Recently we received a call from our suppliers at ToeSox. They told us we are no longer allowed to sell their Products online..
We were Shocked!
The Santa Barbara Pilates Studio has been with ToeSox since their very start. We set up our account in 2007 with the Original Owner of the Co. And we were told then and again in early 2011 that we were allowed to sell their products online..
So for the last 4 + years we have been marketing their products to our Pilates and Fitness customers and the rest of the world. We like to back the products we use in our studio and offer them to our clients because we believe in them. Our Pilates Clients are always looking for new things and we take pride in offering the high quality merchandise we use in our Fitness studios to our clients.
Now to receive a phone call from ToeSox out of the blue. After almost 5 years of selling ToeSox online they wish us to stop.. Wow, what about a thank you for supporting them when they were an unknown?
Now they are so big they produce their Socks in China !… and won’t allow a Real Pilates Studio / Fitness Business to sell their wares for fear the will anger Amazon.com, whom they do allow to sell…
Sounds like Wal-Mart all over again.
Shame on you ToeSox!. You should be thanking us for showing your product to our customers that in turn buy .. from you and us. But to allow Amazon.com to sell the product , and not us . After we helped make your Brand name. That is just disgusting.
We choose not to do business with people like you who drop loyalties over mass profits and in turn damage the small business that you once were. Amazon.com obviously can buy truck loads of ToeSox , and the Small Business like ours can hardly afford to buy a box of your product, Much less advertise the product , educate the public as to why to buy your product, store and handle your product. We take the time to talk with the customers who buy from us on Amazon so they know everything they need to know about Toe Sox products. Almighty Amazon doesn’t, they don’t wear your products and don’t know what to recommend to customers! This is something a manufacturer should praise a small business for instead of punishing them!!!
So sad to see what ToeSox sense of loyalties has come to..
We will drop the ToeSox line from our inventory and recommended that all of our clients, friends and other ToeSox owners burn their ToeSox , record it on video and submit that to You Tube in support of our disgust that ToeSox would suddenly without any explanation tells us that our agreement is Void and we are no longer allowed to sell ToeSox on Amazon as a Platinum vender.
Show your support for Small Business that make the USA run.. Burn your Made in China ToeSox and post the video to You Tube in Support of Small U.S.A Based Business.. .
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.
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.
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.
Pilates, pronounced /pɪˈlɑ:ti:z/, is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany.[1] As of 2005 there are 11 million people who practice the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States.[2]
Pilates called his method Contrology (from control and Greek-λογία, -logia), because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles.[3] The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.
Pilates was formed by the part Greek, part German Joseph Pilates during the First World War with the proposal to improve the rehabilitation program for the many returning veterans. Joseph Pilates believed mental and physical health are essential to one another. He recommended a few, precise movements emphasizing control and form to aid injured soldiers in regaining their health by strengthening, stretching, and stabilizing key muscles. Pilates created “The Pilates Principles” to condition the entire body: proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement.
Joseph Pilates wrote two books concerning the Pilates method, Return to Life through Contrology (1928) and Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education (1934).
Pilates claimed his method has a philosophical and theoretical foundation. He claims that his system is not merely a collection of exercises, but a method developed and refined over more than eighty-five years of use and observation.
According to practitioners, the central aim of Pilates is to attempt to create a fusion of mind and body, so that without even engaging the mind, the body will move with economy, grace, and balance.[citation needed]
Joseph Pilates believed in circulating the blood so that it could awaken all the cells in the body and carry away the wastes related to fatigue. For the blood to do its work properly, he maintained, it has to be charged with oxygen and purged of waste gases through proper breathing. By this standard, if you stop breathing during exercise, there is an error in your practice. Full and thorough inhalation and exhalation are purportedly a part of every Pilates exercise. Pilates saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation. “Squeeze out the lungs as you would wring a wet towel dry,” he is reputed to have said.[citation needed] Pilates breathing should be done with concentration, control, and precision. Proper and effective breathing, practitioners assert, not only oxygenates the muscles, but also reduces tension in the upper neck and shoulders. Pilates breathing is described as a posterior lateral breathing, meaning that the practitioner is instructed to breathe deep into the back and sides of his or her rib cage. When practitioners exhale, they are instructed to note the engagement of their deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles and maintain this engagement as they inhale. Pilates attempts to properly coordinate this breathing practice with movement, including breathing instructions with every exercise. Joseph Pilates stated, “Even if you follow no other instructions, learn to breathe correctly.”[citation needed]
Pilates called the very large group of muscles in the center of the body – encompassing the abdomen, lower back, hips, and buttocks – the “powerhouse.” All energy for Pilates exercises is said to begin from the powerhouse and flow outward to the limbs. In other words, the Pilates technique asserts that physical energy exerted from the center should coordinate movements of the extremities. Pilates felt that it was important to build a strong powerhouse in order to rely on it in daily living. Modern instructors call the powerhouse the “core”.[citation needed]
Pilates demands intense focus. For instance, the inner thighs and pelvic floor may be assessed when doing a standing exercise that tones the triceps. Beginners are instructed to pay careful attention to their bodies, building on very small, delicate fundamental movements and controlled breathing.[citation needed] In 2006, at the Parkinson Center of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, the concentration factor of the Pilates method was being studied in providing relief from the degenerative symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.[4]
Practitioners assert that every movement in the Pilates method has a purpose. Every instruction is considered vitally important to the success of the whole. To leave out any detail is believed to forsake the intrinsic value of the exercise. The focus is on doing one precise and perfect movement, rather than many halfhearted ones. The goal is for this precision to eventually become second nature, and carry over into everyday life as grace and economy of movement.
A qualified Pilates instructor is expected to understand the technique well enough to adapt it to the real-world capabilities of his or her students. Students with physical disabilities, for example, should be given a Pilates regimen intended to improve their methods of physically compensating for their ailment.[citation needed]
Movement is expected to be kept continuous between exercises through the use of appropriate transitions. Once precision has been achieved, the exercises are intended to flow within and into each other in order to build strength and stamina.
Traditionally, Pilates is performed using a machine, classically known as the Pilates reformer, which provides exercise resistance to build strength, develop proper alignment and posture, and increase flexibility. Presently, however, mat Pilates, which does not make use of the reformer is becoming increasingly popular. In the absence of the reformer, an individual’s core strength is garnered as resistance to increase flexibility and further develop the core muscles.
Pilates during pregnancy can be a highly valuable and beneficial form of exercise, but the use of Pilates in pregnancy should only be undertaken under guidance of a fully trained expert.[7]
In recent years the term “Pilates” worked itself into the mainstream and, following an unsuccessful intellectual property lawsuit, a US federal court ruled the term “Pilates” generic and free for unrestricted use.[8] While this ruling prevented artificial restrictions on the use of the term “Pilates”, it also permitted many untrained or under-qualified practitioners to capitalize on the name. Consumers may face extensive and conflicting information about what Pilates really is, how it works, and what credentials they should seek in an instructor.[9]
Several of the students of Joseph Pilates who opened their own studios eventually created organizations to teach and certify their own interpretations of the original work.
Stott Pilates – largest full-service Pilates organization worldwide
^ Pilates, Joseph (1945 – Re-released 1998). Pilates’ Return to Life through Contrology. Incline Village: Presentation dynamics. ISBN 0961493798.
^ MSNBC, Pilates may give relief for Parkinson’s patients 2006.
^ Pilates, Joseph (1945 – Re-released 1998). Pilates’ Return to Life through Contrology. Incline Village: Presentation dynamics. ISBN 0961493798.
^ Segal NA, Hein J, Basford JR. The effects of Pilates training on flexibility and body composition: an observational study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2004;85:1977–81.
Blandine Calais-Germain (1993). Anatomy of Movement. Eastland Press. ISBN 978-0939616176.
Pilates, Joseph (1928). Pilates’ Return to Life Through Contrology. New York, NY: Presentation Dynamics (December 31, 1998). ISBN 978-0961493790.
Stanmore, Tia (2004). The Pilates Back Book: Heal Neck, Back, and Shoulder Pain With Easy Pilates Stretches. Gloucester, MA: Fair Winds Press. ISBN 978-1931412896.
Andrew Biel, Robin Dorn (2005). Trail Guide to The Body. Boulder, CO: Books of Discovery. ISBN 978-0965853453.
Daniel Lyon jr.. The Complete Book of Pilates for Men. Harper Collins (2005). ISBN 0-06-082077-2.
Pilates is great for building core strength and stability because the focus is on muscular balance and using your deep, stabilizing muscles that act directly on your spine, pelvis, and shoulder blades. Keep in mind that there is a learning curve with Pilates; it is essential to take the time to learn the basics. Give yourself 4 or 5 times of trying it before you decide if it’s for you; it often takes that long before it all comes together and you start to feel like your body is actually doing what you want it to do.
What is Pilates?
Before this question can be answered, it is helpful to know about the man who created it. Joseph Humbertus Pilates was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf Germany. He had numerous health problems as a child including rickets, asthma, and rheumatic fever. He became obsessed by his afflictions and determined to overcome them. As a teenager, he became very active and participated in gymnastics, skiing, and skin diving and became very interested in studying the musculature of the body. His studies also included Eastern forms of exercise including yoga and karate. He merged these experiences to create “The Method”. Pilates called it Controlology which is a precise series of exercises designed to develop the body uniformly, correcting incorrect posture and revitalizing the body, mind and spirit.
In 1912, Joseph moved to England where he became a boxer, circus performer, and self-defense instructor. When World War I started, he was incarcerated as a German national and an enemy alien. While in prison, many inmates followed his method and he continued to perfect it. They found that they were unaffected by the influenza epidemic and realized some greater health benefits from this work. Joseph decided to find a way to help those in the prison camp who were disabled by other wartime diseases. He removed the bedsprings from the beds and attached them to the walls allowing them to exercise while lying down and remain stable yet strengthen their muscles without worsening any injuries.
When WWI ended, he returned to Germany to continue to develop his work, but he left again in 1926 when his ideals clashed with the new German regime. Joseph immigrated to the United States. Along the way, he met Clara, a nurse, who became his wife. They became friends with Max Schmeling, a boxer, who led them to New York. It is here where they opened a “physical fitness studio”. He was warmly welcomed by the New York dance community, and his method quickly became part of the dancers’ training as well as being used to rehab injured dancers.
Joseph Pilates died in 1967, and most of the original instructors he trained have also passed, but the basics of his work have not changed. He wanted his work to benefit the masses and not only an elite group of individuals. He states that the exercises need to be done exactly as written in order to achieve a fit and balanced body.
In 1945, Joseph published his exercises. He prescribed 34 exercises to be done faithfully four times per week; he promised that after three months, your body would return to an ideal physical condition with renewed mental vigor and spiritual enhancement. Exercises can be done on a mat with no equipment (known as matwork); this is the most typical and most accessible form. Exercises can also be performed on a Reformer or a Cadillac machine; this is usually done on a one-on-one basis with a qualified instructor and requires a strong foundation in the matwork exercises.
The reason Pilates seems to have “suddenly appeared” in the past few years is that prior to October 2000, the Pilates name was patented and trademarked by the owner of the New York based Pilates studio. However, in October of 2000, a New York Federal court that Pilates was associated with a type of exercise so the name could no longer be monopolized. This opened the doors for others to provide training and take advantage of Joseph’s work.
Benefits of Pilates
Pilates is a functional form of exercise; it trains the muscles of the body to gain strength in the way they were designed to perform.
Breathing – Pilates has a very specific method of breathing that helps to purify the body, reduce stress, and build endurance
Core strength is one of the most important benefits because all movement starts from the core. When your core is strong, your limbs can move without adding excess strain to your spine and also helps improve balance and coordination.
Strengthens opposing muscle groups – this allows the entire body to function more efficiently and leads to improved flexibility
Improves kinesthetic awareness – this means you have a better sense of where your body is in space. Spatial awareness and core control help improve your functioning in daily activities, prevent injuries, and facilitate rehabilitation.
Stress reduction – the application of mind over muscle is an important concept in Pilates as well as other mind body exercises. This has been shown to help reduce stress.
Disease prevention – his fellow inmates experience this during the influenza outbreak. When the mind is trained to listen to the body, it is more capable of identifying and dealing with stresses that may eventually cause disease.
More:
* Armchair Pilates
* Core/Functional Training Information and Resources
* Frequently Asked Questions about Pilates
* Mind/Body Training
* Pilates Resources
* Stability Balls
* What Pilates Does for You: Results from the Lab
