If you suffer from hip pain, Pilates is an excellent way to remedy discomfort. The pain is often caused by issues with nearby muscles, ligaments or tendons, although hip pain can also be referred from the lower back. While it may be tempting to keep the area immobile, regularly practicing Pilates can decrease pain significantly. […]
Exercises for the Hips Read More »
This course is the most challenging of this series so far. It’s designed to test your stamina, your core strength, balance and alignment. Around 1.5 hours of video instruction. £15 If you’ve already already purchased this course or have an active subscription you can access your course here
Intermediate Pilates 3 Read More »
Horse riders tend to be busy people by both necessity and nature. Trying to hold a job down, look after the horse and the house, do the shopping and exercise the horse all takes time. Riders are also creatures of habit, so that when we muck out we tend to always hold the broom the
Why riders need Pilates Read More »
Strengthening the muscles that support the knee can help prevent the need for surgery, or in the event of an operation still being needed, help bring about a successful outcome to the operation. You don’t need to worry that working out will cause more knee damage or pain either. As long as your doctor says
Exercises for the Knee Read More »
These exercises are modified Pilates exercises that are suitable for the more mature student, or for those with limited mobility who would struggle to sit on the ground(mat) or kneel. The class includes how to find neutral alignment and explores how to improve our balance and proprioception. Around 37 mins. of video instruction. £5 If
Standing Exercises 1 Read More »
This class includes modified Pilates exercises using a sturdy chair. It is ideal for the more mature student, or for those with restricted mobility. The class covers how to find neutral alignment, shoulder calibration, back extension and core and leg exercises. Around 41 mins. of video instruction. £5 If you’ve already already purchased this class
Seated Exercises 1 Read More »
Rider Biomechanics is not just about sitting in a pretty position it is about understanding the forces put on your body by your horse’s movement and the forces that your body put upon your horse’s body. Sitting well on a horse is much more difficult than a non-rider can possibly imagine. The most important thing
Almost everyone these days has heard about Pilates, how it’s the exercise of choice for celebrities, how it will give you a flatter stomach, better posture and a longer, leaner, stronger body. But is Pilates really something that you can start in later life? When you’re over 40 or 50 or even 60 or more!
The knee is one of the largest and most complex joints in the body. The knee joins the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia). The smaller bone that runs alongside the tibia (fibula) and the kneecap (patella) are the other bones that make the knee joint. Tendons connect the knee bones to the
More and more middle-aged and older people ride now. In fact there are more of us than ever before, you only have to look on Facebook and see just how many groups are dedicated to women over a certain age (sorry guys) who ride horses! And although some of those ladies will have had horses
Riding for old crocs Read More »
Most riders will have heard trainers talking about the importance of core strength, but what do they really mean by this. Very often the expression core strength is taken to mean our rectus abdominal muscles (commonly known as a six pack) but this isn’t really right, just having a good 6 pack is not going
One of the most common problems I see with riders when I am doing Posture Assessment and Awareness Clinics are tight hips. This can manifest itself as an inability for the rider to turn their upper leg at the hip, toes turned out, problems with adjusting their pelvis to implement weight aids or just downright
As we grow older most of us start to find we are feeling the odd twinge here or there, we are a little stiffer in the morning, and we start to notice that aren’t as strong as we once were. Sometimes this rude awakening comes at 40, sometimes its 50 and sometimes we are even
This course is for Intermediate students and comprises of 5 x 20 to 25 minute mat workouts plus a short bonus video on spinal extensions. Choose to do a daily workout, work out every other day or just work out twice a week. In this course we have added some new exercises, introduced some variations
Intermediate Pilates 1 Read More »
The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the human body and as such is vulnerable to all sorts of problems and injuries. It is a relatively shallow joint in comparison to our hip joint and is extremely dependant on muscle tone for correct alignment and joint stability. Imbalance in any of the
A correctly placed and aligned knee prevents knee injury, whether we are on or off our horse. While in the saddle, a correctly placed knee can be used for subtle aids. However, very few people actually spend any time thinking about the positioning of their knees ,until they start to experience knee pain. But what
Many riders avoid doing any lateral movements with their horse. This can be because of fear of doing them wrong and “hurting” their horse, lack of knowledge and not knowing where to begin, or even not knowing why doing such movements are so beneficial for the horse. I often hear riders say they “just enjoy
The Importance of Lateral Movements Read More »
When I first started teaching Rider Biomechanics it was perfectly clear to me, standing and watching, whether a rider was sitting straight in their saddle, or collapsing to one side, leaning forwards or leaning backwards. However, it soon became abundantly obvious, that what I was seeing and what the students thought they were doing, were
Posture & Balance Read More »
The half halt is something that virtually every one of us has been told to do, at one time or another, during a riding lesson. But from running my Posture Awareness Clinics I now realise just how few riders understand how they are supposed to do a half halt or even why they should should
Explaining the Half Halt Read More »
As a Rider Biomechanics Coach, I know that the way a rider sits on her horse influences the way the horse moves. Obviously, there are lots of other reasons why a horse may not be moving properly, such as the horse’s own asymmetry or a poorly fitting saddle, but one of the most common reasons
Posture, Position and PI Read More »