Pilates continues to be listed as one of the top fitness options in the world as evidenced, for example, in the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) survey of 2010 Fitness Trends.  With this continued interest in the Pilates Method, there is no better time for New Orleans’ area trainers to be certified to teach mat and equipment-based Pilates.  Qualified instructors can teach in health clubs, private studios, gyms, therapy environments or even in clients’ homes.  Additionally, physical therapists, nurses, rehabilitation therapists and others in the medical community may find opportunities to use Pilates techniques in their work.  If you’ve ever considered becoming Pilates certified, now is certainly the time.  To help you decide, here are 5 factors to consider if you’re thinking of becoming a Pilates instructor.

1.  You are ready to put in the time and energy.

Becoming certified to teach Pilates is a process.  While there are companies that are willing to give you a certification after a day’s worth of training or even after merely an online test, qualified schools will require a longer commitment.  Mat Pilates certification usually takes anywhere from 1 to 3 full weekends of study with student teaching hours and a practical exam.  Full apparatus certification can take a year or more, with a required 600 hours of training, apprentice hours and study.   Learning the Pilates Method is process.  By going through the process with a qualified instructor, you will be more credible in the Pilates community and with your clientele.  Additionally, as we talked about in my previous post, it’s also an expensive endeavor.  You’ll want to be ready for the commitment.

2.  You enjoy teaching people.

The bodies (people) that will be in front of you to teach come with personalities of all types.  You need to find joy in not only Pilates, but in teaching Pilates to your clients – there is a difference.  If you love to see the look in peoples’ eyes when they “get it” after you’ve explained something, then you probably like to teach.  If you merely like to practice Pilates and have a difficult time working with others, teaching may not be for you.

3.  You are willing to learn more than just the exercises.

Anyone can memorize exercises; it takes someone truly interested in Pilates to learn the required anatomy and physiology.  Excellent instructors know what muscles are working, which ones are stabilizing, which ones need to be worked and which muscles need to be released in a student’s body.  And every body is different.

4.   You are able to communicate in a variety of ways.

Every person learns differently.  As a Pilates instructor, you will need to be able to communicate to people who are visual learners and need to see something in order to understand it.  There are those who are auditory learners who will need you to explain things verbally and there are tactile people who need instructors to physically put their bodies in the places that they need to be in.  Pilates instructors should be excellent communicators in a variety of ways and should be able recognize what type of learner is in front of them – maybe not at first, but definitely within the first three sessions.

5.  You are uniquely you!

There is a misconception among the general public that Pilates is for, and taught by, women, dancers, the very thin, the incredibly flexible and people with dramatic names like Mari, Ana and Moira.  And there are people like that who take and teach the Method, however, the majority of instructors come in all different ages, shapes and sexes.  You don’t need to be a woman with the flexibility of a Russian gymnast to teach Pilates.  If you have the drive, the attitude and are self-motivated to continue your career, you will be able to teach Pilates.

Pilates instructors come from all different walks of life – personal trainers, physical therapists, dancers, even lawyers.  They all have a handful of things in common in addition to the 5 factors above: they all are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and love to help others reach their goals.  If this positive attitude is yours, then you might be ready to teach Pilates!

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Kerrie Ann Frey is the founder and owner of Fit Mom USA, a former stroller exercise-based program that has evolved in to an online presence with fitness, wellness, and nutrition information for all men and women. Her passion for fitness began with credentials including A.C.E. PT and LWMC and grew to include her true love – Pilates. She is West Coast Pilates certified and trains clients in several studios in the New Orleans area.

When I first moved in to our new uptown apartment as a married couple, I didn’t have a sofa. My husband was happy to bring his from his old place; I was equally happy to leave it on the curb. We were young and just starting out with a strict budget for decorating. After going to a few affordable furniture stores, we settled on a sofa that lasted all of 6 months. It settled right in the center leaving whoever sat on it looking like an airplane with his wings tipped up. It was cheap and soft and we should’ve bought the more expensive one we really wanted but didn’t want to spring for at the time.

I use this analogy often when I get the initial response to the Pilates certification cost and time commitment I’m currently encouraging people to consider. This week, I’ve had to use it a little more often because I have a 3-weekend intensive certification program coming up.

“How many weekends for this? How many student teaching hours? Why this cost?”

My explanation is simple: you get what you pay for. There are Pilates certifications available that can have you taught, tested and certified to teach mat in one day. They will cost you a couple of dollars and may fulfill the CECs for another one of your certifications. But you will only get about 8 hours worth of knowledge and no opportunity to practice under the guidance of a trained instructor.

My first Pilates certification was a day long workshops and I remember leaving thinking, “There is no way I can teach this stuff. I don’t know the ‘why’ of what I’m doing and I really don’t want to hurt anyone.”

It was from that experience that I found my mentor, Cecile Bankston, Assistant Director of Kathy Corey Pilates. Kathy Corey Pilates is one of the original founding companies of the Pilates Method. Devoted to quality education and the highest standards, Kathy Corey Pilates is recognized internationally as a leader in the Pilates community.

Okay, so I’m a dork about it.

I wave that Dork Flag high because I know I am a contemporary Pilates instructor who is confident in her knowledge. The three weekends of workshop – in Mat Work, CORE Band and Magic Circle, specifically – were opportunities to work with a Master Trainer and the required student teaching hours allowed me to practice and gain the confidence necessary to work with any client. I made up the cost within three months of working part-time. When I was ready to become equipment certified, I felt prepared to take on another challenge. While I was technically “certified” to teach Pilates after that initial training, I was floundering. However, the full certification training gave me the time to practice, to ask questions, to research and to study.

I encourage anyone who is looking to become Pilates certified to look at the certifying body. Find out the lineage of the trainer; ask about the length of time for certification and what are the student teaching hours required. Find a program that is dedicated to teaching Pilates, not just certifying people to teach Pilates.

Are you absolutely infatuated with Pilates? Are you wondering if you should take the plunge? Have you been wondering about the benefits of being a Pilates instructor? Are you hoping to take your passion for fitness to a new level? Stay tuned – I’ll share my thoughts on all of that in my next post.

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Kerrie Ann Frey is the founder and owner of Fit Mom USA, a former stroller exercise-based program that has evolved in to an online presence with fitness, wellness, and nutrition information for all men and women. Her passion for fitness began with credentials including A.C.E. PT and LWMC and grew to include her true love – Pilates. She is West Coast Pilates certified and trains clients in several studios in the New Orleans area.

I wrote a blog post in mid-January called Exploring Beyond the Gym and ever since writing that post, I’ve been working on tracking down the best people in the New Orleans area to give more information about each different options.

I came across Kerrie Ann Frey on Twitter.  Kerrie Ann Frey is the founder and owner of Fit Mom USA, a former stroller exercise-based program that has evolved in to an online presence with fitness, wellness, and nutrition information for all men and women.

Kerrie Ann completed a full Pilates apparatus year-long program requiring 600 hours of study, training and apprenticeship in Louisiana. She is West Coast Pilates certified and trains clients in several studios in the New Orleans area. She loves to dispel the myth that Pilates is just for stretching.

Pilates Explained by Kerrie Ann Frey

Pilates simply is an innovative system of mind-body exercise evolved from the principles of Joseph Pilates.  Pilates is designed to dramatically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. It is not a secret sequence of movements only dancers or the elite athletes can do.  It’s not only for “this” type of body or “that” type of person.  Simply, it is a way of executing exercises to build strength, good posture and body awareness with flexibility and agility as well.  Once the basic tenets of Pilates are practiced and ingrained, they then can be brought in to more “gym-style” workouts or even tennis games or even daily movements like carrying children.

Movements are completed with attention paid to the breath, the core and the body as a whole.  When you do Pilates exercises, you are conditioning your body to be strong and flexible as a whole unit, without stress on the joints.  Pilates can be done for core strength, injury prevention, enhanced sports performance, and general good health.  You’ll also be training your balance, coordination and control as lagniappe.  Safe, effective exercises are performed either on the mat or on Pilates equipment, or apparatus, such as the Reformer, Wunda Chair, Cadillac, Spine Corrector and others.

Pilates may be performed by nearly everyone with the help of an experience, qualified trainer.  A good trainer will be fully certified, be able to help you engage both your body and your mind during a session and to safely design a program best suited for your needs.  It is an exercise program that can last a lifetime.

(side bar)

Core or “The Powerhouse”

What is the core?  The core, or powerhouse as some refer to it, is the body’s center.  It is the entire abdomen, the back, the glutes and inner and outer thighs.  Try thinking of the core as the body’s engine – once the core is strong and “turned on”, the rest of the body can move fluidly with ease.

Are you like me and a little stuck in the late 80’s and 90’s; you stick to going to the gym to get your workouts?  You’re happy with some time on the treadmill, Stairmaster, or elliptical and pushing some weights around?  Do you partake in the aerobics classes and spin classes?

Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing wrong with that (heck, that’s what I’m still doing, but not for much longer).  Getting in the gym is definitely much better than sitting back on the couch and doing nothing at all.

How to go about getting a good workout has changed quite a bit in the last few years.  The type of workouts, the variety within each type of workouts and the availability and accessibly to different workouts and exercises is better than any other time in the history of exercising. There’s a lot of diversity out there and New Orleans offers it all.

Here is a quick look at what’s available – in the next few weeks we’ll take in-depth look at each of the various workouts.

Yoga:

The word yoga means “union” in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India where yoga originated. We can think of the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit.

What is commonly referred to as “yoga” can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word asana, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses.

Asana is only one of the eight “limbs” of yoga, the majority of which are more concerned with mental and spiritual well being than physical activity. In the West, however, the words asana and yoga are often used interchangeably.

Many people think that yoga is just stretching. But while stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body through developing both strength and flexibility. This is done through the performance of poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits.

(Source: About.com)

Pliates:

Pilates called his method Contrology (from control and Greek -λογία, -logia), because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles.^[3] The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.

(Source Wikipedia)

Boot Camp Workout:

Boot camp workouts are efficient because you work your entire body– heart and muscles–by going from one exercise to another with no rest. The workouts involve calisthenics like pushups, jumping jacks, crunches and other body weight exercises…the difference lies in the intensity. In boot camp, your challenge is to take your body to its limit. You work, you sweat and, best of all, you burn calories like crazy.

(Source: About.com)

KettleBell:

Used by the Russian military and Special Forces, the kettlebell (or girya) has been touted as the most effective, efficient piece of strength training equipment available. Proponents of kettlebell training suggest that it increases strength, power, speed, co-ordination as well as core stability. Some even claim that it can replace several different forms of training and is superior to more traditional weight training.

(Source: Sport Fitness Advisor)

Crossfit:

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology. Its stated goal is to create “the quintessential athlete, equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and sprinter.”^[1] Crossfit is not sport-specific and promotes broad and general overall physical fitness.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Kickboxing:

Cardio kickboxing is an excellent way to get your whole body into shape! And while you burn, burn, burn calories, you’ll also be learning valuable self-defense moves and releasing a lot of stress. Cardio kickboxing involves a wide range of moves, combining various techniques that add up to an impressive workout. Our cardio kickboxing classes typically target all the major muscle groups – abs, legs (and buns!), arms, as well as your cardiovascular system. We combine floor exercises with cardio kickboxing techniques to offer a powerful, invigorating workout. (Source: A-Aerobic Kickboxing & American Tae Kwon Do Studio)

Home workouts:

P90X: P90X® is a revolutionary system of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts, designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. (Source: BeachBody)

Exergaming:  Exergaming (a portmanteau of “exercise” and “gaming”) is a term used for video games that also provide exercise. Exergames have one element of exercise and one element of gaming. The “gaming” aspect is a short form for video gaming. “Exergames” sub divide into two main implementations, those with a game specifically designed to use an exercise input device and those implementations using a genre of, or a generic game. (Source: ExergameFitness.com)

Is there anything else you do?  Did I forget anything?