This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the McEntire Pilates Summit in Rochester, Michigan. I have trained with Trent McEntire previously and just knew this was going to be good! He is innovative, kind, generous, and so very skilled when it comes to the body and movement. Escaping the Nashville heat for cool crisp mornings in Michigan for a few days didn’t sound like a bad idea either!
I am happy to report – this training weekend did not disappoint and in fact far exceeded my expectations. When I registered and reviewed the agenda I was most excited about a class titled ‘Reinventing the Long Box’ as well as the opportunity to meet and connect with more of the Pilates community. I thoroughly enjoyed this session and came back with several new tricks up my sleeve … you’ll just have to come to class to find out about that.
I also took a session on Pilates Arcus for Golf. The biggest take away from this session is how we can use Pilates to retrain the body to move properly for a better golf swing. We can work on set up, rotation, movement and stability that mimic what is needed in golf in the studio. The more these movements begin to feel natural and we gain strength, the more we can leave our bad habits and poor form behind. It was interesting to see Pilates moves dissected for golf movements.
Another informative session was about Osteoporosis and how we address this in Pilates. Did you know every seven years your bones regenerate until about the age of 35? There is much we can do to improve bone health and prevent injury if osteopenia or osteoporosis is an issue. Many don’t realize they have bone loss issues until a fracture occurs. Why not be proactive now with our bones regardless of family history – it can’t hurt but could pay off!
I participate in an active stretching class with the emphasis on stretching out and freeing our fascia. The fascia is an inter web of connective tissues, primarily collagen, in our body that hold us together and at times holds us up if not properly moved and released. After about 30 minutes of moving, bending, stretching, and reaching – my body felt so free! We were asked to keep in mind a movement that was difficult for us at the beginning of the session. At the end I tried my movement and was amazed at how much more range of motion I was able to achieve! We’ll be working some of this movement into class, too 🙂
These are just some of the highlights of a weekend well spent learning! I’ll be sharing more and getting more in-depth in the weeks to come and in the studio.
12South Pilates & Personal Training 