Want to make sure you are getting the most out of your Pilates classes? Pilates Director Teri Lewis takes over our blog to talk about how to maximize your workout to achieve the best results.
Pilates exercises strengthen your abdominals, lower back, hips, and thighs, which will make your regular daily activities easier.
Here are the top three ways you can maximize your results while practicing the Pilates discipline:
1. Be Efficient
At times, you may find the need to make exercise harder, other times, easier. There may be times you find it necessary to take the pressure off your neck or back while keeping the challenge in your abdominals. Learning how to modify each exercise will insure your success as you work towards any fitness goal.
2. Be Focused
It is more effective to focus on a few precise and perfect movements as opposed to many incomplete ones. You will gain more strength from a few energetic, concentrated efforts than from several repetitions of listless movements. When you continually practice precision, it will soon become second nature, and carry over into everyday life as grace and economy of movement.
3. Be Consistent
Make time in your schedule to be consistent, especially in the beginning. Participating in Pilates once a month will give you a great workout, but if you consistently participate in Pilates once or twice a week, you will build steady progress. Steady progress transitions into faster and more complete results.
Consider your Pilates session as your reward, your break from a hectic day, a gift you give to yourself so that you can be your best for your family and the important people in your life.
Pilates is more than a workout; it’s an exercise discipline and it’s a process. Whether your goal is increased flexibility, better posture or a flatter tummy, being efficient, focused, and consistent will catapult you into success.
Thanks, Teri!
To find out more about Pilates programming at the club, contact Pilates Director, Teri Lewis at 954.635.4373.
It’s that time of year when people begin to feel thankful and grateful. 
I am very thankful for our members who inspire me by living a healthy lifestyle. You make us a community, a family, and much more than just a gym. As the club’s Director of Special Events, I recently wrapped up a fundraising Spin-a-Thon for SIDES (Sydney’s Incredible Defeat of Ewing’s Sarcoma). Members and associates joined together raising over $20,000 in less than four weeks. The money will help a new 501(c)3 organization get off the ground. I am thankful to have a position that allows me to witness these types of actions every day at Midtown.
As we head into Thanksgiving week, I look forward to time with my family and friends. It is our goal to help make your holiday week a little less stressful and to help you stay on track by maintaining your fitness habits. Here is what we have going on this week.
Thanksgiving Day Group Ex Schedule
7-8 am: Cycle with Melissa
8-9am: Fit Dance with Manny
8:30-9:30am: Cycle with Beth
9-10am: Circuit Challenge with Christina
9am-10am: Aquafit with Pocho
9:45-10:45am: Cycle with Wendy
10am-11am: Pilates Yoga Fusion with Sol
It’s okay to be selfish when it comes to your health and give to yourself first so you can give to others even more. Make your personal fitness a priority each day to decrease stress and make for a happier holiday season.
Why not take the long weekend as an opportunity to try something new at the club? Play some tennis or do a bootcamp class with the family. Try a TRX or Crossfit class. Your body and overall health are worth the investment and your brain will thank you for mixing it up!
Finally, we encourage members to bring a toy for our Annual Toy Drive benefiting the Chris Evert Children’s Hospital. Drop it in one of our donation boxes and help bring smiles to many children this holiday season.
Thank you for your generous hearts and for being a member of Midtown Athletic Club.
What are you most grateful for this Thanksgiving?
Perhaps you have seen Midtown members working up a great sweat in Spinning class. I love the heart-pumping adrenaline during indoor cycle classes followed by the relaxing “Spin Buzz” that lasts for hours after class has ended. I thought no other cardio workout would compare to spinning euphoria; that is, until I decided to shake up my workout routine by trying each of the cardio dance classes offered at the club.
If you have heard Jennifer Lopez’s new song, “On the Floor,” then you know what I was doing on Friday at 11:30am during Manny’s Fit Dance class.
The group exercise schedule is packed with popular cardio dance classes from Fit Dance with Manny Castro (as seen on “Live to Dance” and “America’s Got Talent”), to Latin Dance with Pocho Gremli, to Zumba with Sol Beraza, to Dance Tribal Lab with Sebastian Santos. I was thrilled to discover the choreography in all of the classes is easy enough for anyone to follow, yet still an intense workout for all levels.
Age and dance experience do not matter. Whether you’re young or young-at-heart, a talented dancer or a willing-to-learn beginner, you will still feel like a superstar after class.
I have taken each of these classes and I find myself smiling the entire time, no matter who is teaching.
I have re-discovered the “Dance Buzz,” which is clearly the reason our dance classes are packed and a regular part of many of your fitness routines.
I adore the instructors. Each one is kind, motivating, and completely unique!
However, there are a few constants across each class. Each promises a great cardio workout, a lot of sweat, and the use of muscles and body parts you never knew you had. I discovered some leg muscles that have never been sore until doing the Salsa, Meringue, and some “drop it low” moves, which I opted to keep a little higher. I also met a few new members who kept me going with encouraging words and an occasional, “Go Carole! Go Carole!”
If your fitness routine needs a new “Buzz,” I encourage you to try one of our cardio dance classes for a workout experience that’s both fun and energizing. Classes are offered mornings and evenings as well as on the weekend to accommodate a variety of lifestyle schedules. If you are too shy to introduce yourself to others, bring a friend along with you!
What’s your favorite song to dance to?
