that not only aids mental and physical well-being and is virtually accessible wherever you are!
In this list, we will be exploring the 5 ways that Pilates will get you through the academic year!
1. It’s safe.
Pilates operates on two basic principles — building stability and promoting fluid movement — that function as the foundation for what is essentially every type of movement or exercise. This is what makes Pilates highly accessible for all people regardless of age, body type, and gender.
2. It’s a great workout.
On those days where your schedule is crammed with nothing but classes, work, and errands; Pilates can be an effective way to slip in a quick workout without falling behind on too many of your daily duties.
However, be forewarned! Pilates is not as simple as it looks — it can be just as strenuous as a full day at the gym, leaving you sore and sweaty by the end of a session as it helps to strengthen the muscle movements in your body.
3. It really works.
Pilates primarily targets the abdominal core muscles that help to protect both the bones and joints in your body — especially those along the spine. Working these particular muscles not only increases your overall strength and endurance, but as a result, improve your stability and ability to perform fluid, balanced movements.
4. It prevents injuries.
Muscle imbalances are often behind many preventable injuries — and everyone knows just how burdensome it can be to recover from a sprain or a tear that may render one immobile for days, weeks, or even months. This is exactly what Pilates aims to prevent.
By focusing specifically on the muscle imbalances in your body and effectively stabilizing them, Pilates provides more support, balance, and control over your movements in order to strengthen any vulnerable areas and as a result, reduce the likelihood of future injuries.
5. It’s fun!
Aside from all of its benefits, what’s most important is to simply have fun. Like any other hobby, Pilates should be an activity that you are actively looking forward to instead of being something you feel constrained or forced to do.
That being said, Pilates does not need to be an individual activity that depends on self-motivation. In fact, participating in a class full of people of all ages, sizes, and skills makes for a positive and encouraging environment that will be sure to enrich your overall physical and mental wellness throughout the academic year.
If you are in need of a hobby to keep you occupied this year, that is not only virtually accessible at any time or place but can also aid in managing and reducing the stressors in your day-to-day routine — then try the Pilates and other group fitness classes included with your membership.