Archive for the ‘Sports Pilates’ Category
Monday, August 30th, 2010
 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.
Tags: Brookings, Gold Beach, Oregon Coast Pilates, oregon pilates
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Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Pilates and Golf.
Pilates and Golf
by Catherine Fiscella, MSPT
Tight chest muscles. Reduced flexibility in the torso. Strained shoulders and a sore back. Unfortunately, that’s the description of many amateur and weekend golfers. Golfers habitually bend and twist, bend and twist–all the while straining their backs and shoulders, forming muscle imbalances and inviting injury. What if we could change how our clients feel on the golf course? What if we could help them utilize the force of trunk rotation instead of the brute force of aching muscles to drive a golf ball?
Incorporating Pilates movements into a golfer’s exercise regimen is a sure-fire way to increase freedom of movement, build core strength, enhance performance and reduce risk of injury. As Pilates professionals we are not in a position to be “swing doctors,” but we can facilitate increases in range of motion and torso strength to enable a golfer to perform a superior swing. Understanding how the principles of Pilates can assist in the alignment, strength, mental focus and flexibility of golf enthusiasts can improve your skills when working with this population.
Golf Muscle Basics
A golfer’s healthy posture begins with full-body strength, flexibility and the maintenance of muscle balance. Players need strength in the upper- and lower-body musculature and the postural and rotational muscles. They also need to be mindful of muscular symmetry (Archambault 2000). Asymmetry is pervasive among golfers; the shoulder, biceps, forearm and upper back tend to develop more on a golfer’s dominant side. The stronger muscles are tighter, while the weaker muscles are more flexible (Baptiste & Mendola 1999). Many golfers desire a better bilateral balance in their musculature, as do most one-sided athletes (for example, baseball pitchers and tennis players).
An efficient golf swing requires full range of motion of the spine and ribs; shoulder external rotators, adductors and abductors; forearm pronators and supinators; and wrist extensors and radial deviators. Flexibility increases the range through which golfers can swing and reduces the frequency of tears and strains in ligaments and tendons (Garrett 1996).
While flexibility enables motion to occur, sufficient strength of the posterior shoulder muscles is essential for club control during the swing phase. The abdominals, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi are used in concert to stabilize the trunk and dissipate forces. Professional golfers use their hips for power, as the hip musculature is very active during the golf swing. Hip rotators are extremely important during the downswing, when the abductors and adductors act in a stabilizing role to maintain balance throughout the movement. In the absence of strong hip rotator musculature, the low back and arms must make up the work, potentially causing back strain (Archambault 2000). A balanced, flexible and strong body is the foundation a serious golfer needs to take his game to the next level.
The Principles of Pilates
Pilates strengthens the core, increases flexibility and builds stability within the pelvis and torso. Pilates requires concentration, control and the ability to stabilize the torso effectively while the extremities are moving. Using Pilates exercises to strengthen your center, or “powerhouse,” will help lengthen the torso and improve posture. Strengthening of the core will also reduce the incidence of back pain (Trainor & Trainor 2004). The concentration needed to demonstrate fluidity of movement during Pilates exercises can improve a golfer’s mental game as well as her physical game.
Pilates Exercises
The strength required for these exercises originates largely in the abdominal muscles. The muscles of the abdomen control the movements to avoid placing a burden on the muscles of the back or extremities (Selby & Herdman 1999). Drawing the navel to the spine during these exercises allows the powerhouse to control the movements. Perform the suggested exercises 2-3 times a week as a complement to the golfer’s regimen.
The Seal
Relaxes shoulders; repetitive rolling motion relaxes and massages the spine.
Sit and hug both knees into your chest. Flex your spine, bringing your chin toward your chest. Using your abdominals to assist in balancing on your sit bones, inhale and roll backwards. Exhale and return to the starting position. Repeat 5 times.
Single Leg Stretch
Strengthens abdomen and hips.
Begin on your back with navel to spine, exhale and pull your right knee to your chest as you lift your shoulders off the mat. Extend your left leg outward. Maintain your upper-torso position, keeping navel to spine, as you switch sides. Repeat 8-10 times each side.
The Crisscross
Strengthens abdomen and hips.
Lie on your back with both knees bent. Place your hands behind your head, keeping the elbows open. Lift your shoulders off the mat and lower your chin toward your chest. Bend the left knee toward your chest while your right leg extends outward. Use the abdominals to maintain a flat back as you then bring the right shoulder toward the left knee. Switch sides. Repeat 5-10 times on each side.
The Saw
Increases flexibility of torso and rotational muscles; improves posture and alignment.
Sit tall with legs extended slightly wider than hip width apart. Extend your arms open about 45 degrees from the sagittal plane of your body. Keeping the spine lifted, exhale and drop the right arm down over the left leg as if to saw off the left pinky toe with the right pinky finger. Using your abdominals, roll up and return to the starting position. Repeat 4-5 times on each side.
The Mermaid
Challenges balance; strengthens shoulders and torso.
Begin sitting on your left hip with your legs folded to the right side. Place your left hand on the floor adjacent to your left hip and relax your right arm at your side. Exhale and lengthen up out of your hips, straightening your legs and extending your spine. Repeat 5 times on each side.
Double Leg Lift
Strengthens hips, quadriceps and abdomen.
Lie on one side, supporting your head with the lower arm. Your upper arm is in front of your body to help maintain alignment. Extend both legs at a small angle in front, and inhale to prepare. Exhale and lift both legs to hip height. Repeat 8-10 times on each side.
Alternating Opposite Arm and Leg Lifts
Strengthens back and shoulders; lengthens spine and hips.
Begin prone with navel to spine. Reach both arms out in front of you. Exhale and extend the left arm and right leg up while maintaining a stable torso and not rocking your hips. Keep shoulder blades together and down. Inhale and lower. Switch sides. Repeat 5 times on each side.
Catherine Fiscella, MSPT, is a licensed physical therapist, a personal trainer and a Pilates instructor.
References
Archambault, M.L. 2000. Biomechanical evaluation of the golf swing. www.apta.org (online course).
Baptiste, B., & Mendola, K.F. 1999. Yoga for golfers. Yoga Journal (May-June).
Garrett, W.E., Jr. 1996. Muscle strain injuries. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 24 (6, Suppl.), S2-8.
Selby, A., & Herdman, A. 1999. Pilates’ Body Conditioning: A Program Based on the Techniques of Joseph Pilates. London: Barron’s.
Trainor, T.J., & Trainor, M.A. 2004. Etiology of low back pain in athletes. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 3 (1), 41-6.
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Tags: Improve Golf Swing, Pilates and golf
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Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Pilates reformer machines are popular on the market for those that are serious about pilates and perfecting their form and skills. These machines are designed to get you into those tricky positions comfortably and with ease. A pilates workout with a reformer is guaranteed to show results and strengthen your entire body head to toe.
Pilates was created in the early 1900s, but has received a popularity boom since the late 90s. Madonna reportedly does pilates daily, as well as many other famous celebrities. It has been proven to greatly enhance ones body and mental state. Stress reduction is a big plus, because with less stress you will become a happier and more efficient being.
A reformer is a machine that actually looks intimidating, however, they make pilates much more simple and easy for you to do. Pilates reformers are designed to tone muscle without adding manly bulk to a feminine form. They also allow for proper control, form, and contraction of specific muscle groups. Reformers are designed for those that are extremely serious about Pilates and intend on making it a lifelong hobby.
Buying a reformer is a pretty large purchase. They usually cost over $800, and high quality ones can cost as much as $2,000. Working out with a Pilates reformer is different from using other machines, or using the floor as your “machine”. With a reformer you get better balance, form, and technique. All of which are crucial elements for the Pilates workout.
Of course, with any exercise machine there are many types of Pilates reformer machines. A workout with any of these is designed to improve your health and fitness. One of the most popular types is a multifunctional reformer that combines several aspects of pilates into one machine that works for all of them. Other machines are special for certain types of pilates, and others are for advanced users. Its easy to find one for you and your body goals!
The benefits are obvious, yet some people do not realize how powerful the usage of pilates can be for your entire body and mind. When working out with a pilates reformer you can expand your pilates regimen and go beyond what you would in any pilates class! Working out with a reformer will allow you to be stable, and contract and focus on new muscles groups you may have never used.
Closing Comments
Pilates reformers combines everything from pilates and other muscle toning exercises, and puts them into a machine that allows you to perform those moves successfully and with proper form involved. Pilates reformers are important for all users that are serious about pilates.
By Chris Channing
Tags: Pilates Equipment, Pilates Reformer
Posted in Sports Pilates, Why Pilates? | 1 Comment »
Saturday, December 27th, 2008
Sam Lamiroy is Britain’s top male surfer being crowned twice as British Surfing Champion at the O’Neill British Surf Championships in Devon and in 2007 Sam won the UK Pro Surf Tour. He has been a star on the world circuit for seven years.
How doe he stay in shape? “Yoga Pilates seems to be the ideal thing for me” To thoroughly warm up the spine, using surfing related movement patterns as well as learning about body mechanics is hugely beneficial when taken to the water.
Performed on the floor, on the beach or where ever you go, Pilates exercises lengthen and strengthen the deep core muscles of the body. These stabilizing muscles hug and protect our bones, thereby improving balance and preventing injury — both essential for healthy surfing
Lamiroy “I spend a lot of time traveling and sitting on airplanes, which makes me get really stiff – it’s handy to have a routine to fix it. I guess it’s partly psychological and partly physical, to make you feel like you’re doing something.”
 “I have a very broad training scheme. Yoga Pilates seems to be the ideal thing for me. As the name suggests, it’s a mixture of yoga and Pilates. I find Pilates can be too dance-oriented and technical, and yoga is a little too static for my lifestyle. Yoga Pilates is the perfect medium – it’s really good at strengthening your core muscles and helps to fire up your nervous system.![]()
“It’s difficult to emulate the movements that you do in surfing, so all you can do is practice with things like skate-boarding and tennis to try to work the muscles. It’s all focused on keeping your muscles active but at the same time keeping them smooth. If you build up muscles too much, they will get in the way of your surfing.
 “I am trying to get in the water as often as possible in preparation for this month’s Highland Open contest, which is one of the biggest in the world. I try to surf as often as I can and top up my fitness with a bit of cycling, running and just general exercise. Last night I played some football with friends.
“Day to day I try to eat very healthily: lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meat, chicken and fish. During the competition I tend to eat very little because I’m quite big for a surfer. On a competition day I eat only a couple of bananas and drink some Red Bull and plenty of water because I find if I eat too much I get really sluggish. I don’t drink can after can of Red Bull but a little bit helps sharpen my mind, giving me the right level of focus: not over-excited and not bored.
“On the whole I don’t take any supplements since I don’t really get run down. When I’m not in the freezing cold sea, that’s when I tend to get ill”.
 “At the heart of it, it is important to have a nice, healthy, balanced lifestyle. Some people accuse me of not training enough but I don’t think spending about eight hours a day on a bicycle is particularly good for anyone either. It doesn’t have to be back-breaking work. “Yoga Pilates seems to be the ideal thing for me”. “I can do it anywhere in 15 minutes”.
Sam Lamiroy is appearing at the O’Neill Highland Open by Swatch from April 23-30.
Engage your core like never before improve your performance with Pilates today
written by PalmBeach
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Tags: better balance on my surf board, improve core strength for surfing, improve my surfing, Pilates for surfers, Surfing
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Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Professional golfers see the advantage of Pilates
Pilates is catching on among professional golfers. Rich Beem did a lot of Pilates leading up to his win at the 2002 PGA Championship win over Tiger Woods. New York Times reports Tiger does it to. Rocco Mediate ditched the weights and does Pilates to preserve his back.
Randy Myers, who has worked with scores of PGA and LPGA players and is now director of fitness at the Sea Island Resort in Georgia helped develop the GolfPilates Program at the PGA Resort in Palm Beach Gardens FL. “Bench-pressing 100 pounds 10 times will develop strength, but not the type that has any correspondence whatsoever to how far you hit a golf ball,” In fact short tight muscles hinder your golf swing.
Sean Cochran, Phil Mickelson’s personal trainer, said the Pilates technique (initiating movement from the core) is increasingly being incorporated into the mat and weight-lifting exercise regimes used by elite players—even by Mr. Mickelson.
Camilo Villegas, the studly young Colombian esteemed by PGA Tour groupies for his tight shirts and britches, is also a known Pilatean and endorses Hole in One Pilates
Dave Phillips, the co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanside, Calif., notes that the best golfers have strong, stable lower bodies and flexible, mobile upper bodies. Their swings progress from the lower body to the trunk, the shoulders and lastly the arms. To duplicate that sequence, amateurs usually need the most work on their glutemous muscles and their core. Lacking strength and flexibility in those areas, they compensate by using their arms, which is a primary cause of slicing. Pilates targets the core and develops functional strength needed to play well.
“People struggle really hard at golf and don’t get better because they don’t address the physical side,” Mr. Phillips said. “Their bodies just can’t do what a good swing requires them to do.”
written by PalmBeach
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Tags: Golf Pilates, Improve Golf Swing
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Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Unlike the 2004 and 2000 seasons, when May-Treanor was fighting injuries leading into the Athens and Sydney Olympics, this year, the tour’s winningest players in the world have incorporate Pilates into their training program and are completely healthy.
Leading up to the 2008 Olympic Beijing games this dynamic team won everything in sight The dynamic duo trained hard day in and day out and became virtually unstoppable in their quest to defend their title as the best in the United States Of America and world. They are in tip top shape and looking forward to clinching the gold once again in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Games. To get ready to compete against the best in the world their trainers developed a progressive hybrid training program that included plyometric exercises, stretching, isokinetic work ( that gets our fast twitch muscles going) free weights, strength maintenance and their favorite Pilates. Pilates has become the exercise of choice of the best in the world as a way to develop a strong core, prevent injury and enhance overall functional performance. Trainers around the world spin Pilates to address the functional and sports specific needs of their clients. Kerri Walsh “My favorite core workout is Pilates, which covers the entire core area. Pilates is a must do exercise for volleyball we need to have very strong core muscles (abs, back, etc) and Pilates is the very best workout for this. I love it!
May-Treanor “I lift twice a week focusing on building strength in my legs, squats, cleans, straight legged Deadlifts etc. with my trainer Tommy Knox. I also do Pilates twice a week with the fabulous Lauren Rauth” on the Pilates Reformer, Cadillac, Chair ,Barrel and mat “I love it! It’s trial and error through they years to see what works best for you, and I think I finally found the combination. I feel good.”
In the off season I spend minimal time on the sand. Jogging twice a week in the deep stuff so that when January comes its not such a shock to the body. In January, Kerrie and I start the steady climb of working out five times a week, lifting twice a week at fast twitch, Pilates twice a week, playing on the sand five days a week.
May-Treanor “I started Pilates to strengthen my core.” Finding the right balance in your training program is the key to success. “I’ve been feeling healthy, finally finding what works for my body”.
Beach volleyball is a sport that trades itself on the combined image of athleticism and sex appeal, but the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens featured the sport like never before. Sexuality and athletic skill become completely intertwined making beach volleyball one of the most popular sports of the Olympic Games. This is partley do to the fact that the women wear bikinis and the men wear muscle-baring tank tops.
In an interview USA beach volleyball gold medalist and Pilates enthusiast Kerri Walsh said, “If people think we’re sexy because we wear this, let them watch, think we’re sexy and enjoy that part of it, and then see that we’re also dynamic athletes as well.”
Both Misty and Kerri are amazing athletes and great role models. Their reach consistently exceeds their grasp as the go for the gold once again. They are living life to its fullest and through them all of us can experiencing what it means to be the best that you can be.
May-Treanor “Did you see ESPN The Magazine? How RAD is that? INSAINE! Just to open up the magazine and see Misty and I in there with that class of athletes — Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter, Dwyane Wade, Landon Donovan and Maria Sharapova. It was so awesome. I’m so excited about it. It’s great to be a part of the Gatorade family. I don’t know the other athletes. I mean, I’ve met a few of them randomly here and there, like Landon and his wife do Pilates at the same place I go to, but other than that, I am just always rooting for them behind the scenes, so to see us all together like that was great. It makes me so happy. I love it!”
You Go Girls and continue to make all of us in the USA proud to be an American
written by PalmBeach
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Tags: improve volleyball with Pilates
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Sunday, September 7th, 2008
The Pilates method is an exercise system focused on improving flexibility and strength for the total body while also enhancing posture, balance, and coordination. It is particularly effective in developing core strength from the shoulders to the pelvis. This is vital for after-40 golfers who seem to have two missions in life: hitting longer drives and avoiding injuries.
“Several things set Pilates apart from other exercise programs,” explains Daniel Loigerot, co-owner of Pilates Edge in New York City. “It is based on quality (fewer repetitions) rather than quantity. The movement is more focused and intense. It is a safe and effective approach that provides the benefits of stretching, strengthening, and control, while keeping the whole body balanced. It’s about focus, keeping the mind connected to the body.”
As with any hot program, Pilates has its celebrity supporters. Proponents (not paid endorsers) include Arizona pitcher Curt Shilling, NBA star Jason Kidd, and the Buffalo Bills’ 300-pound offensive guard, Ruben Brown. The movement is really becoming popular with golfers, including Rich Beem, Annika Sörenstam, Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate.
Pilates appeals to senior golfers for the following reasons:
* Pilates requires a certain amount of focus (there’s that word again), and so does golf.
* Pilates is based on movement from the center of the body, as do most shots in golf.
* Pilates improves flexibility and after-40 golfers are losing that physical attribute.
* Pilates enhances balance and stability, which become increasingly important as we age.
You won’t know if Pilates is for you until you make a commitment to try it. “Once a week is not enough,” says Loigerot. “Two times will provide benefits and three sessions a week is ideal. Measurable results depend on the fitness level of the person at the start and on the number of sessions per week, but it will take several weeks.” This is not a quick-fix deal, although some advocates claim benefits right away.
Many after-40 golfers are not on any kind of strength, stretching or fitness program. If you are ready to start on one or if yours is not helping you achieve your fitness, strength, or golf-playing goals, Pilates may be the answer.
One thing is for sure: Doing nothing to maintain fitness after 50 is a free ticket to injuries, missed playing time, and diminishing performance on the golf course
source pga.com
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Tags: Improve Golf Swing, Pilates for golfers
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