The Holidays can be very stressful and energetic time of year. Its important to remember to continue to exercise as you would normally, and even more so if you are looking to trim off a few pounds before those big holiday get togethers. Or just to make room for a Holiday meal. What ever the reason Kristen at Santa Barbara Pilates and Fitness can create a well balanced exercise plan to help meet your health and body goals this Holiday Season.
Just give us a call and we’ll create a Holiday work-out plan just for you!
(805) 563 – 8065
Toll free 1-888-927-9300
Happy Holidays 2011.
Santa Barbara Pilates and Fitness.
Pilates – TRX – ROM – Bosu – Gyrotonic – Cardio – Personal One on One Fitness
If the approaching holidays make you want to overload on eggnog, we say put down the glass and pick up your TRX Suspension Trainer. Exercise is the perfect antidote to your holiday stress, and not just any exercise but the relaxing and restorative movements of Pilates. In this video, we’ve enlisted the help of Kirsten Gerding, a certified Pilates Instructor and TRX Trainer, to show us the following three Pilates-based moves you can perform on your TRX.
TRX Stroking the Globe Benefits: Activates abdominals and core stabilizer muscles, improves shoulder joint mobility
Adjust your TRX to the fully shortened position, stand facing away from the anchor point, your body centered with the anchor point, arms extended across from your chest, feet externally rotated, core engaged. To perform the movement, roll your body forward, keeping your arms straight, creating full extension from your toes to finger tips, planking your entire body. As you start to roll yourself back to the start position, open your arms wide in a clockwise circular motion, keeping your arms straight and then bring your arms back together to the start position. Repeat the exercise for six reps, and then reverse the arm movement to counter clockwise for another six reps.
TRX Hundreds Benefits: Strengthens core muscles, improves breathing and coordination
Adjust your TRX to the fully lengthened position, lie on the ground face up, with your hips directly under the anchor point, hands in the foot cradles, extend yours arms straight towards your feet. Bring your legs into a table top position, with knees over hips, bent at a 90 degree angle, ensuring your back is flat against the ground. Inhale, nod your head forward, pressing down into the handles, bringing yourself into an upper ab curl. Inhale as you press your hands down and out for a count of three, and exhale back in for a count of three to the start position, maintaining the upper ab curl the entire time. To regress the exercise, place both feet on the ground; to progress, extend legs straight up. Perform the exercise for 10 reps.
TRX Swan Series Benefits: Strengthens abdominals, back, glute and hamstring muscles
With your TRX still fully lengthened, lie on the ground facing away from the anchor point, arms extended out from the shoulders and reaching overhead. Keep your shoulders down and back. With feet turned out, hips anchored to the ground, press down into the handles, lifting your chest off the ground by using your lower back muscles. Repeat the extension 10 times, keeping the core tight and hips down. Continue the series by adding arm circle or “butterflies,” by pressing your chest off the ground, driving the arms out and around. Repeat 10 times and then reverse the direction of your arm circles. Complete the series by adding small flutter kicks or “swimmers,” keeping your hips down and chest lifted as you engage your glutes throughout the movement. To finish, lower your legs and chest down and release the TRX, pressing yourself back into Child’s Pose.
In Pilates, it’s important to focus on your breathing, so as you watch the video again, be sure to listen to Kirsten’s cues for breathing technique as it will help you to further maximize the benefit of these exercises. If you want to learn more great TRX Pilates movements and you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, be sure to check out our upcoming TRX Pilates classes to be offered at the TRX Training Center in Russian Hill, where Ms. Gerding herself will be instructing.
Recommended by podiatrists, medical doctors and yoga and Pilates instructors alike, this health-friendly sandal incorporates toe separators to allow for freedom of movement. This helps the bones and muscles in the feet to become more mobile, as naturally intended. So you’re re-training your toes to spread out as you walk, which in turn, helps improve posture, balance and overall foot health. Also great for keeping your freshly painted pedicure intact!
* – Proprietary patented technology allows for proper heel support and gentle spread of the toes providing alignment, stability and balance.
* – Countless satisfied customers have told us about Yoga Sandals® providing relief from leg, hip and spinal discomfort, while having the ease of a sandal in and out of the house.
* – Good for the function of the feet, good for the body’s structure, and a great added asset, smudge free pedicures!
* – Durable, non-skid rubber soles with soft, non-abrasive uppers, and an inconspicuous charm loop to express your sense of style. *note* charms are sold separately.
* – Re-useable and washable.
Goitrogens are naturally-occurring substances that can interfere with function of the thyroid gland. Goitrogens get their name from the term “goiter,” which means an enlargement of the thyroid gland. If the thyroid gland is having difficulty making thyroid hormone, it may enlarge as a way of trying to compensate for this inadequate hormone production. “Goitrogens,” like circumstances that cause goiter, cause difficulty for the thyroid in making its hormone.
Foods that contain goitrogens
There are two general categories of foods that have been associated with disrupted thyroid hormone production in humans: soybean-related foods and cruciferous vegetables. In addition, there are a few other foods not included in these categories – such as peaches, strawberries and millet – that also contain goitrogens. The table below shows a list of some foods that contain goitrogens.
Soybean-related foods
Included in the category of soybean-related foods are soybeans themselves as well as soy extracts, and foods made from soy, including tofu and tempeh. While soy foods share many common ingredients, it is the isoflavones in soy that have been associated with decreased thyroid hormone output. Isoflavones are naturally-occurring substances that belong to the flavonoid family of nutrients. Flavonoids, found in virtually all plants, are pigments that give plants their amazing array of colors. Most research studies in the health sciences have focused on the beneficial properties of flavonoids, and these naturally-occurring phytonutrients have repeatedly been shown to be highly health-supportive.
The link between isoflavones and decreased thyroid function is, in fact, one of the few areas in which flavonoid intake has called into question as problematic. Isoflavones like genistein appear to reduce thyroid hormone output by blocking activity of an enzyme called thyroid peroxidase. This enzyme is responsible for adding iodine onto the thyroid hormones. (Thyroid hormones must typically have three or four iodine atoms added on to their structure in order to function properly.)
Cruciferous vegetables
A second category of foods associated with disrupted thyroid hormone production is the cruciferous food family. Foods belonging to this family are called “crucifers,” and include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, mustard, rutabagas, kohlrabi, and turnips. Isothiocyanates are the category of substances in crucifers that have been associated with decreased thyroid function. Like the isoflavones, isothiocyanates appear to reduce thyroid function by blocking thyroid peroxidase, and also by disrupting messages that are sent across the membranes of thyroid cells.
Examples of foods that contain goitrogens
Cruciferous vegetables including:
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard
Rutabaga
Turnips
Millet
Peaches
Peanuts
Radishes
Soybean and soy products, including tofu
Spinach
Strawberries
Goitrogens and health
In the absence of thyroid problems, there is no research evidence to suggest that goitrogenic foods will negatively impact your health. In fact, the opposite is true: soy foods and cruciferous vegetables have unique nutritional value, and intake of these foods has been associated with decreased risk of disease in many research studies. That’s one of the reasons we’ve included both types of food among the World’s Healthiest Foods!
Because carefully controlled research studies have yet to take place on the relationship between goitrogenic foods and thyroid hormone deficiency, healthcare practitioners differ greatly on their perspectives as to whether a person who has thyroid problems, and notably a thyroid hormone deficiency, should limit their intake of goitrogenic foods. Most practitioners use words like “overconsumption” or “excessive” to describe the kind of goitrogen intake that would be a problem for individuals with thyroid hormone deficiency. Here the goal is not to eliminate goitrogenic foods from the meal plan, but to limit intake so that it falls into a reasonable range.
Limiting goitrogenic intake is often much more problematic with soy foods than with cruciferous vegetables, since soy appears in so many combination and packaged food products in hidden form. Ingredients like textured vegetable protein (TVP) and isolated soy concentrate may appear in foods that would rarely be expected to contain soy. A standard, one cup serving of cruciferous vegetables 2-3 times per week, and a standard, 4-ounce serving of tofu twice a week is likely to be tolerated by many individuals with thyroid hormone deficiency. It’s worth it to try and include these foods in a meal plan because of their strong nutritional value and great track record in preventing many kinds of health problems.
The effect of cooking on goitrogens
Although research studies are limited in this area, cooking does appear to help inactivate the goitrogenic compounds found in food. Both isoflavones (found in soy foods) and isothiocyanates (found in cruciferous vegetables) appear to be heat-sensitive, and cooking appears to lower the availability of these substances. In the case of isothiocyanates in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, as much as one third of this goitrogenic substance may be deactivated when broccoli is boiled in water.
Practical tips
Although for many people goitrogens do not seem to pose a health concern, certain individuals who have thyroid problems may be advised by their healthcare practitioner to limit excessive consumption of foods that contain these compounds. As cooking seems to help to inactivate the goitrogenic compounds found in food, it seems reasonable to conclude that for individuals with deficient thyroid hormone production, steaming of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli makes good sense, as does consumption of tofu in cooked versus raw form.
References
Conaway, C. C.; Getahun, S. M.; Liebes, L. L.; Pusateri, D. J.; Topham, D. K.; Botero-Omary, M., and Chung, F. L. Disposition of glucosinolates and sulforaphane in humans after ingestion of steamed and fresh broccoli. Nutr Cancer. 2000; 38(2):168-78.
Fowke, J. H.; Fahey, J. W.; Stephenson, K. K., and Hebert, J. R. Using isothiocyanate excretion as a biological marker of Brassica vegetable consumption in epidemiological studies: evaluating the sources of variability. Public Health Nutr. 2001 Jun; 4(3):837-46.
Getahun, S. M. and Chung, F. L. Conversion of glucosinolates to isothiocyanates in humans after ingestion of cooked watercress. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1999 May; 8(5):447-51.
Liggins, J.; Bluck, L. J.; Runswick, S.; Atkinson, C.; Coward, W. A., and Bingham, S. A. Daidzein and genistein contents of vegetables. Br J Nutr. 2000 Nov; 84(5):717-25.
Toda T, Uesugi T, Hirai K, Nukaya H, Tsuji K, Ishida H. New 6-O-acyl isoflavone glycosides from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis (natto). I. 6-O-succinylated isoflavone glycosides and their preventive effects on bone loss in ovariectomized rats fed a calcium-deficient diet.Biol Pharm Bull 1999 Nov;22(11):1193-201
We are considering relocating our full featured Pilates studio to the Oregon Coast. Please answer the questions below to help us locate your new Fitness studio in the Florence, Bookings or Gold Beach Oregon area.
Note: the Peerless Hotel in Ashland is also participating in this promotion.
From the Sierras to the Smokies, from “sea to shining sea” and all the wild places in between, America’s wilderness is an indelible part of our national heritage and an important legacy to pass on to our children.
Pristine, undeveloped wilderness is important – not only in its own right, but for the clean air and water, recreation, and wildlife habitat it provides all of us.
But these wild places are constantly under pressure and need protection in order to thrive.
And now there is a new program that makes it easy for winter travelers to support those remaining wilderness areas – WinterGreen Vacations.
The idea is simple. Stay at WildSpring Guest Habitat in Port Orford, Oregon) from January through March, 2010, and they will donate 2% of your lodging of two-day stays or longer to The Wilderness Society.
The beta-test of the program is starting with a select group of 17 small, eco-friendly and independently owned inns and B&Bs in 11 states across the country. The goal is be national in 2011, with hopefully thousands of such eco-sensitive lodging facilities participating.
WildSpring Guest Habitat is a small, eco-friendly resort overlooking the ocean in the southern Oregon coast, offering luxurious accommodations in a naturally beautiful environment. Eco-conscious since their initial planning stages, they are as proud of the fact they have a zero carbon footprint through offsets, as they are of the fact they’ve been recommended twice in the New York Times this past year. They are also a Select Registry Inn, which represents only 400 quality assured, inspected inns and B&Bs in North America.)
“We are all committed to protecting these wild, beautiful areas of our country,” said Michelle Duarte, owner of WildSpring Guest Habitat, who developed this program. “And we are honored to work with The Wilderness Society in what we hope will become a major annual program generating strong financial support for their outstanding work.”
Founded in 1935, The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. From writing and passing the landmark Wilderness Act to winning lasting protection for more than 109 million acres of permanent wilderness across the country to date, The Wilderness Society is America’s premier public lands conservation organization. TWS and its 500,000 members and supporters are dedicated to protecting America’s wilderness and to developing a nationwide network of these iconic wild lands through public education, scientific analysis and advocacy.
“The Wilderness Society is always looking for innovative opportunities to increase public awareness and generate support for America’s wild places,” said Sally Adams, Vice-President of Communications and Marketing, The Wilderness Society. “We’re very excited about working with WinterGreen Vacations to pilot what could become an important program to help people not only enjoy this country’s beautiful wilderness areas, but to support them in a direct way.”
“We’re in the middle of the south Oregon coast, a wild, naturally beautiful area, including the beautiful Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a spectacular place that’s very popular with visitors, even in the winter, says Michelle. “We are excited by a chance to support this American treasure through WinterGreen.” WildSpring Guest Habitat: www.wildspring.com
The Wilderness Society: www.wilderness.org For more information about WildSpring Guest Habitat please contact:
The South Coast – From America’s Wild Rivers Coast” to the “Heart of the Dunes,” the South Coast offers an unspoiled coastal experience filled with windsurfing, fishing and exploring the most accessible and spectacular beaches in Oregon.
The Valley – From California, you first descend into the lush Rogue Valley, a region made famous by the nationally designated “Wild and Scenic” Rogue River. Meet friendly people, discover diverse cities, attractions and enjoy beautiful country.
The High Country – In this high desert region, Crater Lake nestles like a jewel. Come experience the Oregon Outback from historic Lake County to the Cascades of Klamath County.
Southern Oregon is home to world-class fishing and rafting rivers, mountains for skiing, biking and hiking, and green valleys that produce award-winning wines. It’s also home to North America’s deepest lake and Oregon’s only National Park, Crater Lake, which graces the back of Oregon’s state quarter.
From the valleys to the high desert, wildlife and nightlife share space. Southern Oregon is home to a pair of well-known attractions – the Britt Music Festival and Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival – and to dozens of museums, art galleries, theaters, antique malls and tax-free shopping.
A ribbon of National Scenic Byways await, just a short drive from the California border. Follow the Redwood Highway to Grants Pass and the legendary Rogue and Umpqua rivers, where you’ll find river adventures, jetboating, rafting, fishing and much more.
Discover Crater Lake National Park on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway and experience the mountain lakes and world-class birding of the Klamath Basin and Oregon’s Outback region.
History buffs will recognize the region as the site of Oregon’s 19th-Century gold rush, an era preserved within the boundaries of Jacksonville, a National Historic Landmark town. Visit the “Heart of the Dunes” on Oregon’s south coast, and experience America’s Wild Rivers Coast.
What’s all the fuss about? Pilates seems to have burst on the scene out of nowhere in the last 10 years. After decades as the workout of the elite, Pilates has entered the fitness mainstream. What’s the fascinating store behind how Pilates began, and why the recent “overnight success”? Here’s a brief look at its history.
How Pilates Began
Joe went to England in 1912, where he worked as a self-defense instructor for detectives at Scotland Yard. At the outbreak of World War I, Joe was interned as an “enemy alien” with other German nationals. During his internment, Joe refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise. He rigged springs to hospital beds, enabling bedridden patients to exercise against resistance, an innovation that led to his later equipment designs. An influenza epidemic struck England in 1918, killing thousands of people, but not a single one of Joe’s trainees died. This, he claimed, testified to the effectiveness of his system.
After his release, Joe returned to Germany. His exercise method gained favor in the dance community, primarily through Rudolf von Laban, who created the form of dance notation most widely used today. Hanya Holm adopted many of Joe’s exercises for her modern dance curriculum, and they are still part of the “Holm Technique.” When German officials asked Joe to teach his fitness system to the army, he decided to leave Germany for good.
The Pilates movement gains in popularity – from Europe to the U.S.
In 1926, Joe emigrated to the United States. During the voyage he met Clara, whom he later married. Joe and Clara opened a fitness studio in New York, sharing an address with the New York City Ballet.
By the early 1960s, Joe and Clara could count among their clients many New York dancers. George Balanchine studied “at Joe’s,” as he called it, and also invited Pilates to instruct his young ballerinas at the New York City Ballet.
“Pilates” was becoming popular outside of New York as well. As the New York Herald Tribune noted in 1964, “in dance classes around the United States, hundreds of young students limber up daily with an exercise they know as a pilates, without knowing that the word has a capital P, and a living, right-breathing namesake.”
His students begin to teach
While Joe was still alive, only two of his students, Carola Trier and Bob Seed, are known to have opened their own studios. Trier, who had an extensive dance background, found her way to the United States by becoming a performing contortionist, after fleeing a Nazi holding camp in France. She found Joe Pilates in 1940, when a non-stage injury pre-empted her performing career. Joe Pilates assisted Trier in opening her own studio in the late 1950s. Joe and Clara remained close friends with Trier until their deaths.
Bob Seed was another story. A former hockey player turned “Pilates” enthusiast, Seed opened a studio across town from Joe and tried to take away some of Joe’s clients by opening very early in the morning. According to John Steel, one day Joe visited Seed with a gun and warned Seed to get out of town. Seed went.
The second generation of Pilates teachers
When Joe passed away in 1967, he left no will and had designated no line of succession for the “Pilates” work to carry on. Nevertheless, his work would remain. Clara continued to operate what was known as the “Pilates” Studio on Eighth Avenue in New York, where Romana Kryzanowska became the director around 1970. Kryzanowska had studied with Joe and Clara in the early 1940s and then, after a 15-year hiatus spent in Peru, returned to renew her studies.
Several students of Joe and Clara went on to open their own studios. Ron Fletcher was a Martha Graham dancer who studied and consulted with Joe from the 1940s on, in connection with a chronic knee ailment. Fletcher opened his studio in Los Angeles in 1970 and attracted many Hollywood stars. Clara was particularly enamored with Ron and she gave her blessing to him to carry on the “Pilates” work and name. Like Carola Trier, Fletcher brought some innovations and advancements to the “Pilates” work. His evolving variations on “Pilates” were inspired both by his years as a Martha Graham dancer and by another mentor, Yeichi Imura.
Kathy Grant and Lolita San Miguel were also students of Joe and Clara who became teachers. Grant took over the direction at the Bendel’s studio in 1972, while San Miguel went on to teach Pilates at Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1967, just before Joe’s death, both Grant and San Miguel were awarded degrees by the State University of New York to teach “Pilates.” These two are believed to be the only “Pilates” practitioners ever certified officially by Joe.
Other students of Joe and Clara who opened their own studios include Eve Gentry, Bruce King, Mary Bowen and Robert Fitzgerald. Eve Gentry, a dancer who taught at the Pilates Studio in New York from 1938 through 1968, also taught “Pilates” in the early 1960s at New York University’s Theater Department. After leaving New York, she opened her own studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A charter faculty member of the High School for the Performing Arts, Gentry was also a co-founder of the Dance Notation Bureau. In 1979, she was given the “Pioneer of Modern Dance Award” by Bennington College.
Bruce King trained for many years with Joseph and Clara Pilates and was a member of the Merce Cunningham Company, Alwyn Nikolais Company, and his own Bruce King Dance Company. In the mid-1970s King opened his own studio at 160 W. 73rd Street in New York City.
Mary Bowen, a Jungian analyst who studied with Joe in the mid-1960s, began teaching Pilates in 1975 and founded “Your Own Gym” in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Robert Fitzgerald opened his studio on West 56th Street in the 1960s, where he had a large clientele from the dance community.
Joe continued to train clients at his studio until his death in 1967, at the age of 87. In the 1970s, Hollywood celebrities discovered Pilates via Ron Fletcher’s studio in Beverly Hills.
Where the stars go, the media follows. In the late 1980s, the media began to cover Pilates extensively. The public took note, and the Pilates business boomed. “I’m fifty years ahead of my time,” Joe once claimed. He was right. No longer the workout of the elite, Pilates has entered the fitness mainstream. Today, over 10 million Americans practice Pilates, and the numbers continue to grow.
Our Friends at Lone Star Production / AprilAdamstv.com talk about working for Beachbody as a producer and falling in love with products she has worked with.
Drinking the “juice”
As many of you know- or at least I hope you know after browsing my website- I am a freelance producer & writer for Beachbody, a health & fitness company specializing in workout videos and supplements. You’ve probably seen one of their infomercials on late-night TV. “P90X” is one of their more popular DVD’s. On the Infomercial, trainer extraodinaire Tony Horton promises you’ll get “ripped in 90 days” if you follow his extreme workout plan.
Well, I’ve never been a workout fanatic. I’ve always just done “enough” to keep a healthy figure and weight. Working out for me has always been a “have to”, not a “want to”. But then comes along Beachbody. After years of doing a variety of videos, promotions, commercials, TV shows for a slew of different vendors and advertisers, I’m usually the first to sign up for the “product of the day”. I once did a TV spot for GE front-load washer and dryers. The next month, I ran out and bought a set for myself. On another production shoot, I discovered the power of Oxiclean. I now use this cleaner for every spot and stain in my house. Now, I’m on the Beachbody bandwagon. Suddenly, I’m fascinated with working out! P90x has become my most recent “favorite product”.
Working for Beachbody as a producer has afforded me the chance to hear so many people’s personal success stories; many of these people are making drastic changes in their lives. People are getting off diabetes medication just by working out and eating right. They are losing hundreds of pounds without surgery. They are reaching out to others in their circle of friends and creating huge networks of support to keep each other focused and engaged in their health. Every week, I get sent new material to write; or I go and interview these people and hear their story first hand. As a result- it’s rubbing off on me! I can’t seem to help myself; all of a sudden I’m craving my next workout with Tony. It’s sort of like drinking the juice that everyone is swearing by and loving it despite that fact it tastes terrible!! These workouts are HARD. They hurt like HELL. They are impossibly frustrating because Tony challenges you do to things you never thought you could do (many of which I still can’t…) Any other time in my life, I would have said “forget this”. Workouts like that would have sent me running for the nearest Mexican restaurant for a plate of enchiladas to make me forget about the torture. Yet, I’m visualizing what this body will look like if I just keep “pushing play”- a favorite tag line of Beachbody’s. Obviously, the results are not in on this one. I’m still a work in progress. But, I have shed the final few pounds of my pregnancy weight thanks to P90X. If you want to check it out for yourself, go to www.beachbody.com
Ok… enough of my free promotion for Beachbody. Now I have to go workout!
Southern Oregon is home to world-class fishing and rafting rivers, mountains for skiing, biking and hiking, and green valleys that produce award-winning wines. It’s also home to North America’s deepest lake and Oregon’s only National Park, Crater Lake, which graces the back of Oregon’s state quarter.
Joseph Pilates and the History of Pilates
