¶ Understanding Pilates for Runners
So you're thinking about running but not sure how to take the first step . My name is Brian Patterson and I'm here to help . Welcome to Brian's Rompod . Welcome back to Brian's Rompod . Well , in the second part of our discussion with Lucy Tomlinson , the founder of Welcome to Pilates , if you haven't heard our first chat , then please do have a listen .
In the second part , we started talking about how you progress through Pilates and also how dance has embraced the discipline . She also talks about specific exercises that can be incorporated as part of a runner's schedule .
After the war ended he went to New York and he set up his studio and it was for . Lots of dancers were attracted to it . So ballet dancers , which is why lots of people in that industry do Pilates . I have a lot of friends who were dancers who are now Pilates teachers .
So if you think of Ballerina , they have their Is there ballet , pilates , or do some people sort of like sell it ?
There's something called Bar , which is Some of the exercises are quite Pilates based , but you use a bar and it's kind of a mixture .
I mean , I'm not an expert but it's a mixture of ballet and Pilates . It's just the way of marketing it and incorporating the two .
I think , if you have an interest in ballet , that you do quite a lot on your . It's quite a lot of footwork actually . You do lots on your toes and a lot of ankle stability as well . But yeah , so he trained a lot of ballet dancers and they obviously needed to be very fit to do the kind of dance that they do .
So the exercises do get quite dynamic , they get very vigorous and you're doing them in very quick succession so you can really build on them . But kind of his traditional Pilates concept is still around today , but now a lot of it isn't really suitable for the everyday person that comes into class .
So you kind of have to find different ways to adapt , to make things more challenging as people progress .
And people do find , even just doing one hour class a week , that you do progress quite quickly , which is great , because people then start to feel more confident in their body and they start to think , oh , I wasn't doing this a couple of weeks ago and now I can do that . And now how can we progress it ?
So it's always very encouraging when someone comes and says , oh , I can do that thing now that I couldn't do , or I notice it and tell them and they kind of are like oh yeah , I couldn't do that a month ago .
So we've kind of got to the bit where we've talked about the core principles and we've talked about how things that we can do on an everyday basis , sort of thing . So now , when you're , you know , taking it a little bit further and I think we'll probably come on to the reform a little bit later on , but sort of thing . So what do you feel ?
That someone who's kind of you ? Know , a little bit more advanced maybe being going to you . What sort of you know the benefits do you think they get out of it ?
I think it would still be the same kind of things that you would even if you were starting out but you'd probably just feel you would be doing more advanced exercises .
So you probably would feel it more in your body the next day , potentially in terms of working the muscle groups and but then saying that I think you would , even if you're starting out , you it's those smaller muscle groups that maybe you haven't worked before .
So I'm just thinking of someone came last week and they were complete beginner but they really felt up the next day because they hadn't worked those muscles before . So yeah , I don't know if there would be a huge difference in terms of .
I think generally people tend to get the bug early on and then that doesn't go away , keeps coming as you just maintain that same level .
so and and when you , when you take the class , basically you've got all levels In that class , or do you order be like a beginner's class ? And then the people who are kind of a little bit more advanced , you have a separate class for them .
So we start with an all levels class which is for beginners . And so if you on a time table , we have all levels intermediate and advanced and we keep the levels .
We don't call it beginners just because we know that sometimes you know , depending on how you're feeling , one week , someone who is an intermediate , I actually want to come to a level class that week , whatever reason . So we keep it all levels and we always teach the bodies in the room .
So I would never say to somebody not to come to a certain class if they want to come and try a class when you're progressing up the levels . I will say to somebody I think you're ready to go into the intermediate class , for example .
We split into levels because of the depending on bodies , that all levels classes the one that you start with and then you can progress up if you want to .
If you've got injuries or say if you're pregnant or something else , then you can all levels class until Either that injury subsided or maybe whatever might be okay , yeah , I just thought of a question , so basically the there is one question I do have is that what are the ?
Because , if you , if you are starting out , what are the kind of common mistakes that you know people who do start out well , you know we'll do sort of thing , because obviously it's going to be something completely new to them because in terms of you know the breathing , trying to Get used to their body in a very different way .
So , what are the kind of common areas ? Yeah , that they might , they might get wrong or they kind of . You know you can't say well , no , it's not like that , it's like this Definitely the breathing .
I think , like I said before , people just stop breathing . In terms of doing it wrong , I don't really . I wouldn't say anyone ever comes into something wrong . I think the only thing you could do wrong is to Find a session hard and then not go back right you can't really do parties wrong .
There's obviously there's ways that I'll go around the room and correct people or give them adjustments , but I would never tell somebody that doing something wrong because I might adapt something differently . Yeah yeah , there's not really a wrong or right .
It's not like there's a amazing teacher who said something once about there's no like end of turn performance for parties . You're not doing it to show anyone how you look at the end . It's just about coming and working with your body on the day , and that might be different .
You might be practicing parties for 10 years and then you come one week and you can't do a roll up , for example , quite a challenging exercise , coming off the floor , and I think you can get quite frustrated by that . But you have to listen to your body . In some days you can do things and some days you can't .
So I wouldn't say anyone would do things wrong . I would just say if you came and felt a bit overwhelmed or , yeah , you didn't quite like the teacher or any other reason and didn't go back , yeah , I would say that was wrong . Either find a different teacher or give it another . Go , kind of give yourself a job , like you said .
There's a lot to think about , yeah , and it can be quite overwhelming when you start and the teacher sent telling you to think about when your ribs are , telling you to breathe , telling you to point your toes , yeah , and you kind of think this is a bit much and it is a lot , which is why you kind of try to start with the basics and then build on
gradually from that , so people do come back .
All right , okay . Okay , because I know I remember there was some A swim teacher , all there was a this thing called Anyways , a type of way of teaching swimming , and he just said he just said , just focus on one thing , and each time you're swimming , just focus on that one thing and get that right .
Exactly .
And then you can sort of build on that .
Yeah , especially because I think people come . I often see it . There's a lot of energy in the room . People come after work , for example , and they might have had a rubbish day , they might not want to be there , they might be stressed , they children might not have done their homework , all those kind of things .
Tired , Tired exactly .
Anything could have happened . And sometimes people just want to come and move and be left alone .
And you can see it when people come into the room how they might be feeling and you don't want to then add on to that by saying you're doing that exercise wrong and you never want to make somebody feel like they're failing at it and you can't really fail at Pilates .
If you're there on the mat , you've showed up , then that's already a win that they've even come . So I only want to be encouraging people to just do their best on the day .
And you know , sometimes people come and , like I said , they can't do an exercise that they can normally do and they do get frustrated and I have to remind them that you're just working with your body and some days it's great and some days it doesn't feel as good .
OK . Ok Now I know this isn't a visual podcast , so you can't demonstrate , but I know I'm sort of jumping about , that's OK , we can jump yeah we can jump about .
So , basically , if you talked about that kind of getting your spine and whatever , but if I wanted something that's just to improve my core strength and whatever as a beginner , because I know for runners that's kind of quite a key thing . As always , it's stretching , as you said . But what would be good to start off with ?
OK , so there's obviously lots of exercises . The thing is with Pilates is almost all of them will be using your core . So you use your core even just to stand up use your core to sit , just to be sitting up . So but for those kind of ones , if people want to feel that like burn , there's a few exercises in particular that spring to mind .
So there's the exercise called the hundred , which if anyone listening has done Pilates , they probably have done the hundred at some point . You're essentially in a curl up which is like a low sit up , so your shoulders are lifted off the mat , your legs are either lifted and bent or they can be extended out if you want to make it more challenging .
Right .
And you want to really feel that deep abdominal work coming in . So we talk a lot about the pelvic floor and Pilates and it's that zipping up sensation in those deeper abdominal muscles . So you're feeling that your body is held in space and then you're simply and I say simply because it's not simple- you're simply beating the arms vigorously .
Hundred counts , basically . So you breathe in through your nose for the count of five , you breathe out through your mouth for the count of five and you do that a hundred times with your legs in that same position , in your upper back , being curled off the floor .
So you're kind of like in a V shape , is that right ?
It's so , if you think , your ribs will still be on the floor , your pelvis will still be on the floor , so it's just the upper back , but your legs are kind of in their part of the V , but then it's just your head and shoulders lifted off , and the thing that does tend to go wrong , if we're going to use that word in that size is that people feel it
in their neck , so their head starts to drop back with gravity . So it's trying to engage enough to keep your shoulders lifted off the floor and you're getting actually that flex position of your shoulders .
They're rounding forwards and you're really reaching out long through your arms and your fingertips and that powerhouse I mentioned earlier is that really feeling the whole body working together in this quite challenging exercise .
¶ Pilates Exercises and Class Structure
So there's that one and there's another one or there's you can do what's called a series of five . So there's five exercises which all start in that similar position with your shoulders lifted . The 100 is quite a static movement . The only thing you're moving is your arms , whereas the single leg stretch , double leg stretch crisscross and there's two others .
Those ones are more flowing , so you're moving your arms and legs at the same time and it's a lot of coordination as well . So that's where the real mind to muscle element comes in . So you're really thinking about which parts of your body are moving , which parts are staying stable , and that's what's going to really .
You're going to get that feeling in your abdominals and your core .
Yeah , so we could always include links in the show notes yeah , to some , yeah . And so you can either look on YouTube , because I've heard of the hundreds before .
Yeah . And you know to look afterwards .
Yeah , yeah , you might need an ambulance outside , yeah , so yeah , I'll look after you yeah , so yeah , but yes , it was yeah . So okay , we'll look at those . And those are good ones that say just to start off with yeah definitely .
I mean even the curl up with your feet on the floor . You're still going to be engaging into your core .
So the feet are on the floor , but you're curling up .
Upper back , curling up and then doing that . Yeah , you can do that . You can do the 100 with the with the feet down as well . That's kind of what you'd start Start off with and then you can build up . That's a good example of how you can build up the exercises to make them more challenging .
Great , great , great . And then , in terms of the , I mean I have problems .
Yeah .
And also I mean I remember I did see I'm sure other people who were listening will have you know other issues , but I mean gluteus , medius issues and they got me to do a few things .
Is there anything Physio ? Yeah , I do go to physios .
So is there anything specifically for the hips ?
Yeah , lots of stuff for the hips as well . We do really nice exercises lying on our side . I say nice . I think anyone listening who's done these probably wouldn't say they're nice , but they're really good . Hip strength and exercises .
So if you imagine you're lying on your side , your bottom leg is bent in a 90 degree position and you're extending your top leg out straight .
Right , okay , yeah . So it's kind of like a kind of recovery position type of thing . Yeah , kind of but again and if you've got your hand by your head underneath your head , or you can have the arm extended out underneath your ear .
Again , if I was with you , I'd be getting you in a really good alignment position . This is one of the ones where it's quite crucial where your hips are in space , because if they're even a fraction too far back behind you , you're going to feel it completely differently .
So this is one of the ones where I'll teach it and I'll go around and I'll move somebody's hip forwards a little bit and they'll go oh , and they suddenly start to feel it in their glutes much more .
Oh right .
Or the side of the leg . So there's lots of variations of that exercise you can do . Have you heard of oysters or clams ?
No .
That's one . So both of your legs are bent feet together and you're effectively opening from your thigh bones . The knee lifts up . It's like a clam shell or an oyster shell opening and then you close the leg down . You can do it with a band wrapped around your thigh as well .
To increase the resistance .
Exactly you get a little bit of resistance , but even that's a good one for the mind to muscle thing . You can flap your leg around as much as you like , and not see or feel anything .
But if you're really engaging and focusing on what you're moving and why you're moving it and keeping your pelvis stable , you're really going to notice the difference in that exercise . I think that's one of the misconceptions . People think Pilates is easy .
If you watch someone doing it , you might not think it looks like much , and then you get on the mat and do it yourself and then you start to actually feel it in your body .
Yeah .
So those ones definitely in that sidelined position . I've had some runners in my class who they they it's a love hate one . They like it because they know it's good for them . But especially if your hips are tight it can be a bit nasty .
All right . So that's the clam .
The clams , and yet just any sidelined leg work . Again , I can give you some links to these .
Great , yeah , no , no , it is definitely be useful . And also in terms of , let's say , tight hamstrings . Are there anything for that ?
Yeah , so we do quite a simple hamstring stretch . So , lying down on the floor , again you can use a band , so having your your leg in a 90 degree position , trying to keep your thigh bones still in space and just extending the knee to reach the leg to the ceiling .
So you've probably done that before , kind of bending and straightening the leg , but the key again is to keep your thigh bone stable . So if your leg is moving in and out from the leg sorry , from the body then you're going to be using your hip more than getting that lengthening into the back of the leg .
So again , it's just that really building awareness of what's actually moving , what you want to be getting out of the exercise , rather than just moving the leg and hoping for the best .
Yeah , so that's it .
Repeat that again , that's the , so you're lying down on your back .
Yeah .
You can have one leg , just the foot on the floor . Bring your other leg up . We call it a single knee fold .
Yeah .
And your thigh bone , if you think , is perpendicular to the floor and your knee is in a right angle and then you extend from the leg up and then come down , so extending the back of the knee , and you can wrap a band around your foot again to get a little bit of resistance and really think pushing up into the band . And that's one of the ones .
If you , even if you're not using a band , but you flex your ankle and pull your toes down towards your face , you're going to feel it much more into the back of the leg as well , and that's one we often do in class , and I'll say how everyone's hamstrings feeling , and it's always the same answer Tight .
So even if you're not a runner , I think we , lots of people , would have quite tight hamstrings , yeah , yeah .
Yeah , because I think with with running you , you do put your body through quite a lot of stress , yeah , and it kind of I don't know kind of shortens , exactly , you know , because I know when I was kind of trying to do , you know , more swimming and whatever , I had really bad ankle flexibility and a lot of people could say , oh , that's because you're running
, because you then they tend to . You know , you tend to not get that flexibility , whereas you need to have that ankle flexibility if you want to swim you know , do a proper kick or that kind of thing , yeah , definitely .
Again it's a bit like what I said about the spine moving in all directions . You want to move your joints in the directions that they can go in . With the hips , for example , because we sit so much , we have a lot of hip flexion , but for most people it's quite difficult to get hip extension .
And that's another one with that side lying If you have your legs straight . Trying to get your leg to go behind your spine so behind the body , is often quite challenging just to get that extension at the hip . Like I said , we can go forwards , but going backwards is quite challenging for most people .
So , and that gave me an idea about , well , in terms of the structure of your class . So how does it work , let's say for someone you know who starts out , so is it kind of an hour long ?
class 55 minutes . Yes , almost an hour .
OK , so and then . So , how do you start ? And then is it start middle and then end ?
Yeah , generally it varies week to week . Like I said , I always try and teach the bodies in the room . Sometimes I'll have an idea of what I want to teach and what I want to do and people will come in and I'll say we're going to start standing and everyone will grown , and so we end up lying down and starting lying down .
So I try to match the energy and sometimes I'll say no , we are going to start standing , that's what we've planned .
But what do you mean ? Start standing .
So everyone's got their mat and you . There's various start positions , so generally we've got standing . So you'd start from a standing position feet , hip distance , finding a neutral spine and then you start to move from there . Or you might start the class lying down , so again , you take a moment to find your neutral spine lying on the floor .
You can start from four point kneeling , so it kind of varies . I try to mix it up so that we don't do the same class every week , so you can't . You build on exercises and we'll always refer back to certain things and there's some exercises that I always teach just because they're really good ones or I know the class needs it .
But yeah , it's quite varied . So we tend to do some kind of warm up , often moving the spine , getting the hips to move , getting the shoulders to move , and then you build on that .
So the meatier part of the class is when we do more things like the hundred , and we do things you know to get the body , and then we either finish the class back up in standing , so everyone's ready to walk out , or , if it's been a particularly challenging class , I often like to get them to lie down and we have more of a relaxation , focus on the breath ,
a bit of a cool down towards the end .
All right . In this episode of Brian's Rompod , we've explored the exciting synergy between running and Pilates , shedding light on how this dynamic combination can revolutionize your fitness journey . Running offers incredible benefits of both physical health and mental well-being , but it also presents the risk of injuries due to repetitive impact on joints and muscles .
That's where Pilates steps in as a game changer . Lucy Tomlinson , the founder of Wellcome Pilates , shared invaluable insights into the transformative power of Pilates for runners . Pilates , a series of low impact exercises , strengthens muscles , enhances posture and boosts flexibility . When integrated into your running routine , pilates offers a multitude of advantages .
One of the key takeaways is Pilates' focus on core strength , which plays a pivotal role in maintaining balance and stability during running . This core emphasis can lead to improved running form , increased efficiency , enhanced performance and reduced injury risk .
Moreover , the emphasis on control breathing in Pilates can improve your breath control , crucial for endurance and stamina on the track . Lucy also highlighted how Pilates can target essential areas like hip and hamstring strength with specific exercises like side lining , lying clam shell and single knee fold .
Proper hip alignment is a paramount to prevent injuries , making Pilates an indispensable tool for runners . What's fantastic about Pilates is its adaptability , catering to various proficiency levels . Beginners can start with basics and breathing techniques , while advanced participants can challenge themselves with more complex routines .
Lucy introduced us to BAR , a dynamic fusion of ballet and Pilates , offering yet another avenue for strength and flexibility enhancement , particularly beneficial for runners . In a typical Pilates class , you embark on a journey from warm-up routines through muscle building exercises , including with relaxation and breath work .
The beauty of Pilates lies in its flexibility to match the energy in the room , ensuring a personalized workout experience for everyone . In summary , the combination of running the Pilates is a true game changer for those seeking to elevate their fitness , enhance their performance and nurture their overall well-being .
So , whether you're a seasoned runner or just starting out , consider lacing up your running shoes , unrolling your Pilates mat and embarking on a transformative fitness journey that promises strength , flexibility and an injury-free stride . Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to sharing more insights into your running journey in future episodes .
Don't forget to listen next week in our final episode of Brian's Rumpod Pilates Trilogy .