Exercises | Pilates with Priya

Roller Addiction. Why Rollers are the Bees Knees.

21 June, 2013 Priya Tew

It’s official. I have a roller addiction. There I’ve said it! Fortunately some of those in my classes seem to have a similar roller love. So why do I love them so? Here’s a little run down on how a roller can make Pilates even better:

1. They make you work harder, place your body on an unstable surface and suddenly that core has to work extra hard.

2. Tension release – just lying on one of these babies can release in the shoulder blades and upper body.

3. Massage – it’s not my favourite thing to use a roller for but boy does it do you good.

4. They are so versatile, I use them for lying exerises, prone exercises, seated, stood and under the sacrum too.

5. Coming off the roller is amazing, that moment when you lie down on the floor and stretch out – its sheer bliss.

Here are my top 5 roller exercises:

1. Single Leg Stretch: lie on the roller in neutral, keep the shoulder blades open and touching it, come to a double knee fold then on an out breath stretch the leg away and on an in breath return it to the starting position. Repeat on the other side staying heavy through the pelvis and lumbar spine and pinned to the roller the whole time.

2. Shoulder Drops: great for tension release in the shoulders. Lying on the roller, breath and and lift both arms to the ceiling, hands over shoulders and hands shoulder distance apart. Breath out and reach towards the ceiling, breath in and drop the shoulder blades back down to touch the roller. Use the core to stabilise the pelvis and keep you as still as possible on the roller.

3. Shoulder Bridge: Lying down on the mat with the roller under your feet, knees bent, in neutral with the core engaged. Breath out and roller up to a shoulder bridge, breath in to hold and breath out to slowly roll down through the spine keeping the roller still and the legs in line. Really uses the hamstrings in the legs and the gluts in the bum!

4. CAT: Come to hands and knees, place the roller under your shins. As you breath out roll up to CAT (arched back) position, breath in to hold and then breath out as you gently release back to neutral.

5. Swimming: Lie on your tummy with the roller in front of you, holding around each end, arms outstretched. Engage the core and relax in the legs and bum. As you breathe out keep the shoulder blades pulled down in the back but lift your hand, elbow and 1 side of the roller off the floor. Breath in and let it come down to the floor. The whole time keep the pelvis still and try to think about lifting from your core and not your shoulder.

I hope that inspires you to get on a roller! If you need to buy one and are local I can order them in for you.

Priya x

Strong Sides, Strong Cores.

13 July, 2014 Priya Tew

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been shifting the focus in my classes. We’ve focused more on the sides of the body, thinking about these being “long and strong”, about them being “heavy and holding you down on the mat” and about “lifting from the sides of the body”.

It’s been an interesting experiment and has led to some great feedback of people feeling they have worked harder or reporting their obliques have been aching a couple of days after class.

Sometimes we can over-focus on the core muscles and forget about the rest of the body. Bringing that body awareness to the obliques just makes the exercises slightly different and can make you more effective.

So if you want to try a slightly different emphasis give it a go…. even in your day to day activities focus on keeping the sides of the body and the waist muscles lengthened, tall and strong. Think about not “squidging” in the sides but standing tall. Draw in the core muscles as well and see how you feel.

Pilates, Height and Heels.

13 July, 2014 Priya Tew

I used to be a heels addict. I seriously lived in them.Being married to a man who is over 6 foot meant I pretty much had to in order to get to a sensible height beside him. I found heels themselves quite comfortable but when in flats for too long I always got back ache…. now I know why and what I was doing to my pelvis and hamstrings – they were TIGHT!

So after giving birth to a small one and then launching into a Pilates business I have had no time to wear my heels and little need for them. I know now why… it’s not just the fact that I am either chasing a toddler around the place, crawling on my hands and knees or barefoot in the studio…… Pilates itself has stretched me. I’ve literally grown 4cm! Yes really. I was dubious and made the nurse check 4 times, however I’ve been trained in taking heights and she was doing it perfectly. I’ve gone from 164cm to 168cm in 2 years.

Suddenly I can see why I feel comfortable without my heels. It’s certainly not the main reason most people would take up Pilates but it is a good by-product if you want a little extra height 🙂

Pelvic Girdle Pain and Pilates.

30 July, 2025 Priya Tew

Working with pregnant ladies I often end up advising and chatting about pelvic pain. I also have a few other non-pregnant ladies with this type of pain, who had this type of pain in pregnancy and it’s continued after birth.

Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) has been renamed Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. Big terms for pain in the joint that make up the pelvis, the syphysis pubis joint and the front and the sacroiliac joint at the back. Pain can be felt in the lower back, groin, thighs, hips and pelvic floor. This can lead to pain walking, climbing the stairs, getting in/out of the car and bath, straddling, turning in bed and standing on one leg.

There are many reasons suggested as to why this pain can occur, in some cases the pelvic joints can be damaged or weak, there could be a biomechanical problem or it could be due to hormones. Between 14-22% of pregnant ladies get PGP and in many it is a random thing that cannot be predicted!

Pilates can really help prevent and minimise PGP. In my ante-natal classes we focus on strengthening the muscles above and below the pelvis, so helping the pelvis remain strong. We strengthen the core muscles and also muscles in the thighs, legs and bottom. For example a pelvic tilt or small roll up can strengthen the core and modified squats and oysters can strengthen the gluts and thighs muscles.

If you get pelvic pain then here are my top tips:
See a physiotherapist. In Southampton you can self-refer to the obstetric physio, which is an amazing thing. the midwifes will pass on the number to you. A physio will assess your pain, range of function and possibly realign your pelvis.
Once you have seen the physio, then Pilates exercises can help strengthen you to minimise any further pain. Try a one to one session for some specially tailored exercises to do at home or attend a class.
Remain active within the limits of your pain, keeping active is important and will help, but obviously you don’t want to be in constant pain, so you will need to judge how much you can do.
Avoid activities that make it worse, standing on one leg often does this or having the legs too wide apart. Try keeping some activites seated.
Using a pillow between your legs when sleeping can provide relief for some ladies.
Ask for help when you need it!

Priya will be releasing her own worksheets to help with this area and her own Pilates in Pregnancy DVD very soon, contact us to pre-order.

To book a one to one session click here.

Pelvic Floor, use it or lose it.

8 June, 2012 Priya Tew

This week in my classes, the pelvic floor has come up a few times. Now as a dietitian I end up talking about bowels a lot and as a Pilates instructor I now get to talk about pelvic floors – you can see how glam I am 😉 , I thought I’d add a quick blog post on it to help you out.

In Pilates we use the “CORE” muscles these include the “transversus abdominis” (TA) muscle, which is similar to a corset, wrapping round the body, I describe it as being below the belly button, and the pelvic floor.

The muscles of the pelvic floor can be thought of as being like a hammock going from your front to your back passage, holding everything in! When these muscles are weak most people know it can result in stress incontinence, but did you also know the pelvic floor muscles aid the emptying of your bowel and bladder, and they can make sex more enjoyable!

So how do you find these muscles? It sounds crude but I’d suggest when you go for a wee try stopping the slow of urine part way through and this will show you were there muscles are. Or think about going on a long car journey and being desperate for a wee but having a husband (like mine) who refuses to pull into the services 😉 It’s those muscles you have to use to hold it in!

Your pelvic floor is pretty much like the foundation of a house, if that is strong you’ll function better. After a while in Pilates you learn to get both your TA and pelvic floor muscles firing when you are doing exercises, but in the early stages you may need to remember to engage both of these seperately. What will end up happening is when you contract one the other will co-contract.

So I’d encourage you to start training your pelvic floor and keep using my reminders in class to check you’ve got your CORE engaged. Use it or Lose it 😉

New Ventures

31 March, 2012 Priya Tew2 Comments

This week it’s been all go in the studio. The redecoration of one wall has been completed (rest of the walls will be done in stages as my handyman has to work around classes!). It’s looking fresh and I’m itching to get something arty on it. Ideas welcome.

The filming of our first Pilates video has been completed too. It’s currently being edited and then I need to do a voice over on it, but so far the edited bits I’ve seen look good. This video is for all of you who come to classes and want to do some Pilates in the week and also for anyone who is interested in trying Pilates out at home. It’s not aimed at taking the Pilates world by storm but is more about catering for those who aren’t that into big fitness fads and just want a friendly voice to talk them through their exercise at home. Here’s a few photo’s of the film star in action….

Priya Single leg stretch — Single Leg Stretch

Excitingly this week a new instructor has also started working with me – Faye is taking the Wed 7pm class. She is also an advanced Level 3 instructor with a caring, lovely nature who will talk you through Pilates and ensure you do it correctly. In fact I’d definitely say she is nicer than me! I’ve been quite mean in my classes this week with planks to side plank rotations and some nasty variations on press ups 😉

New ventures being planned include a makeover on my website and the studio is going to have some proper storage built in, so long wobbly bookcases!!

I’m excited….can you tell?

Stretching is great :)

22 July, 2025 Priya TewLeave a Comment

This week has been my first full week back doing full-on cardio classes at the gym. As many of you will know I don’t just teach Pilates… currently I teach 8 Pilates classes and then I have a back to back Step Aerobics followed by Spin session on a Tuesday and a Step followed by a Body Conditioning class on a Thursday. I love teaching these classes but they can be quite tiring so I’m trying to look after myself in between classes with good nutrition, plenty of hydration and hopefully some sleep! Having a baby means I have to dash back from classes as quickly as possible, jump in the shower and quickly feed her so she can get to sleep. What I noticed today was due to the rush home I hadn’t stretched fully and suddenly had tight, tight hamstrings…. ouch.

Tight hamstrings can affect your posture, your movement, stop you using your abdominals correctly and lead to tight back muscles. If you usually have tight hamstrings it lead to a tucked under pelvis as part of the hamstrings function is to keep the pelvis aligned. When muscles are tight, they are weak. This means they can’t hold the pelvis in position properly 🙁 So you end up with a tilted pelvis, you can’t use your core muscles properly and your body compensates, meaning it all comes out of line and you get backache.

Hoe do you know if your hamstrings are tight? Good question. According to these guys http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/hamstrings/tighthams/hastringstretches.php you should be able to lie down, with one leg extended on the mat and the other leg in the air, foot towards ceiling, this leg should go to 80-90 degrees comfortably. Give it a go. Is your leg staying down on the mat? Check your spine, are you still in neutral? If the answer is No, you need to take the raised leg further away from the body and do some hamstring stretches.

So tonight at the end of Pilates we stretched out using resistance bands. It felt good. After everyone had gone I went back in the studio and had a good long stretch using a band….oh my, that was needed 🙂

If like me you rush around and sometimes, (well actually in my case often) forget to devote proper time to stretching try and build some in this weekend. Be it in front of the TV, whilst out in the garden or whilst waiting for your roast dinner to cook…your body will thank you for it!

Let me know how it goes…comment below or send me a tweet (@dietitianuk).

Pilates can definitely help hips!

13 July, 2014 Priya TewLeave a Comment

For the past few months I’ve been working with 2 lovely older ladies who have both had double hip replacements. I must admit I was a little dubious as to how things were going to work at the start of our time together, as I hadn’t worked with this type of hip issues before, but we have become good friends as these ladies really enjoy their classes. In fact when I had to cancel the other week they not only missed the class but felt a noticeable difference in their strength over the week.

What excites me about working with these ladies is seeing the functional difference in them. Both ladies are noticeably stronger now, their balance is improving and they feel more confident doing things like getting in and out of chairs and cars. Very excitingly both ladies can now get down to the floor unaided and one of them can get up from the floor unaided! This is a major achievement and has shown how Pilates can really strengthen bodies and change your day to day living. I’m hoping that in a few months time both ladies will be even stronger and have less pain, more mobility and flexibility too. They will be climbing mountains soon!

In fitness, one size does not fit all.

31 March, 2012 Priya TewLeave a Comment

Skimming through a fitness magazine this morning whilst feeding the baby and this phrase leapt out at me.

“In fitness, one size does not fit all”

I LOVE IT.

To me that is completely how I like to teach. I always have a rough lesson plan but am ready to adapt the session dependant on who attends, how the class are feeling, how I am feeling and how many are there. I also adapt each exercise to a certain level dependant on the class and may have different people doing the same exercise at different levels. That way everyone gets the workout they want. Individuality is the key in my mind. We all have different bodies and different personalities so surely we all need different ways of exercising too. With Pilates you get that. Everyone works at their own level, some may add in an extra lever (arm/leg), some may have their head, neck and shoulders raised off the mat, some may use a ball as an aid. Others may take a break and have a snooze (its allowed, the break that is, maybe not the snooze!). In the case of post natal Pilates we also work at the need and request of the babies!! Mums dip in and out to feed or cuddle babes as needed. In my case yesterday with Little Miss Grump I had to feed and cuddle whilst teaching the class. Thank goodness I’m a woman so can multi-task 🙂

So however you feel today and whatever type of body shape, size and personality you are, get active in some way. Dance around the kitchen, go for a walk, go kite surfing, do some gardening…..or come to Pilates 😉

Rolling away those aches.

31 March, 2012 Priya TewLeave a Comment

I’ve finally treated myself and bought some Pilates rollers. Funny way to treat myself I know, but I do love rollers. For those of you now in the know this is a roller… you lie on them on your backs and they make you more unstable so its harder work doing your basic exercises.

This week I’ve introduced them gently to most of my classes. Monday evening (the rowdy lot) I went in to find one person stood on their roller, one person with one above their head and lots of giggles. I’m not 100% sure how the rollers went down with these guys, there were a few mumbles that they were too firm to lie on, and they certainly made people concentrate hard and work hard as there was little of the usual chatter going on. Hopefully over time we shall get used to them in class. So far we’ve just done very gentle exercises on them, but will hopefully work up to removing both legs from the mat and doing some One leg Stretches etc…

As I had a smaller class for post natal Pilates we also used the rollers. I wasn’t sure how this would go down but the mummies loved them. Mainly because of the way you can hug the roller with your shoulder blades and get a really, really good upper back stretch. Gets rid of the breastfeeding/carrying baby tension. I think these will be coming out regularly with this class.

After all the fuss my husband was keen to join in so last night he had a bit of roller action too. He actually quite liked just lying on them. Bit of a funny scene as the two of us just lay stretched out on the rollers for a while, till baby Tew needed some cuddles, then she came in too and watched mummy demo some moves. I am the family entertainment.

Category: Exercises