Yoga or Pilates?

Definitions

Yoga: An ancient practice from Northern India, focusing on the physical and mental wellbeing, incorporating posture, breathing, healthy diet relaxation and meditation.

Pilates: A physical fitness system in the early 20^th century focusing on core strength and development that keep the body balanced and give support to the spine.

The area of focus

Yoga: The bringing together of the physical and spiritual, yoga is a life style approach rather than just an exercise method, aiming at flexibility and to be therapeutic, has been around some 5000 years. 

Pilates: Focus on core strength and movement based exercise, aiming towards physical strength and toning and allowing the lengthening of the spine and building strength within supporting postural muscles, has been widely practised for over 80 years.

Which to choose?

Obviously you can try both, but for a little more information this may help.

Yoga: For those focusing on flexibility and wanting a method to relieve stress and enjoy an inner peace.

Pilates: For those wanting to exercise and improve flexibility as well as strength and muscular toning. Especially within the core muscles.

Resolutions one month on

2014 a new year a new you, January has been and gone, how are those resolutions looking one month later? Are you sticking to your word and starting to see the gains, or are you feeling the strain and starting to slip? In this blog we will look at some resolutions made at Breadsall Priory and simple ways to keep to those resolutions.

Now some resolutions made by members were pretty simple, increase their training by one day, some enjoy classes and looked to try two new classes and stick to them, this is fantastic thinking, find something you enjoy, if your training is fun and you enjoy it you are much more likely to stick to it and look forward to it. It has to challenge you to change you, but it has to please you for you to come back for more. 2014 has seen an increase in classes giving more variation to an already great class time table, there is Legs, bums and tums (LBT), total body burn (TBB), early morning HIIT (high intensity interval training), with more new classes to come including METAFIT and our Technique clinics.  Another good method is to find likeminded members who enjoy their training, we are seeing great fitness groups forming, all which are very welcoming, we have strong groups for Pump Fx and Kettlercise, a rough tough bunch of Bootcampers and highly functional trainers in our circuits and TBB classes. Stick to those resolutions by joining a group.

Another method to stick to the resolutions is to take part in gym challenges. We have a year long 550 kettle bell challenge! A six week super hero team challenge which has 100 members taking part in the first week alone! Then later in the year we will see our first ever online challenge that you can do anywhere and post your achievements on our ever growing Facebook page!

Finally a great way to stick to and celebrate those resolutions is to treat yourself! Every month that goes by treat yourself to something you enjoy, new clothes, cinema trips, gigs or games. If you have that reward and incentive at the end you will be much more likely to keep with it.

So how is your new year going and what resolutions are you sticking to? We’d love to know.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Breadsall-Priory-Leisure-Club-a-Marriott-Hotel-Country-Club/126910624084898?ref=hl

WHY ARE MY HAMSTRINGS ALWAYS TIGHT?

Many people speak of tight hamstrings after running. The description has become a bit of a throw-away line when talking about one of the most common aches and pains we feel from the rigours of our training.

Many people in fact fail to maintain a neutral pelvic position as they move. This is most likely due to a lack of core strength, and Hip flexor tightness. The pelvis tilting anteriorly (forward) increases the distance between hamstring origin and insertion, lengthening the hamstring muscles and increasing tension.

It’s quite possible that your hamstrings aren't tight because they’re chronically short, it’s far more likely that the feeling of tightness is there because the hamstrings are being held in a lengthened position due to poor Pelvic position and Core weakness.

Before you spend ages performing static stretches for your hamstrings, be smart and work on building Core Strength and achieving and maintaining proper pelvic position as you move. Taking part in our technique clinic classes, pilates and yoga classes are a great way to asses posture, muscular imbalances and range of movement. 
The below link provides a video in relation to hamstring tightness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iW3C4q4QmWk

550 Kettlercise Challenge

During 2014 Kettlercise instructors Karl and Simon are participating in a team challenge. Once a month during a kettlercise class the class will be split into 2 teams. Starting at the same time each team (1 with Karl leading and 1 with Simon leading) will perform 10 different kettlebell exercises starting with 100 reps and reducing by 10 every time the exercise changes. For example 100 Squat to Press, 90 rotational Lunges, 80 Cleans etc. until we are down to 10. The first team to all finish all exercises and reps (550) wins. There will be a leader board over the year to see which team will prevail during 2014. This is a simple but great idea to boost class participation and get a buzz around the club with your members. Also it adds a friendly competitive edge for your members to push themselves and achieve better results. No matter what we say we all have a little competitive edge inside us all and a fun simple idea such as above might just bring it out and push us on to that next level of fitness.