Balance Life

Who Me? How I Became a Pilates Instructor

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Polestar Educator Cindy Kneiser explains how a new career in Pilates worked for her! Who me? The question came toward the end of a private Pilates session with the instructor that I had been working with for about eight years. We were almost done and I was doing mermaid on the reformer.  I knew she had asked me a question, but it seemed so out of the blue that I couldn’t process it. Thinking I must have heard her incorrectly I asked her to repeat her question. Maybe I did hear her correctly. That is when I asked, “you think I should become a Pilates teacher?” I had been working in technology sales for more than ten years and was getting very bored. My current position was winding down and I hadn’t started looking for anything else. At the same time, I was seeing a career psychologist to help determine what I should do next. Just the same it never dawned on me to leave the corporate world. Then, a personality profile that I had completed with the psychologist showed that I would make a good teacher. Of course, I thought. You don’t work in technology sales without being able to teach clients why the new expensive tech solution is something they need when none of their competitors are spending money on it. But, did that mean I could teach people why Pilates could help them stay strong and flexible while enhancing their ability to do just about any other activity they were interested in doing? Light bulb in a handWeeks passed and I kept going to my two private Pilates sessions every week. My instructor brought it up again. I questioned her about why she thought I would be good. It turned out she was seeing the same things that the personality profile showed. I started to connect the dots and thought this might be something to consider. I did a little research into different teacher training programs and quickly decided that if I was going to do this I wanted to be comprehensively trained from a school that qualified for PMA certification. I wanted to make sure that I was well qualified to teach; I was going to do this right. Sidewalk chalk that says "You Got This" on asphalt. Even though I live in Philadelphia, a major metropolitan area, there were not many options. I had long believed in the therapeutic healing properties of Pilates. It made sense to me that a school founded by a physical therapist would take a scientific approach to Pilates. My logical mind liked that. This led me to Polestar. It was also the school that my teacher had been trained by. I considered other schools and really wanted to find an option that would not require a hotel or long drive. In the end, I chose Polestar and took the training in Burlington, VT. It was a long drive, but it was also where my husband grew up and his parents still lived there.  In the end, I did have a long drive, but I would not have a to stay in a hotel. The training was intense.  I was surprised by how much there was to learn.  After all, I had been doing Pilates for 8 years.  I thought for sure I knew how to do the exercises.  Turns out it takes a lot more than knowing the exercises to be a Pilates Instructor.  In addition to learning how to cue and formulate a workout, Polestar takes the time to make sure you understand why you are doing what you are doing not just how to do it.  A lot of time is spent prompting the student to think through their decision-making process to ensure that when they graduate they can work with people in an effective manner that helps them reach their fitness goals. The educators and mentors truly care about the students in a way that makes you feel like family.  As I planned my Pilates career and determined that I wanted to open a studio I knew that I also wanted to work with Polestar to bring Comprehensive Teacher Training to the Philadelphia area. In the fall of 2017 it became a reality. Now I am the instructor asking my clients to consider becoming Pilates teachers. Surprisingly I have not missed the corporate world.  It used to be that every couple of years I would get bored with my job and start looking for something new or different.  Now, I truly believe that I have found what I was meant to do.  Several years have passed and rather than becoming bored, I have become more obsessed and engaged with Pilates and the Pilates community. Visit our Course offerings to explore how you can become a Pilates instructor! Click here for Course offerings Learn more about Polestar Educator Cindy Kneiser and her studio at WashCrossPilates.com

Pilates is for Every Body

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When you imagine a Pilates aficionado, you probably think of a young, thin, healthy and physically active human. I am none of those things.
Please Allow me to change that preconceived and incorrect notion.  Pilates, also known as Controlology, was actually designed to be rehabilitative. I’m 50 years. I am obese. I exist with an autoimmune disease called myasthenia gravis, which causes severe muscle weakness. I have had this disease since I was 14 years old. As you can see I am not your typical Pilates aficionado. I was introduced to Pilates by my physical therapist, Emelia Brogna. She felt Pilates was a perfect fit for me because of the reformer helps you complete movements which is a real issue for me because I have a hard time completing the movement because my muscles get so weak and fatigued. I had no cell memory of certain movements because my body has had this condition for so long. As my physical therapy sessions were coming to an end, Emelia suggested I meet Arica Bronz, who is one of the amazing Pilates instructors at All Wellness.
Together, Amelia and Erica designed a program for me to start with very simple stretching and range of motion movements. In discovering how my muscles worked, we were able to design a program that would help improve my core strength and my balance. Emphasis on balance because I have been known to fall and I am not able to get up without help.
In 2015 I started a clinical trial drug that helped increase my muscle strength. We all knew it was a temporary fix. we seized the opportunity to try to make the most of this new strength and build up as much strength and muscle as possible while we had the chance. Use of the reformer, the Trap table, some stretching with bands and sitting on a Yoga ball has increased my flexibility, strength and endurance in ways you cannot imagine. I am a person that couldn’t even sit up from a laying position. I can now do a modified Pilates program. There are things I can do that were unimaginable for me two and a half years ago. My posture is much improved. My breathing is easier. I have better range of motion. The flexibility I have gained is immeasurable. What I am trying to say in this rambling statement is simply this, Pilates is for all abilities, all sizes, all ages. Programs can be modified for your physical needs, if need be. Think outside the box and you may just discover your body can do things that were once unimaginable.

~ Roseanne Lathbury, All Wellness Client and Lover of Pilates

Originally posted at All Wellness, Polestar Host Site, Physical Therapy and Pilates Studio. Roseanne Lathbury shares her experience with Polestar Educator and Physical Therapist Arica Bronz.

Do you have a Polestar Pilates Success story or Testimonial?  We would love to share it! – Email: info@polestarpilates.com

Running into Runner’s Knee? The Science Behind Injury, Prevention and Treatment

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Discovering the science behind the injury and how to prevent and treat PFPS.

Many of our online followers have been asking us about patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), more commonly known as runner’s knee.  What is it?  What exercises can prevent it?  What exercises can treat it?  With the abundance of conflicting information on the internet, finding answers to these questions can feel like a wild goose chase. We called on Juan Nieto, Polestar educator and co-founder/master trainer of Runity, to shed some light on the science behind runner’s knee and what you can do to prevent and treat it. Among runners, lower extremity injuries are very common– up to 79.3% of runners will experience these injuries, about half of which occur in the knee (Van Gent et al., 2007).  Patellofemoral pain syndrome, also called anterior knee pain syndrome or runner’s knee, describes an overuse disorder that occurs in the patellofemoral region and results in pain behind or around the anterior knee.  The causes of PFPS can vary widely due to the complex interactions between intrinsic anatomic and external training factors (Collado et al., 2010).  In other words, runner’s knee describes the symptoms of a painful knee injury, not the cause of the injury.  The cause is subjective and depends on the runner’s anatomy, strategy, and training. Searching the internet to find specific exercises for your runner’s knee will produce a mixed bag of results due to the subjective nature of the injury.  Depending on whether your injury is associated with vastus medialis/vastus lateralis imbalance, hamstring tightness, or iliotibial tract tightness, the best exercises to treat it will vary.   What can you do to prevent runner’s knee?  According to Juan, there’s no standard set of exercises to prevent the injury since it depends on the person and their movement strategy.  When choosing exercises, it’s important to pick exercises that bring relief and do not flare up pain.  The only true method of prevention is to make sure that the tissue capacity of the runner is bigger than the workload.  In other words, the runner has to be fit enough to run the distance they want to run and allow the appropriate resting periods in between to let the tissues recover.  Additionally, technique retraining could reduce the amount of ground reaction forces that the runner is receiving, meaning they can run the same volume but reduce the workload for the tissues. If you already have runner’s knee, what can you do to treat it?  Again, there’s no magic routine to treat the condition because causes vary.  The best thing you can do is see a movement specialist who can conduct a proper assessment and use sound clinical reasoning to design an exercise plan, test it out, and modify it as necessary to settle on a final selection of exercises that create gradual, positive adaptation (strengthening) without irritation.  If you have runner’s knee, it’s important to remember to avoid irritative exercises and to try to resist running too much too soon.  Most importantly, KEEP MOVING!  Movement heals and having positive movement experiences throughout the body will quicken the healing process for your injury. Want to learn more about efficient, pain-free running?