For members who want a fitness routine to take with them on vacation, Pilates may offer the perfect solution.
The family vacation, meant to be relaxing and rewarding, may become an interruption to your client’s regular exercise routine. For most of us, making exercise part of our daily routine is how we continually rebuild and renew ourselves. When this routine is interrupted, your client suffers physically and mentally-and even takes the risk of never returning to his workout with you. It happens to the best of us-we finally get set up with a workout schedule and incorporate it into our work week, and then it gets interrupted. After this interruption, some clients never make it back.
There are many excuses for eliminating the workout from a family vacation. These might include no available gym, no available classes, or concerns about not having enough time. Even though a brief period of inactivity, like 1 to 2 weeks may not make a drastic difference physically, it will break the healthy routine you have worked hard to create with your client.
When traveling your client’s best defense is to plan ahead and prepare a workout he can do anywhere at any time. Walking or running are great options for the cardiovascular portion, so tell him to pack a pair of good shoes and a watch. A brief Pilates routine can offer the strength and flexibility component with no extra baggage and very little time commitment. If your client can spare 10 minutes a day, he will maintain his strength and flexibility as well. All of these exercises can be done on the floor of a hotel room with no equipment necessary. As a trainer, if you provide this guidance for family vacations, you are more likely to retain your client on his return. He will be ready physically and mentally to return to his normal workout routine if he never stops while away.
When your client tells you he is going on vacation, your first question should be “What will you do for exercise?” Then help with the answer by providing some guidelines for walking or running and a brief Pilates routine, including these exercises that will efficiently assist in maintenance of strength and flexibility.
Roll Up
Set-Up: Lie on back with legs extended onto the floor. Position spine and pelvis in neutral. Reach arms shoulder width apart over your head as far as you can while maintaining ribcage neutral. Point toes and zip backs of thighs together with your feet in Pilates “V” position.
Movement: Reach arms to the ceiling and bring your head through your arms. Flex your spine forward into a “C” curve as you reach toward your feet. Flex your feet and maintain the “C” curve as you return your spine to the mat one vertebra at a time.
Breathing: Inhale at the beginning of the movement, and exhale as you roll up.
Pause at the top to inhale and exhale as you roll back.
Leg Circle
Set-Up: Lie on your back with your arms extended along your sides, knees bent and feet on the floor. Position your spine in neutral and lengthen the back of your neck. Extend your right leg toward the ceiling with the hip in outward rotation and knee extended. Then slide your left leg out along the floor. Be sure to keep the pelvis aligned in the transverse plane.
Movement: Circle your right leg in and down toward the mat, crossing the midline of your body and return to the starting position. The emphasis is on the upswing of the movement, and the path of the movement will resemble a capital letter “D” with the straight edge along the midline of the body. Maintain neutral pelvis during the movement. Keep the circles small at first and increase in size as you gain the ability to maintain neutral spine. After 3 to 5 circles in one direction, reverse the circles.
Breathing: Inhale as you begin to circle your leg, and exhale as you bring it back to the starting position.
Modified Swan Dive
Set-Up: Lie in prone neutral with heels in line with the ischial tuberosities and the arms out to the sides in 90 degrees of shoulder flexion and 90 degrees of elbow flexion. Palms should be on the floor with the shoulders in external rotation. Float the face above the floor making the back of the neck long and reaching the crown of the head to the opposite wall.
Movement: Maintain above position while you reach your legs to the opposite wall, contracting the buttocks. Allow the legs to return to the floor as you reach your upper body long to lift into a swan position. Assist the movement slightly by internally rotating shoulders and pushing through your hands. Extend the spine evenly and limit the movement of the low lumbar area. Bring the torso back to the mat and repeat. Then alternate from legs to torso for the desired repetitions.
Breathing: Inhale as you reach your legs away, exhale as you bring them down, inhale as you extend your torso, and exhale as you return to the set up position. As the movement begins to flow more smoothly try to do the movements with just one full breath.
Christine Romani-Ruby is a licensed physical therapist, a gold certified Pilates instructor, and the owner of Phi Pilates. For additional information on Pilates mat exercises to provide to your clients, visit phipilates.com and look for the Pilates Mat Manual or the DVD Pilates for Athletes.
