Introductory pilates course

• One hour per week for 7 weeks
• We book a 50 minute assessment at start to identify strengths weaknesses and goals.
• We give you a home exercise and stetches prescription in addition to the weekly pilates workout: about 10 minutes daily.
• At end of 6 weeks we ask for feedback. We check progress and fine tune advice.
• You see and feel the benefits and become a full time client! (view mat class timetables)

We won't wrap you in cotton wool. We will help you acheive your goal. We will make it fun!

You have low back pain that worsens on long walks but you would like to walk the Milford track this summer. We find that you have very tight hip flexors (the muscles that lift the knee when you walk up stairs). We provide remedial stretches and the weekly pilates sessions strengthen the core and teach you to move your lower spine wisely (as in you keep your spinecloser to the middle of its range of movement which stops the joints being pushed where they don't want to go. At the end of the 6 weeks we find on assessment that the walking is easier and the pain reduced! -And we advise to keep the maintenance work up so you'll be fit to enjoy your Milford walk!

You have low back pain when sitting which makes it difficult to maintain a good standard of work at your desk job. We assess you at the start of our intro classes and find that you have some rather stiff and painful muscles. We prescribe some stretches and self-massage and encourage you to seek the help of a health professional such as a massage therapist or Bowen therapist. We are happy to talk and share notes with your therapist. And we can help you with in house Bowen therapy and trigger point massage too. Progress is initially a little slow but at 6 weeks there is some improvement and you now get through your day, provided you remember to stand up and stretch every half hour. You stay for further pilates because it motivates you to look after your body. You tell us that you don't like the pilates that much but it's a whole lot better than losing your job. But thin you like it more that you admit because we keep the sessions fun and - admit it! - we see you smiling occasionally!

You want to get back into running but you've had some surgery to tidy up a torn knee cartilage. Our testing identifies that the leg is poorly aligned during walking running and squatting, and this is putting extra pressure on the knee. From our assessment we recommend strength work for the ankle foot and hip joint of the affected leg, and flexibility work for the opposite hip joint. Alignment and awareness is routinely covered in Pilates mat class. 6 weeks later the ankle foot and hip muscles are progressing and (if you are reminded!) you can align the affected leg better. So there is still a way to go. Nevertheless upon our recommendation you are doing some light road runs and (since there's no jarring of joints when running up a hill), short efforts up gentle hills.

You've done Pilates before but it made head and neck ache worse. And you wonder if we can help with that. So we make that our exercise goal - to do Pilates with a pain free neck. Our assessment identifies tight knotted and painful muscles below and above the collar bones. Online videos are prescribed so you can do some stretching and self-massage at home and our weekly Pilates creates better awareness for a nice relaxed neck and should posture. During Pilates work you place a pillow or hand under the back of your head if you need to. By the end of the 6 weeks, the Pilates has triggered some headaches but the self-massage of the neck muscles has helped reduce this. Best of all you are now aware of how to relax your neck when stress and hurry makes it tense.