Pilates Tips from the Pros | FusionPilatesEDU.com

Interview with Phillip Beach, Author of Muscles & Meridians

We wanted to re-post this interview with Phillip Beach from August to celebrate the launch of his first online workshop! Most of you already have Muscles and Meridians on your bookshelf, so you know what a groundbreaking work it is. Phillip Beach is holding some rare workshops in the United States in the coming months […]…

Overball Ab Curls

Oh, how we love the Overball! This prop has so many uses! Today we explore how it can be used to facilitate ab curls, a cornerstone of the Pilates repertoire. With the instability and the support of the Overball, it is easier for the clients to access their core musculature while learning to flex their […]…

Shoulder Strength, Part One: Shoulder Strength Exercises

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. It can also be a very unstable structure because of this extreme mobility and range of motion. Shoulder injury is extremely common, due partly to the fact that the ball (the top of the upper arm) is much larger than the socket it glides within. […]…

Spine Stretch on the Chair

Spine stretch is a wonderful exercise that can be executed in so many different ways in the Pilates studio. The chair is a great place to work for your more advanced clients. But by adding a simple prop into the exercise, this spinal articulation can be achieved by a more beginner-level client. This is a […]…

Applying for a Job, Part 3: Offer to Teach a Session

Most studio owners are probably going to ask you to teach them a session as part of their consideration of having you work at their studio. This is the very best way for them to get a good reading on your style of teaching and to get an idea of your skills. My advice is […]…

Different Attachments on the Cadillac

The Cadillac is such a wonderful piece of equipment, with so many ways to use it! Part of the fun is the fact that by changing the placements of the springs, you get varied types of work within the body. It is so important to cross train your clients with changing spring tensions. Just going […]…

Advanced Magic Circle for Upper Body Strength

In this post we will look at few famous Pilates exercises: the Leg Pull Down, the Swan, and the Mermaid. Then we will add the challenge of the Magic Circle to the move. The Circle does give a bit more difficulty to the move, but you will probably feel more connection to your mid back, […]…

Parkinson’s: The Importance of Springs and Bands

Pilates is amazingly useful for your clients with Parkinson’s disease or other neurological disorders. This is where the Mind/Body connection can really be used to your client’s advantage. Knowing how to cater to special populations is good for your clients, and for your business! We hope you found this helpful. Tell us your thoughts below!…

Abdominal Strengthening Exercises on the Foam Roller

The foam roller adds a kick in the pants to your traditional Pilates abdominal exercises such as the Ab Curl and the Hundreds. Having the unstable environment underneath kicks in a lot of those stabilizers that don’t usually have to work when you’re on the floor. The previous posts help you to improve your body […]…

Attracting Your Ideal Pilates Client

By Lacy Fabian, PhD Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could identify our ideal Pilates clients? Imagine the regularity and the ease of the session! There are a few practices to increase your chances of attracting that ideal client. 1) What’s your Pilates style? Part of knowing who you want to attract is knowing what […]…

Hip Trigger Points

Our bodies have an innate intelligence and will always organize around tightness. This sometimes creates more tightness in the process. When we find a trigger point in a certain area, it can be a complete surprise because we very often have not felt any previous tension or pain in this area. These are hidden puckers […]…

Mary Bowen

See our interview with Mary here… A number of first-generation Pilates teachers that Joseph Pilates passed the work onto are still with us. These teachers are full of wisdom and give us real insight into how and why the work developed like it did. I have gotten to work with a number of these individuals, […]…

Healthy Boundaries: How to Stay Professional

Being professional with your clients is a must if you want to build a steady, solid practice. Your reputation is of the utmost importance. The reality of this business is that word of mouth is your best marketing asset. Without gleaming recommendations from your clients, it is impossible to reach the many people it takes […]…

Footwork with Springs on Risers

Watch an innovative way to wake up the back body during footwork. By adding a spring above the knee, we add another way to find contrast inside the exercise. The extra spring also helps decompress the knees, feeds the femur head deeper into the socket, and aids in the rotation of the femur bone in […]…

Opening & Lengthening with the Foam Roller

Now that you have a little bit of experience with the passive releases we did on the foam roller in the last post, let’s continue to layer on. You want to remember that you are always trying to find or keep your mid-line while you are performing these foam roller exercises. You are trying to […]…

Plank

You can focus on many areas in the same exercise. Watch a focus on buoyant, easy, neutral scapula placement in Plank on the Reformer. Learn how to create the awareness of easy shoulder blades on the ribcage and to keep that focus during Plank. Just holding the position without the glide out and in of […]…

Stability Ball to Stretch & Open the Upper Body

In a previous post, we learned to strengthen our upper bodies using Pilates stability ball exercises. Now it is time to create mobility and fluidity in the upper body. The stability ball lends itself magnificently to opening exercises because it is round and pliable so we can move the energy in a fluid manner. During […]…

Yoga Block Foot Work

Most of us have one side of the body and especially one leg that overpowers the other. See a simple exercise that can help balance the strength on both hips, legs, and feet as well as create better joint mobilization. All of this equates to easier, more functional movement! Thanks for watching! Leave us your […]…

Upper Body Strength with Magic Circle

The Magic Circle can be used to tone, strengthen, and lengthen the whole body. In this post, I am concentrating on the upper body using the Magic Circle. The Magic Circle helps us connect to our mid-back, creates proper joint mechanics, and helps us create strength around our shoulder cuff, shoulder girdle, arm, upper chest, […]…

Initiation of the Mermaid on the Reformer

The initiation movement of an exercise such as the Mermaid is a coordinated dance of the humerus, scapula, and upper spine. This key movement is essential for the exercise as a whole and it assures that the work is happening in the upper and mid back and not just pushed into the upper traps or […]…