That’s the mantra that has been causing quite a bit of a stir with more than a few hamstrings and butts lately. I keep getting text messages, emails or comments – usually two days after students had a class that uses the Pilates4Fitness FootWheels – that scream, yell and holler about what they are feeling. What do I do? Happy Dance!!
It’s not that I enjoy inflicting pain, although the first introduction to the wheels – not matter what the movement – does result in immediate attention to the legs “the day after” and I have been told I have an evil “witch-like” giggle while teaching from time to time.
Private session students report back with similar observations with our use of the Pilates Orbit. Group Class students rave about the use of the FootWheels in all the toning classes and now in the TRX sessions, as I occasionally “spice up” our work with the FootWheels.
Muy Caliente!
The wheels were introduced to the studio a little less than 9 months ago and were created to support a group class and provide the same functionality that the Balanced Body Pilates Orbit provides to my private and semi-private sessions. I simply needed a tool that was a little more compact and fluid for a small group setting, facilitating open, gracious engaging movement in a small space.
Of course, every movement made with the wheels is taken from a Pilates sequence of exercises. The exercise that is causing the most stir and heat lately, are Pelvic Lift and Frogs and Tendon Stretch.
Pelvic Lift is a bridge on the wheels very much like the sequence used on the reformer. The movemet targets the hamstrings and glutes. By “hugging the wheels” together, students work and strengthen the inner thigh, core, hamstrings. Takes a little stamina and endurance, builds a lot of heat in the body and creates a few beads of sweat on the brow.
Frogs on the wheels is absolutely perfect for the external rotators, back of the inner thigh and hamstrings. A little more fire is added to the sequence by bridging the pelvis thru the sequence. It is this particular move that has my inbox overloaded with yelps
Tendon Stretch (or Reverse Plank) on the FootWheels is one of my favorites for Beginners seeking to build core strength, while working the triceps and legs. It’s a much more fluid movement on the FootWheels and Orbit (as well as the TRX), than it is on the Wunda Chair or Reformer. The later two work the same muscles groups although in a vertically-aligned movement vs the horizontal alignment used with the wheels. Gravity is always pulling us down and Pilates equipment, tools and exercise teach the body to fight gravity and “lift in, up and out.”
Group Classes Love the Wheels!
So we are using the FootWheels with greater regularity in all the toning classes on the schedule and occasionally with the TRX classes. In fact, I have been known on occasion to use the wheels with my Intermediate Mat students for Swan or Mermaid!
In all instances, a Pilates-trained core is at the center of the work.
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Gina Jackson, is a classically trained Pilates Teacher and has been teaching along the Gold Coast of Hudson and Bergen County, NJ for the past fifteen+ years.
Certified by Power Pilates of New York, Gina has trained with Master Teachers Bob Liekens, Susan Moran and Brett Howard; loved workshop training with Cary Regan and Blossom Leilani-Crawford and has particularly enjoyed listening to the personal stories as told by Pilates Elders, Kathy Grant and Lolita San Miguel.
An active teacher and blogger, Gina manages a private personal training business supporting a myriad of clients, teaching all to honor their health, strength and life with the principles of Pilates at its core.