A place of positive energy for everyone. Pilates Place is a studio located in Santa Monica, California. The main goal at Pilates Place is to have our clients walk away from the studio with a feeling of confidence, both physically and mentally. While the external benefits of Pilates include toned muscles, flattened abdominals and improved posture, the benefits of a centered body are deeper than a mirrored reflection. Reduced stress, increased metabolism and improved bone density are all results of the body in correct alignment. Pilates Place is a place of positive energy for everyone. Pilates Place is an authentic Pilates studio where all teachers have gone through extensive training programs of four hundred and fifty hours or more. We offer private and duo sessions tailored to the individual as well as a wide variety of group reformer and wunda chair classes ranging from beginners to advanced and prenatal.See This Week's Class Schedule >Coordination exercises are important tools to maintaining and improving your coordination over the years.
Coordination is required to climb stairs, walk, run, prevent injuries and continue an active lifestyle. Inactive older adults can safely transition from a sedentary lifestyle to one that includes moderate exercise, according to the National Institute on Aging. All seniors can benefit from incorporating coordination exercises into their routines at least three times a week. Sit in a chair that has back support. Focus on establishing good posture. Keep your back straight and shoulders back without tensing your shoulders. Adjust your body until the buttocks touch the back of the chair. Grab a small exercise ball with both hands and pull it close to your body. Keep your elbows bent, and hold the ball close to your abdomen. Rotate your torso to the left as far as you comfortably can. Make sure the rest of your body remains still. Slowly rotate back to a normal sitting position and repeat the exercise to the right. Repeat the full turn on both sides eight times. Rest for a full minute. Repeat the twists another eight times.
Stand behind a stable chair. Make sure it will be stable for the exercise by testing it out a few times before you begin. If the chair is on wheels or slides out when you try to support your weight on it, choose another chair. Pull in your stomach and stand up with your back straight behind the chair. Depending on the help you need with balance, place one or both of your hands on the back of the chair. Support your weight with your left leg, and lift the right foot off the ground. Hold the right leg off the ground with your knee bent at least 15 seconds. Try to hold it for 30 seconds, but release the hold if you experience discomfort. Repeat Step 3 with the alternate leg. This time, switch to supporting your weight with your right leg and lift the left foot. Hold it for 15 to 30 seconds, depending on your ability. Repeat the exercise with both legs 10 to 20 times. Try switching between doing the exercise with your eyes closed and open. Increase the time you can spend with your legs off the ground over time as you repeat the coordination exercise.
Stand with your back straight, shoulders back and feet shoulder-width apart. Hold both arms straight out at your sides. Circle one arm forward in small, slow circles while circling the other arm backward in equally small, slow circles. Do this for eight repetitions. Rest your arms loosely at your sides for a minute. Hold your right arm back out in a straight line. Do small forward circles with your right arm. At the same time hold your left leg slightly to the side while doing small forward circles with this leg. Do this for eight repetitions, then do the same move with the left arm and right leg. If you need help maintaining your balance, grab the back of a chair or sofa. National Institute on Aging: Structured Exercise Program May Enhance Seniors' Physical FunctioningTufts University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older AdultsHelp Guide: Exercise and Fitness Tips for SeniorsAlliance for Aging Research: Brain Health CornerCenter of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal DisordersCleveland Clinic: Posture for a Healthy BackAARP: Build Up Your Core StrengthThe Gerontologist
: Effect of Low-Impact Aerobic Dance on the Functional Fitness of Elderly Women Comstock/Comstock/Getty ImagesDance cardio has never been hotter. In just the past few months, more and more instructors (AKA dance cardio divas) have debuted on New York’s fitness scene, with classes that meld heart-rate pumping choreography and strength-training moves for a workout that oozes good times and serious cool factor. Tracy Anderson, of course, started the craze, proving that dynamic movement set to club music could slim and sculpt. And many of the women now growing the fitness genre are her former disciples that have struck out on their own. Some bring barre influence, others emphasize athleticism—all allow you to burn calories to the beat while flooding your body with dance-floor endorphins. Meet New York’s eight dance cardio divas… —Lisa Elaine Held and Melisse Gelula Anderson is the woman who started it all, elevating fitness dance classes into a sexy, sculpting workout that svelte celebrities now swear by.
Her method pairs cardio dance sequences with dynamic arm movements using small weights, as well as strength training with ceiling bands. They’re all aimed at targeting the body’s small muscles to create a lean, toned look. Anderson became a household name when Madonna hired her, and she soon became a go-to star trainer, for celebrities like Courteney Cox, and, of course, Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s now her business partner. While spin-offs abound, her original method is still going strong in New York, the Hamptons, and LA, even with one of the highest price-tags in the business. She’s also a branding machine, with popular DVD workout system, Metamorphosis and pre- and post-natal programs, as well as leggings, and “Detox Weeks.” Simone De La Rue Simone De La Rue’s chic West Chelsea fitness studio called Body By Simone (BBS) is a little over a year old. She’s just the second instructor in the dance cardio clique to create a flagship for her workout, and she was the first offer a la carte classes ($35 each) in this formerly membership-based fitness model.
The energetic Aussie left lead roles on Broadway for private training celeb clients (Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock) in her waist-wittling, lean-muscle-making method. At her “body gallery” (her preferred name for her fitness studio with 20-ft ceilings), she and her team hold about 30 hour-long weekly group classes, including niche ones like “Hips, Thighs & Buns” and the new “BBS Men” for gents. BBS workouts use weighted gloves, trampolines, wall-mounted “body bands,” and some tough choreography (we’re not gonna lie). De La Rue will give you cues, but you’re almost better off taking her online class to learn them at home first. You’ll sweat bullets to the moves that are fitness-focused and never cheesy. Anna Kaiser—trainer of Kelly Ripa and Sarah Jessica Parker, and choreographer of pop-stars like Shakira—is the founder of AKT INMOTION. Until now, she’s boogied slightly under-the-radar with 60- and 90-minute classes at Downtown Dance Factory ($35).
But this spring, the vivacious 5’3″ trainer is set to open her own downtown studio with seven or so NASM-certified instructors in tow. Kaiser’s a genius at creating dance sequences that build slowly, so even two-left-feet-types can follow along. Classes are about 2/3 sweat-soaking dance and 1/3 strength and flexibility training with weights and resistance bands. “I’m teaching high-intensity interval training using dance instead of plyometrics,” says Kaiser, who was a professional dancer, then changed course, racked up fitness credentials, and for two years, according to Kaiser, served as Tracy Anderson’s chief content officer. These days, Kaiser is giving her obsessed students an amazing sweat session they can rock—and bliss—out to. Lengthen and sculpt your entire body with Chaise 23’s signature Reinvention Method! This super-popular Flatiron studio is known for using a souped up Pilates chair and resistance bungees in its wide variety of classes like Cardio Chair, TRX and Ballet Bungee.
Sign up now and try 3 classes for just $33! Dance Cardio by KGBody Like many mavens on the dance cardio scene, Greiner has a dance and fitness background, worked at Tracy Anderson, and has a ton of respect for how music and movement help people get healthy, happy, and super fit. “We all know how to run, how to hold plank, and do yoga, but dance cardio requires you to be present through movement; it’s a mind and body workout that’s really fun and works you really hard,” she says. Especially in Greiner’s case. Greiner teaches dance cardio privates and group classes at SLT (where she also leads Megaformer classes). There are no mirrors in the studio “so you can really enjoy class instead of worrying and judging yourself,” says Greiner, whom you just follow. Her class is one of the easiest to pick up because you don’t have to memorize any long dance phrases. Read: four jumping jacks and four hip shakes. “It’s geared for those who mix their workouts and go to spin and do SLT,” she says.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not tough. Greiner, who’s taught at Barry’s Bootcamp and is a NASM-certified personal trainer, punctuates her classes with tons of high-knee twists and on-tempo lunges that make your muscles join in the dance party. Lindi Duesenberg, a popular Physique 57 instructor, created this happy-making (super sweaty) workout. DMF stands for “dance, motivation, fitness,” and although the classes have just launched, they’re already packing two dozen women into the cardio party. For this 50-minute workout, each song gets a simple(ish) choreographed routine. Expect to hear Beyonce, P!nk, Tina Turner—and to learn some of their signature moves. It’s a blast, even MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” when you’ll scuttle across the floor on your tippie toes. Duesenberg gives you the satisfying gift of handing you music-video moves on a silver platter. About halfway through class, you’ll stop and drop into a low squat for quad-quaking moves, to add muscle-building pain to your cardio pleasure.
For Duesenberg, positivity is the point. “Your mind is too busy learning the choreography to worry, or go over your to-do list, or dwell on whatever negativity occupies your head,” she says. Mahri Relin, a NASM certified trainer, started at Tracy Anderson and went on to serve as the creative director for Flybarre at Flywheel. “What I did was took some ideas that barre taught me, the creativity that Tracy gave me, and my dance experience, and went from there,” she says.Her dynamic Body Conceptions class, where dynamic, non-stop cardio is followed by mat sequences where you can feel the “athletic barre” influence. There’s also a free-form dance party at the end, which Relin graciously turns the lights down for, so you can really let loose. After founding Body Conceptions, Relin was teaching privates and classes in various spaces around the city, and she recently found a home at Dance New Amsterdam, where she holds six classes a week (three are taught by Joanie Johnson).
Pryce is New York’s under-the-radar dance cardio star. The former professional dancer and Tracy Anderson trainer teaches one class a week at Bari and her schedule is packed with private clients, but four times a week her devotees gather for group classes in rented dance studios. “It’s underground, but I prefer it that way. It’s all people who bring friends, friends of friends, it happens naturally and organically,” she says. Pryce’s focus is on melding functional, athletic movements with dance movements and (tiny-weight) toning. She’ll also throw lunges in between grapevines—and will challenge you with endless planks and push-ups. “You actually do need to work those large muscles to build muscle that burns calories, and those muscles allow you to move in a functional way in real life,” she says. The dance cardio scene’s bubbly little sister is 23-year-old Kurzban. She popularized her Miami-club-style classes as a student at Brown University, where hundreds of co-eds would show up to sweat with her.