5 things to expect at your first Pilates class
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

5 things to expect at your first Pilates class

The most common thing I had mentioned to me upon someone entering the Pilates studio has been – These machines look intense, I don’t think I can use them.

And while many people think of Pilates as yoga on the reformer, it really is a separate exercise system altogether.

Here are 5 things you can expect at your first Pilates class

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Pilates & Injury Prevention
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Pilates & Injury Prevention

When most people think about Pilates, they think of it as a core strengthening modality. While that is one of the benefits of Pilates, the best benefit of Pilates, which is not often mentioned, is its ability to reduce injury incidence and increase body awareness.

We have the motor and sensory homunculus – which is a representation of how much brain is devoted to motor movement and sensation for the parts of the body.

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Reconnect and Connect with Post-Natal Pilates
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Reconnect and Connect with Post-Natal Pilates

By Amie Wang

The first few weeks after just having a baby (whether it’s your first or second or third) can be a blur. It’s also a time when we get concerned about our body and wonder whether it will ever get back to its pre-baby shape.

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Breathe Galaxis opens 16th March 2015
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Breathe Galaxis opens 16th March 2015

It’s finally ready! We will be having our soft launch on the 16th of March 2015.

Our largest space yet at 1200 sq ft, we are partnering with Core Concepts to offer physiotherapy on top of our current offerings of Clinical Pilates, group Pilates, pre and post natal Pilates, Zen.Ga and TRX.

Our class sizes remain small at a maximum of 5/class and we will also have a small retail section offering clothes, juice and snacks!

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What Is Mindfulness?
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

What Is Mindfulness?

Over the weekend while at a course, I head the term ‘mindfulness for physiotherapy’. The last few weeks we have also been speaking about Zen.Ga and the term I kept coming back to was MINDFULNESS.

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Challenge yourself this New Year and get 2 free classes!
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Challenge yourself this New Year and get 2 free classes!

The beginning of the year is like a big blank slate waiting to be filled with all sorts of achievements. To help you recover from the holidays and to get back into the swing of things, we have a NEW YEAR CHALLENGE for you!

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Stay Happy, Healthy & Fit During The Holidays
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Stay Happy, Healthy & Fit During The Holidays

Holiday season is upon us and many will be traveling home or on vacation. As a doctor in a travel vaccination clinic, Pilates instructor and someone who went for her year end vacation early, here are some tips on hindsight about what should have been done.

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Flexibility vs Hypermobility
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Flexibility vs Hypermobility

After each yoga class, I inevitably get a few comments from either instructors or my classmates going “Wow, you’re so flexible”.

While flexibility and hypermobility may be everyone’s goal – and I do get a lot of questions about how I am so flexible, I’m here to tell you the the story from the other side.

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We Started Semi-Private Sessions
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

We Started Semi-Private Sessions

A group session with a maximum of 4 people, each client will have a program tailored specifically for them. These classes work like private session, where the instructor will tailor a workout customised to your needs which utilises the entire repertoire of studio equipment. The caveat being that you will have to share the instructor’s attention with 3 other people.

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Breathing 101
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Breathing 101

Since we are called Breathe, and breathing is the most fundamental principle of Pilates, we’ve decided to delve slightly deeper into the mechanics of breathing. You would think that something so essential to life would come naturally, but like everything else, most of us have deviated a long way from it.

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Does Cardio Make You Fat?
Hayley Appleford Hayley Appleford

Does Cardio Make You Fat?

A lot of people when first tasked with weight loss or body sculpting immediately head for their running shoes to pound the pavement. While it is well known among the fitness industry that cardio isn’t exactly the best solution, all the scientific terms thrown around may be a little overwhelming, so here we’ll explain in layman terms the relation between fat loss (we say fat and not weight because that’s what you want to lose!) and the various types of exercise.

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Pilates & The Core
Clinical Pilates Hayley Appleford Clinical Pilates Hayley Appleford

Pilates & The Core

When people think of Pilates, they know it as a core workout. But what does that exactly mean? It is an hour of a hundred different variation of crunches? (most definitely not, the horror)

To understand what we do in Pilates class, we first have to understand what the core means. It really is a complex series of muscles, extending far beyond your abs, including everything besides your arms and legs – these include the gluteals (butt muscle), erector spinae, multifudus (back muscles), pectorialis (chest muscles), diaphragm (yes, the thing that helps you breath, and this is why we emphasis so much on breathing!) and pelvic floor just to name a few.

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30 Days Pilates Challenge
Studio News Hayley Appleford Studio News Hayley Appleford

30 Days Pilates Challenge

When we first started the 30 Days Pilates Challenge last year, it seemed like such a simple concept, to commit an hour a day to working out surrounded by supportive classmates and instructors to help you kick start your way to health. We didn’t believe it had not been done before. It was conceived with the notion of helping our clients who were facing personal fitness plateaus to push pass it. The results were unexpected to say the least.

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My Experience With Pilates
Instructor Stories Hayley Appleford Instructor Stories Hayley Appleford

My Experience With Pilates

I was first introduced to Pilates about 8 years ago by my ballet teacher. When I meet other Pilates aficionados I am always curious as to what made them first start and why they continued.

For me it was a niggling back pain that first started in my teenage years and the desire to improve my ballet. Pilates is fairly popular throughout the dance world and though I did not realize it, I had been exposed to Pilates exercises since I was a little girl during ballet class.

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Are we exercising too much?
Easy Reads Hayley Appleford Easy Reads Hayley Appleford

Are we exercising too much?

A lot of people are concern about not working out enough, but is there such a thing as overtraining? How much is too much and how much is too litle. As a society we’re all about effeciency, productive and results. What then is this magical number that we are looking for?

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All about Fascia!
Clinical Pilates Hayley Appleford Clinical Pilates Hayley Appleford

All about Fascia!

So we have all this hype about ZEN.GA and fascia and myofascial release. We roll you on foam rollers and you get this amazing relieve that no amount of stretching seems to do. What exactly is fascia and why is it so important for you to understand it?

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Pregnancy & Pilates
Pre & Post Natal Hayley Appleford Pre & Post Natal Hayley Appleford

Pregnancy & Pilates

You’ve probably already heard that Pilates is great during pregnancy, seen results from lots of celebrities who swear by Pilates and are now wondering what exactly Pilates does during pregnancy. For those who are expecting or know someone who is, we explain the science behind prenatal Pilates.

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7 Worst Breakfast Meals
Nutrition Hayley Appleford Nutrition Hayley Appleford

7 Worst Breakfast Meals

Everybody knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But did you know that some morning choices can set your mood for the rest of the day. Eating a healthy breakfast every morning can reduce the risk for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

We have a list of the 7 worse ideas for breakfast meals. We’ll be following up in the next post with 7 of the best breakfast meals!

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