We predict the top three health mega-trends in 2022 will focus on making positive shifts to our lifestyle and improving our Deep Health and not limited to only diet and fitness.
Continue readingTOP 3 Health Mega Trends In 2022
The Benefits of Building Strength
The amount of strength that can be built depends on gender, age, and inherited physical attributes. While strong muscles are essential for any athletic endeavour, strong muscles can benefit everyone in some way.
Continue readingHip, Knee & Ankle Issues
The most common injury, ankle sprain or simply the lack of optimum range of motion in your ankle can set a series of imbalances and dysfunctions in your body. The most common of all is change in gait pattern, which eventually can make yours legs week, causing hip and back pain. The most acquired prolonged sitting habits are very common among high school teenagers, office or desk-job develop the joint pain for being inactive. On the contrary the cyclists, runners, sprinters, gymnasts, high jump athletes and other sports players suffer from overuse injuries of either one of the three important joints in the lower body.
If you are looking for a simple, more effective way to deal with your knee issues, hip impingements and sciatica started due to prolonged sitting habits, bad movements techniques, or posture; come and get a free assessment and movement screen or start with one of the classes from the recommendations below to help overcome your knee, ankle or hip issues.
Remember, every part of your body is inter-connected and re-building that connection takes time and effort.
Hip, Knee & Ankle Issues (Lower Body Dysfunction)
MUST ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/week)
MAY ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/month)
Lower Back Issues
Lower back and sacrum issues are very common among office or desk-job, cyclists, runners, high jump athletes at some point in their lives tend to develop lower back pain and stiffness due to repetitive movements in the single plane.
If you are looking for a simple, more effective way to deal with your back issues started due to prolonged sitting habits, bad movements techniques, or posture; or inappropriately body position for lifting and carrying your newborn baby, come and get a free assessment and movement screen or start with one of the classes from the recommendations below to help overcome your back issues.
Lower Back Issues (Core Dysfunction)
MUST ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/week)
MAY ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/month)
Neck & Shoulder Issues
Neck & Shoulder issues are very common among office or desk-jobs and sports players who play racket games and basketball.
If you are going through all sorts of neck and shoulder issues either happening due to sports or yoga injuries, misalignment of the joints, bad movements techniques or posture; lifting and carrying your newborn baby, come and get a free assessment and movement screen or start with one of the classes from the recommendations below to help overcome your neck shoulder issues.
Neck and Shoulder Issues (Upper Body Dysfunction)
MUST ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/week)
MAY ATTEND ANY OF THE CLASSES BELOW (2-3 times/month)
8 Ways To Bust Training Plateaus
The moment when you are not progressing anymore in your workouts is called a plateau. There are many reasons why this may happen, but luckily there are also plenty of solutions to get over it.
Continue readingWhy Should You Go to Pilates?
With seemingly half the celebrities around the world getting their pictures taken leaving Pilates classes, and perhaps your friends and neighbors reducing aches and pains and becoming fit with Pilates, you might be wondering about Pilates lessons for yourself.
What do you expect from a Pilates class?
Most people will answer with something vaguely along the lines of “a core workout”. The truth is that Pilates works more than just your core — your entire body workout and a mindful way of exercising your muscles.
Restructure Your Core
Your core isn’t just your abs — it’s your entire body from your diaphragm all the way to your pelvic floor. Pilates can help make your abs stronger or give you better muscular endurance in your core. Although the focus of a Pilates class is primarily on your core, your inner unit “powerhouse“, the class at Abbysan centre will also work your back, chest, arms, legs, neck, and feet!
Postural Balance
Technology has created a generation of back and neck pain. Pilates programs are praised by everyone from athletes to office workers for their ability to develop strength and correct posture in the key areas of the body such as hips, lower back, upper back, and neck.
By releasing the typically overactive areas of the chest, upper shoulders, thoracic spine (upper back), and hip flexor muscles as well as activating and strengthening the gluteals, abdominals, and shoulder stabilizers will help to counteract the effects of slouching.
All of this significantly improves dynamic stability – the ability of the body to hold itself in better alignment for longer, maintaining an upright posture, stability, and responsiveness.
Rebuild Muscle Tone. Not Bulk.
Celebrities consistently credit Pilates as the reason for their toned muscles. It makes your arms lean and toned. A great butt is a great asset for everyone its helps in maintaining pelvic stability, knee alignment, power in jumps, speed when running and make your buttocks look good in tights of course. Pilates builds longer, leaner muscles making you stand taller and look slimmer!
Regain Sensory-Motor Control.
Pilates includes balance and standing work. Most of us don’t move our spines in all different directions. A Pilates class will take your spine and neck through a gentle various range of motions (flexion, rotation, extension, and lateral flexion). If you feel tight from sitting or standing all day, these movements will get you loose and limber again.
We will activate the muscles in isolation and then progressively work them in more compound and dynamic functional movements (movements that you are likely to perform during your daily life), this will help you regain the control over your movements.
Equipment or No equipment… it works
All kinds of exercises are done on the reformer to promote length, strength, flexibility, and balance. The reformer is the key to achieving long, strong muscles without bulk. The exercises on reformer provide enough resistance and movement variety to help build strong bones.
Yet, you don’t need equipment — you can do a Pilates workout on Mat anywhere. Although Pilates can use a full studio, it can also be done just with your body weight. We can put together a custom pilates routine for your holiday hotel rooms. Let us know!
Dancers and Celebrities love it.
Pilates is the exercise of dancers. Think of the bodies you see in movies or on the stage — if you want long, lean muscles like the dancers, then this is the workout for you. Celebrities consistently credit Pilates as the reason for their toned muscles. It makes your arms lean and toned.
Best fit for Prenatal or Postnatal.
Not only important for mums and mums-to-be, Pilates will strengthen your pelvic floor, which is a vital muscle for everyone. Your pelvic floor gives you control over your bladder and bowel, but can be weakened by childbirth, obesity and also if you lift a lot of heavy weights.
Athlete and Sport’s Conditioning
Pilates was initially developed as a rehabilitative tool. Joseph Pilates was a German gymnast, born in 1883, who dedicated his life to teaching his exercising techniques, believing that poor posture goes hand-in-hand with poor health. He believed that by having awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, we can strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles, and reduce stress.
Elderly are not exceptions.
Elderly people have many risk factors due to aging and lack of exercise.
Decrease in balance, gait disabilities, and falls are most common and greatly affect their mobility in day-to-day life.
Balance ability is a very complicated function that maintains positions through diverse functional elements, and intervention of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. In general, various sensory-motor neurons interact in response to changes in gravity, the base of support, vision, and physical stability, and the external environment, resulting in instability of the body.
Mat-based Pilates helps elderly males and females improve trunk stability, dynamic balance, and significantly decrease the sway length and sway speed.
Elderly are not exceptions.
Elderly people have many risk factors due to aging and lack of exercise.
Decrease in balance, gait disabilities, and falls are most common and greatly affect their mobility in day-to-day life.
Balance ability is a very complicated function that maintains positions through diverse functional elements, and intervention of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. In general, various sensory-motor neurons interact in response to changes in gravity, the base of support, vision, and physical stability, and the external environment, resulting in instability of the body.
Mat-based Pilates helps elderly males and females improve trunk stability, dynamic balance, and significantly decrease the sway length and sway speed.
Clinical Pilates Is Beneficial In;
- Chronic Low back pain (LBP)
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD)
- Post Menstrual Syndrome (PMS)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Lymphedema after Breast Cancer Treatment
- Spinal Deformities
- Degenerative Disorders like Arthritis, Osteoporosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis, etc.
Supervised Under Dedicated Instructor.
The ideal way to keep up with your training is to have an instructor design a bespoke program of exercises for you to keep up with in between your sessions in the studio, and plan a review session every so often to make sure your technique is still sound and you are getting the most out of your training and in time you’ll be amazed by the results.
Our instructors are certified Pilates instructors as well as hold bachelor’s degrees in physiotherapy and naturopathy. We can create bespoke rehab and exercise programs for our clients with injuries or postural issues.
Word Of Caution.
- If you have an injury, consider doing a few one-on-one sessions with one of our Pilates specialists first to learn the basics. On a personal level, always remember the rule that if something hurts, don’t do it.
- Attending classes throughout pregnancy also significantly helps and speeds up the process of getting your body back in shape after childbirth. However, as with any type of exercise, always check with your doctor first, and remember to tell your trainer that you are pregnant before commencing class.
Abbysan Studio is located at the entrance of the boat lagoon in Phuket, offering highly effective body sculpting pilates workouts.
Based on various studies indicate people who practice Pilates with good technique over time see the following benefits:
- Improved flexibility and mobility.
- Trunk stability.
- Core and pelvic floor strength.
- Injury prevention.
- Improved posture.
- Improved coordination and athletic performance in some sports.
We feel most rewarded when our clients achieve their goals, especially those who became pain-free or having more ease of movement.
You can also visit the following research links for your reference
Pilates: how does it work and who needs it? [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3666467/]
The Effects of Pilates Mat Exercise on the Balance Ability of Elderly Females.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944308/]
Effects of modified Pilates on the variability of inter-joint coordination during walking in the elderly. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5276783/]
Effects of Clinical Pilates Exercises on Patients Developing Lymphedema after Breast Cancer Treatment. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5351459/]
How to go that extra mile – Cyclists help post
In a few instances, recreational activities and work habits may stress the musculature in such a manner as to make the body stiff, limit the range of motion in joints, and may lead to back pain. Soccer players, for instance, develop an increased tone in their hip flexors from kicking the ball and running.
Cyclists often show an increase in the size and strength of their quadriceps and gastrocnemius (calf) muscles due to the repetitive bending and straightening of the knee. Their hip flexors are often weak in comparison to soccer players or runners. In this post, I want to share a few things you can do as a cyclist to go that extra mile.
Gastrocnemius (Calf) - Stretch
Quadriceps (Thighs) - Stretch
Psoas & Abdominal (Core) - Strengthening
Upper Back - Strengthening
Hydrating your body 24 hours before your cycling session will help you cope with that outdoor heat better and reduce chances of fatigue due to loss of water. If you are a professional you know you can’t really drink lots of water during your cycling so your best best bet is to prepare a day before. Also Adding beetroot in the form of salad or juice helps with better oxidation in your muscles and keeps them active for a longer period of time. Let’s try and let me know how if this works for you.
Contact Us, if you need help creating a personalized program for you via Zoom Call or In-person.
WHAT TO DO WHEN IN PAIN
Pilates is a style of training created by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s as a form of rehabilitation. It’s safe and perfect for injured athletes, new moms with a weak core, and people who have arthritis, body aches and back pains, etc.
Pilates’ entire concept revolves around helping bedridden people get strong and healthy enough to move smoothly and without pain.
That makes Pilates one of the best forms of exercise for people who have led sedentary lives for years. Start Pilates even if you’ve hardly exercised before. It’s advised to start Pilates rather than jumping into a strenuous CrossFit or HIIT program.
Benefit 1: Pilates exercises will align your body and improves balance. Series of 34 Mat pilates exercises or exercises on the reformer creates balance in the musculoskeletal system.
Most people do not do enough exercise. The ones who do exercise regularly either are not doing them correctly or doing too many of the same movements, leading to dysfunction and misalignment in the body that results in aches, pains, stiffness, or impaired movements.
Just after a 10-session of Pilates, most people notice the change in their posture and no longer have a belly. Their abdominal muscles have developed enough strength to hold the organs. As a result, there is less pressure on the back, which leads to relief from backaches.
Benefit 2: Pilates improves flexibility
It’s inevitable to get tighter and less flexible as we age. This is mostly due to a sedentary lifestyle that makes us move within a limited range of motion. Since the body doesn’t get a chance to move much, we become less supple and flexible. Pilates exercises correct all that and improve your flexibility.
Benefits 3: Pilates will make you stronger
Muscle atrophy is a part of aging. If you do not engage your muscles enough, it will wither, and you will lose strength. Pilates exercises on the mat utilize your body weight as a form of resistance and help develop a stronger core, abdominal, and back muscles. We also offer pilates exercises on reformer machines to help you tone and safely strengthen your muscles faster.
Just after 20-30 Pilates training over 3-month’s time, you’ll notice more definition in your muscles and an increase in overall strength. You’ll be able to execute the moves fluidly and hold the poses without quivering or trembling.
Even people who have not exercised in years can start doing Pilates and move at their own pace. There is no rush with this style of training. You will not pant, gasp or end up breathless from intense cardio.
Pilates exercises consist of slow, controlled movements that allow you to progress slowly but surely. If you’ve been inactive for a very long time, are recovering from an illness, cancer, or want to resume your sports and think of embarking on an exercise program, Pilates is the best method to start.
Come and give it a try with professional and certified Pilates instructors who will encourage and help you get started. You will enjoy it so much and wish you’ve had started earlier. Get on board now.