Brian's Run Pod
Welcome to Brian's Run Pod, the podcast where we lace up our running shoes and explore the exhilarating world of running. Whether you're a seasoned marathoner, a casual jogger, or just thinking about taking your first stride, this podcast is your ultimate companion on your running journey.
Join us as we dive deep into the sport of running, covering everything from training tips and race strategies to personal stories and inspiring interviews with runners from all walks of life. Whether you're looking to improve your race times, stay motivated, or simply enjoy the therapeutic rhythm of running, Brian's Run Pod has something for every runner.
Brian's Run Pod
Strength from Within: Pilates for Runners with Lucy Tomlinson
Discover how Pilates can transform your running performance through improved flexibility, strength, and mobility with expert teacher Lucy Tomlinson, founder of Welcome Pilates.
• Pilates complements running by targeting smaller muscle groups that support your joints
• The ABCs of Pilates: Alignment, Breathing, and Centering form the foundation of practice
• Lucy discovered Pilates during university while experiencing poor mental health
• Just one session per week can produce noticeable benefits for runners
• Key exercises like "The Hundred" build core strength that translates to running efficiency
• Reformer equipment can provide both added resistance and rehabilitation benefits
• Common runner issues like tight hamstrings and hip mobility can be addressed through specific Pilates exercises
• Pilates focuses on moving your spine in all directions to counterbalance the forward motion of running
• Lucy's inclusive approach welcomes all fitness levels and body types
• Online and in-person options make Pilates accessible for busy runners
Visit welcomepilates.com to try your first class free and follow @welcomepilates on Instagram to learn more.
Plus, we have a new feature on the podcast you can now send me a message. Yep you heard it right- Brian's Run Pod has become interactive with the audience. If you look at the top of the Episode description tap on "Send us a Text Message". You can tell me what you think of the episode or alternatively what you would like covered. If your lucky I might even read them out on the podcast.
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So you're thinking about running but not sure how to take the first step. My name is Brian Patterson and I'm here to help. Welcome to Brian's Rompod and welcome back to ryan's rom pod. And today we have another special guest and I'm really excited to have with us lucy thomason, who is the pilates teacher and founder of welcome pilates. You might be asking what has this to do with running? I'm always a believer. To be the best runner you can be, you have to draw on different disciplines and it provides variety to your training and will, in the long run, make you a better runner anyway.
Speaker 1:Back to lucy. She got into pilates at university and says I discovered pilates at university when I was going through a period of particular poor mental health and it gave me a place to escape while studying for my degree. She says that her mission is, and I quote I created Wellcome Pilates to help people connect back to themselves, to feel more confident in their bodies and more energized in their minds. Pilates helps people to gain strength, improve flexibility, mobility and stability and have more body awareness and prevent injury. Welcome to the podcast, lucy. Enough of that, anyway, over to you, lucy, lucy. So anyway, how are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm good. Yeah, Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
Speaker 1:Great. So you said, you discovered it at university, were you always quite an active person anyway.
Speaker 2:Fairly active. I went to school locally around here actually, so I was at Watergrave, so they are quite big on sport, but I was never that much of a team sportsman yeah woman, I should say yeah. I really liked athletics, but I was awful at netball and hockey. So actually for me, discovering Pilates was quite a good thing because I found something that actually really enjoyed for me.
Speaker 2:You mentioned in your intro that I was going through a bit of a poor mental health, um but, and I had been using exercise as more of a punishing thing rather than for good all right okay, it was really good for me to find pilates because, yeah, like I said, I'd been using it in quite a negative, unhealthy way, and it showed me that you can still exercise and in a better way. Basically, that was a really positive thing.
Speaker 1:Oh, OK. Did anyone in particular said why don't you try that? Was there anyone there, or was it just something you just either came across?
Speaker 2:It was just something I came across. I had always always heard of pilates, but I didn't really know what it was. And then I was a member of a gym. I went to plymouth university and I was a member of the gym there and it was just. It was a great package. You had all classes included for it can't have been very expensive, but yeah, so I discovered it there, started going to classes and my teacher at the time was amazing. She actually was also called Lucy all right, so.
Speaker 2:I was very inspired by her, but she was great and I was going two to three times a week trying to get all my friends to come along.
Speaker 1:Some of them did, but no one seemed to really get the the bug. So was there an inflection point where big word there, but basically where you felt your well-being, your mental health, had improved because of, and then you thought, oh, maybe this is something I could do or I could run with yeah, lucy, the teacher at the time.
Speaker 2:She strongly encouraged me, I think I was going so much she thought you're obviously enjoying this, do you think you'd want to do it yourself? But I was studying for my degree and I didn't actually make the full connection until I came back to London, was working in industry, I was working in graphic design all right, you can't really go off and do Pilates classes in the middle of the day like I was doing at uni. Yeah, I'm sure your listeners being sat at a desk, that kind of said yeah, lifestyle is quite common and I really struggled with it.
Speaker 2:So it was then I made the connection actually I would want, wanted to do something more physical and retrained, and then started my Pilates. So you're a level three, level three mat work and as well as reformer, so I'm trained in the reformer as well, which is is one of the key machine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll talk about that later because I, as I told you when we were communicating, I'm a complete I really don't know idiot in terms of you are talking about. This is the idiot's guide to Pilates. That's right, that's fine. Okay, so you discovered Pilates at university and then you went into industry and, I take it, you studied graphic design at university is that right yeah? That's right. Yeah, okay, and let's move on to about Pilates. What's the core philosophy of Pilates?
Speaker 2:So Pilates generally. I often get asked what is Pilates? I think there's quite a lot of misconceptions around it. A lot of people ask me if it's the same as yoga, and there definitely are similarities. So obviously you're based on the mat, which you are in yoga, but, as I mentioned just a moment ago, there are machines as well. So, like you said, we can go on to that in a bit of detail later, but there are similarities with yoga.
Speaker 2:I think the easiest way to distinguish it from yoga is that yoga is more about stillness in poses. Lates is more about flowing movements and moving from one exercise into the next, and it's more about the mobility aspect of it. So that's the real difference. Also, yoga is much older than Pilates and is more used to do before prayer which hints at the stillness, whereas Pilates was created by a man in the early 20th century. Okay, so joseph pilates, where the name?
Speaker 1:oh, I see, okay, he didn't call it after himself.
Speaker 2:He, he's an interesting man, but he didn't actually call it after himself. He originally called it chronology. So that's the control element, because it is a lot about control and, you know, really being in control of your body. But it was later changed to being called pilates, once he died all right, okay, so was this sort of in the 50s or?
Speaker 2:he started his exercise, he came up with the exercises. He did actually study yoga and he also studied the movement of animals, especially cats, cats so that kind of spinal movement that you see cats do, that stretch. A lot of that came from the really intuitive movement animals do. But this was in First World War. So he was actually in camps and he did lots of rehabilitation on soldiers, seriously injured soldiers, which is where he got his idea for the springs of the reformers. So he used the springs from the beds.
Speaker 1:Oh, so even the reformers go back then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the original beds are really his. It was very innovative for his time. He was really ahead of the curve, oh okay, and was it all about the?
Speaker 1:because I know, was it all. I've always thought that core strength was a recent thing, but that even then it's he focused on that.
Speaker 2:He really had the idea. So he, before he was in the camps, he was a martial artist and a circus performer and he did lots of boxing and that was all because he was a very sickly child. So he had lots of boxing and that was all because he was a very sickly child. So he had lots of different ailments which made him his focus of his life, overcoming. Those and he found that physical exercise really was the the thing that helped him okay, yeah, because that's interesting.
Speaker 1:One of the athletes I interviewed, stewart hayes. He was hyperactive and the only thing they felt they could his parents felt they could do was to take him swimming or to do lots of physical activity because he was very hyperactive and to get rid of that excess energy yeah, but anyway that's probably similar though simple, probably a similar thing. So the core principles being self-connection I've got here body confidence, mental energy. Obviously, we talk about the core. Is that right in terms of Pilates?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the kind of when if somebody was first coming to my class is those things that you mentioned, definitely, but you can think about it as the ABCs of Pilates. So A for alignment and we talk a lot about your alignment in Pilates we want you to be moving from the best place possible, so we often get set up it before we start moving. So if you think about your spine and the natural curves that you have in your spine, it'll be different for everybody yeah and we want to get you in your best.
Speaker 2:Neutral is what it's generally called most some school of thoughts have. We talk from a neutral perspective. So that's your neutral spine, neutral pelvis and when you're in that, really good. Neutral it means that your body is going to be moving from ease, a place of ease, so that you're going to get the best out of. And then B. So the B of the ABCs is breathing, which is really important for functional movement. The more you can use your breath to help facilitate, each movement and also so we do.
Speaker 2:We use the breath called the lateral breath, which is breathing into the sides and backs of your rib cage, and that helps. So the in-breath is often used to prepare for the movement and the out-breath is often used for the more challenging part of the movement, because then you're going to be able to connect to your deeper abdominal muscles and your. That leads into the sea, which is centering or your core strength. So that's all about the kind of joseph blotty's call it your powerhouse, that's your trunk, and you start your movement from that.
Speaker 1:You engage in that so that you can then move more fluidly with ease I think we're going to be coming to that in terms of later on, in terms of the q a, which is but that's quite a lot too, because let's say, if someone who's new to pilates and they start and they come along, yeah, to take in all that, do you, how do you overcome that? You've got to breathe in this way, in that way, what? How do you approach that someone who's really new?
Speaker 2:let's say I come to your class yeah, I'd love you to come, but the best thing I say, especially with the breathing, because often people do get quite focused on it and they worry, they are, they're not breathing or they forget to breathe yeah I always just say, when you're new, as long as you're breathing, it's fine so right I always remind people in class.
Speaker 2:You can see it happening when we're doing something, even if it's not a particularly challenging exercise, but people start to focus and concentrate and then they stop breathing, and obviously we need breath for life of course.
Speaker 1:So I'm always saying make sure we're breathing.
Speaker 2:Don't forget to breathe, and it can become quite humorous because people think, oh yeah, I'm not breathing. But so I always just say, as long as you're breathing, it's fine, and the breaths will come later. So people think, oh, you have to breathe in at this part, you have to breathe out another part, you don't. There's definitely certain exercises that it helps the exercise to breathe in or out a certain point, but as long as you're breathing, that's the main thing, when you first start, okay, okay, and then, no doubt later on, you kind of get the hang of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it becomes second nature, and I remember when I first started even having those thoughts myself, and then one day it just clicks and. I thought oh, I'm not thinking so much about those things anymore, they just become second nature.
Speaker 1:So you said alignment, so breath, and is there a C?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the C is centering, which can be known as core strength. So a lot of people come to Pilates wanting this core strength thing, which again is quite an elusive term, but again it goes hand in hand with the breath, the core strength element.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, and do you see that? I mean we touched on it earlier in terms of kind of that mental health aspect of it, do you? How long have you had your company? Have you seen? You know the benefits that other people have had through that kind of the mental health aspect yeah, definitely, I think.
Speaker 2:I have been running my business since 2018 all right well. I was originally Pilates with Lucy yeah there's quite a lot of Pilates with Brian or all right okay okay, lucy and I, so then I changed the name to welcome Pilates. Actually in 2021, so middle of Covid times, and it really was during Covid we went online and did all the classes online and I think that was a real moment. Obviously, everyone was going through lots during that time.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of people say that just coming online and doing that class with people that they knew, and people would chat at the class, but often everyone was rushing around coming to class and then leaving. Yeah, but actually having that human point of connection, yeah seeing everybody else on the screen and obviously everyone in their homes and things. It was for me as well.
Speaker 2:It was really important that I could even keep going yeah covid and actually it showed me how I could work in a completely different way. So I do still run four online classes a week all right which is nice, because I moved I was living in a different part of London and I've still kept some of those members because they still come online okay.
Speaker 1:So do you have a studio at home or?
Speaker 2:not a studio at home. I rent a space, okay, and whole class is there which are in Tickenham. But yeah, doing a combo of both is quite nice that you can see people online and then also have people come in person oh okay, so is that you do it at our church? Yes, the Holy Trinity Church, yeah.
Speaker 1:I I know because I've seen one of your pictures on.
Speaker 2:Facebook and I know a couple of people. Oh, you have to tell me after.
Speaker 1:So that was quite good to keep the business running throughout COVID and also to come out the other end.
Speaker 2:Exactly Because obviously there have been casualties in terms of businesses, but that was quite good. Yeah, it was definitely something I'd never considered teaching online when I did my training. It wasn't really a thing, whereas now it's much bigger and there's definitely benefits to it. Obviously, you can join from anywhere that you are in the world Time difference factoring in.
Speaker 2:But the thing about the in-person is that I can really get my hands on people and offer those corrections. I think with online, the beauty that I had is that I'd already taught a lot of those people in person, so I knew their bodies quite well and they knew me. When I have someone new coming, you can still do it online. I still offer corrections and adjustments and you can still try and make it the best studio experience in the comfort of your own home yeah but there.
Speaker 2:But nothing really beats being in a room with somebody and being able to see their bodies 360 rather than on zoom. You can only really see one or two angles because you don't want to be making people move around too much, but it does work very well and it's nice to have both options so do you?
Speaker 1:just getting back to I know this is a running podcast, but whatever, but do you do you? What kind of reasons do you get people who do have done other forms of physical exercise come? Do they come to you? To say I really struggle because I don't know I'm a cyclist or I'm a runner, or I do this or that. And I really need to have these different things to help me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. A lot of people come to Pilates. They've been told to do it because they've had some kind of injury or back pain. But in terms of cyclist runners, I think you're a runner as well, you probably know the tight hamstrings, maybe sore hips, sore knees, sore ankles.
Speaker 1:Hips, definitely yes.
Speaker 2:That kind of thing. I'm a runner as well, I love running, but the two really complement each other. So it's really good to be able to utilize the smaller, more intrinsic muscle groups that support those joints, so your hips, your knees, your knees, your ankles, especially if you're a runner, but also the mobility aspect, so building flexibility. You will find that doing a combination of the two, they do really work together and you will be a stronger runner if you're doing those kind of mobility exercises I'm sure obviously everyone says to stretch before and after a run, but I'm not sure how many people do or do it effectively, but it's that thing.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes people I think the misconception with pilates is people I think it's boring or very slow or, yeah, not high impact and it's not high impact but it can be very challenging and you often get people coming who are very fit, very active, run marathons, but they find the exercise is really challenging because it's completely different discipline. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:So for those who are starting out, who are very new and they're coming to your class, or whoever has a class, whatever, so what are the kind of basic exercises that I tell you may say to them go away and do this. And if you're sitting down or lying and watching in front of the tv, what are the? Sort of the basic things they can be doing yeah.
Speaker 2:So I would always start with the spine and say you want to be moving your spine in every direction that you can. Flexion, that's basically like rolling down. If you're from standing, rolling all the way down so you're getting a rounded shape in your back extension. If you lie flat on the floor and you're basically lifting from your head, your neck, your chest, all the way up, all the way down, sorry, to your hips, if you can, if you've got that range of movement. So that's when you see dogs on there, when they're in a kind of four points and they go into that extended position of the spine.
Speaker 1:That's that right, so oh, so you're on all fours if you do it from lying down.
Speaker 2:So you're in prone flat on the floor face with your face down face down and then you lift up from your head I'm demonstrating.
Speaker 1:Obviously, this is an audio podcast.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, you're lifting basically from your head and you're peeling your spine off the mat oh, I see, so you're getting that extension okay, okay, okay so those two, they're the opposites. Flexion rounding extension coming up into that position and then you have rotation. So turning the spine side to side and then lateral flexion is basically a side bend, so you're moving over to the side okay so those four movements for your spine, I'd say, try and incorporate those every day.
Speaker 2:Often, obviously in most people's life, we are sat down at death's wit yeah often in a in a flex position of our spine, so getting that extension opening up the chest, opening up around the hips is very important because you're counteracting the movement that we tend or the position that we tend to be in for most of the day yeah, because we can, we, you know, I think probably I do we tend to have that rounded shoulder yeah, exactly, which is quite normal in everyday life, because we're sat at a desk with our laptops, phones, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So that's what pilates does. It helps you to become aware of those things. So when you are sat at your desk, noticing your posture, thinking can I sit up taller.
Speaker 2:Where am I sat on my sit bones? Are my feet flat on the floor? Just all those things building that awareness to and the exercise that we do in class emulate things that you do in everyday life. So there's very functional movement and we want people to start to become aware of their body in space, in the class, so that when they're out in the real world living their lives, they are more aware of how they're holding themselves that's, that's right.
Speaker 1:So by just by doing those spine exercises every day, that will just help with the their flexibility of the spine yeah, mobility um, in particular of the spine, yeah and then so what's done in the class? That kind of progresses, that.
Speaker 2:So there's lots of exercises. Many, and especially now. Joseph had his original exercises but it's adapted a lot since then. So after the war ended he went to New York and he set up his studio and it was, for. Lots of dancers were attracted to it. So ballet dancers, which is why lots of people in that industry do pilates yeah I have a lot of friends who were dancers who are now pilates teachers. So if you think a ballerina, they have their is there?
Speaker 1:is there ballet pilates, or do some people sell it?
Speaker 2:there's something called bar, which is you.
Speaker 1:Some of the exercises are quite pilates based yeah but you use a bar and it's a mixture I'm not an expert, but it's a mixture of ballet and pilates. Okay, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:It's just the way of marketing it and incorporating the two and I think if you have an interest in ballet, you do quite a lot on your. It's quite a lot of footwork actually. You do lots on your toes, a lot of ankle stability as well.
Speaker 2:But yeah. So he trained a lot of ballet dancers and they obviously needed to be very fit to do the kind of dance that they do. So the exercises do get quite dynamic, they get very vigorous and you're doing them in very quick succession so you can't really build on them. But his traditional Pilates concept is still around today, but now a lot of it isn't really suitable for the everyday person that comes into class. So you have to find different ways to adapt, to make things more challenging as people progress. And people do find even just doing one hour class a week that you do progress quite quickly, which is great, because people then start to feel more confident in their body and they start to think, oh, I wasn't doing this a couple of weeks ago and now I can do that, and now how can we progress it? So it's always very encouraging when someone comes and says, oh, I can do that thing now that I couldn't do, or I notice it and tell them and they oh, yeah, I couldn't do that a month ago.
Speaker 1:All right, okay. So we've got to the bit where you know we've talked about you know kind of the core principles and we've talked about how you know things that we can do on an everyday basis, sort of thing. So now, when you're, you know, taking it a little bit further and I think we'll probably come on to the reform a little bit later on, but I think.
Speaker 1:So what do you feel that someone who's a little bit more advanced maybe being going to you? What sort of benefits do you think they get out of it?
Speaker 2:I think it would still be the same kind of things that you would, even if you were starting out but you'd probably just feel you would be doing more advanced exercises. You probably would feel it more in your body the next day, potentially, yeah, in terms of working the muscle groups and but then saying that I think you would, even if you're starting out, you it's those smaller muscle groups that maybe you haven't worked before.
Speaker 2:So I'm just thinking of someone came last week and they were a complete beginner but they really felt it the next day because they hadn't right those muscles before. Yeah, I don't know if there would be a huge difference in terms of.
Speaker 1:I think generally people tend to get the bug early on yeah and then that doesn't go away, it keeps coming because, you just maintain that same level and when you take the class, basically you've got all levels in that class, or do you? Or will there be like a beginner's class and then then people who are a little bit more advanced? You'll have a separate class for them. Yeah, so we?
Speaker 2:start with an all levels class which is for beginners. So if you on our timetable, we have all levels intermediate and advanced and we keep the all levels. We don't call it beginners just because we know that sometimes, depending on how you're feeling, one week someone who is an intermediate they might actually want to come to an all levels class that week for whatever reason. So we keep it all levels and we always teach the bodies in the room so.
Speaker 2:I would never say to somebody not to come to a certain class if they want to come and try a class when you're progressing up the levels, I will say to somebody oh, I think you're ready to go into the intermediate class, for example, but yet we split it into levels because obviously, depending on bodies, the all levels class is the one that you'd start with and then you can progress up if you want to, um, if you've got injuries, or say if you're pregnant, or yeah something else, then you'd stick in all levels class until yeah yeah, either that injury subsided or you had your baby or whatever it might be okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I just thought of a question, so basically the there is one. One question I do have is that what are the because, if you are starting out, what are the kind of common mistakes that people who do start out will will do? Because obviously it's going to be something completely new to them because, in terms of the breathing, trying to get used to their body, in a very different way. So what are the kind of common areas?
Speaker 1:yeah that they might get wrong? Or are you saying, no, it's not like that, it's like this definitely the breathing.
Speaker 2:I think, like I said before, people just stop breathing. But in terms of doing it wrong, I don't really I wouldn't say anyone ever comes and does something wrong. I think the only thing you could do wrong is to find a session hard and then not go back. You can't really do pilates wrong. There's obviously there's ways that I'll go around the room and correct people or give them adjustments but, I would never tell somebody they're doing something wrong, because right they might adapt to something differently yeah yeah, there's not really a wrong or right.
Speaker 2:It's not like there's a amazing teacher who said something once about there's no like end of term performance for pilates.
Speaker 2:You're not doing it to show anyone how you look at the end of it, it's it's just about coming and working with your body on the day, and that might be different.
Speaker 2:You might have been practicing pilates for 10 years and then you come one week and you can't do a roll-up, for example, quite a challenging exercise, coming off the floor, and I think you can get quite frustrated by that. But you have to listen to your body and some days you can do things and some days you can't. So, yeah, I wouldn't say anyone would do things wrong. I would just say if you came and felt a bit overwhelmed or you didn't quite like the teacher or any other reason and didn't go back, I would say that was wrong, because I would say either find a different teacher or give it another go, give yourself a chance. Like you said, there's a lot to think about and it can be quite overwhelming when you start and the teacher's telling you to think about where your ribs are, telling you to breathe, telling you to point your toes, and you think, oh, this is a bit much and it is a lot, which is why you try to start with the basics and then build on gradually from that, so people do come back.
Speaker 1:All right, okay, okay, that's good, because I know. I remember there was a swim teacher. Oh, there was this thing called I've forgotten the name it's called anyways a type of way of teaching swimming. And he just said just focus on one thing, and each time you're swimming, just focus on that one thing and get that right, exactly, yeah and then you can build on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, especially because I think people come. I often. Often see it as a lot of energy in the room. People come after work, for example, and they might have had a rubbish day, they might not want to be there, they might be stressed, children might not have done their homework, all those kind of things.
Speaker 1:Tired, Tired exactly.
Speaker 2:Anything could have happened, and sometimes people just want to come and move and be left alone. And you can see it when people come into the room how they might be feeling and you don't want to then add on to that by saying you're doing that exercise wrong and you never want to make somebody feel like they're failing at it, and you can't really fail at pilates.
Speaker 2:If you're there on the mat, you've showed up, then that's already a win that they've even come, yeah, so I only want to be encouraging people to just do their best on the day and sometimes people come and, like I said, they haven't, they can't do an exercise that they can normally do, and they do get frustrated and I have to remind them that you're just working with your body and, yeah, some days is great and some days doesn't feel as good okay, okay now.
Speaker 1:I know this isn't a visual podcast, so we can't demonstrate, but I know I'm jumping about.
Speaker 2:That's okay, we can jump yeah we can jump about.
Speaker 1:So basically you talked about that kind of getting your spine and whatever. But if I wanted something that's say just to improve my core strength and whatever, as a beginner, because I know for runners that's quite a key. Improve my core strength, yeah, and whatever. As a beginner, because I know for runners that's quite a key thing. Yeah, as always, the stretching, as you said. But what's good, what would be good to start off with?
Speaker 2:okay, there's obviously lots of exercises. The thing is with Pilates is almost all of them will be using your core, so you use your core even just to stand up use your core to sit, just to be sitting up.
Speaker 2:But for those kind of ones, if people want to feel that, there's a few exercises in particular that spring to mind, so there's the exercise called the hundred, which if anyone listening has done pilates, they probably have done the hundred at some point. You're essentially in a curl up which is like a low sit up, so your shoulders are lifted off the mat yeah your legs are either lifted and bent, or they can be extended out if you want to make it more challenging right and you want to really feel that deep abdominal work coming in.
Speaker 2:So we talk a lot about the pelvic floor in pilates and it's that zipping up sensation in those deeper abdominal muscles. So you're feeling that your body is held in space and then you're simply and I say simply because it's not simple- you're simply beating the arms vigorously.
Speaker 2:100 counts, basically. So you breathe in through your nose for the count of five, you breathe out through your mouth for the count of five and you do that 100 times with your legs in that same position, in your upper back, being curled off the floor so you're like in a v shape, is that right?
Speaker 2:so if you think your ribs will still be on the floor, your pelvis will still be on the floor, so it's just the upper back, but your legs in their part of the v, yeah, but then it's just your head and shoulders lifted off yeah the thing that does tend to go wrong, if we're going to use that word in exercise is that people feel it in their neck, so their head starts to drop back with gravity.
Speaker 2:So it's trying to engage enough to keep your shoulders lifted off the floor and you're getting actually that flex position of your shoulders. They're rounding forwards and you're really reaching out long through your arms and your fingertips and that that powerhouse I mentioned earlier is that really feeling the whole body working together in this quite challenging exercise. So there's that one and there's another one, or you can do what's called a series of five. So there's five exercises which all start in that similar position with your shoulders lifted. The 100 is quite a static movement. The only thing you're moving is your arms the single leg stretch, double leg stretch, criss, cross and there's two others. Those ones are more flowing. So you're moving your arms and legs at the same time and it's a lot of coordination as well. So that's where the real mind to muscle element comes in.
Speaker 2:So you're really thinking about which parts of your body are moving, which parts are staying stable okay um, and that's what's going to really, you're going to get that feeling in your abdominals and your core yeah, so we could always include links in the show notes yeah, to some, yeah, and so you can either look on youtube, because I've heard of the hundreds before yeah yeah, yeah, you might need an ambulance outside. Yeah, yeah, I'll look after you yeah, yeah, but yes it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, we'll look at those and that's. Those are good ones.
Speaker 2:Let's say to, just to start off with yeah, definitely, even the curl up with your feet on the floor, you're still going to be engaging into your core so the feet are on the floor, but you're curling up upper, upper back curling up.
Speaker 1:You can, yeah, you can do that. You can do the hundred with the, with the feet are on the floor, but you're curling up upper, upper, back, curling up.
Speaker 2:You can, yeah, you can do that you can do the hundred with the with the feet down as well. That's the what you'd start some stuff and then you can build up. That's a good example of how you can build up the exercises to make them more challenging great.
Speaker 1:And then, in terms of the, I have hip problems and also I remember I did see I'm sure other people who were listening will have other issues but gluteus medius- issues and they got me to do a few things.
Speaker 2:Is there anything physio?
Speaker 1:yeah, I do go to physio, so is there anything specifically for the hips that?
Speaker 2:yeah, lots of stuff for the hips as well. We do really nice exercises lying on our side. I say nice. I think anyone listening who's done these probably wouldn't say they're nice, but they're really good hip strengthener exercises. If you imagine you're lying on your side, your bottom leg is bent in a 90-degree position and you're extending your top leg out straight.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so it's like a kind of recovery position type of thing yeah, and if, what have you got your hand by your head?
Speaker 2:underneath your head or you can have the arm extended out underneath your ear yeah um again, if I was with you, I'd be getting you in a really good alignment position. This is one of the ones where it's quite crucial where your hips are in space, because if they're even a fraction too far back behind you, you're going to feel it completely differently. So this is one of the ones where I'll teach it and I'll go around and I'll move somebody's hip forwards a little bit and they'll go oh, and they suddenly start to feel it in their glutes much more all right or the side of the leg.
Speaker 2:So there's lots of variations of that exercise you can do. Have you heard of oysters or clams? No that's one, so both of your legs are bent feet together and you're effectively opening from your thigh bones. The knee lifts up yeah it's like a clam shell or an oyster shell opening, and then you close the leg down okay you can do it with a band wrapped around your thigh as well to increase the resistance? Yeah, a little bit of resistance, but even that's a good one for the mind to muscle thing.
Speaker 2:If you're, you can flap your leg around as much as you like, and not feel anything but if you're really engaging and focusing on what you're moving and why you're moving it and keeping your pelvis stable, you're really going to notice the difference in that exercise. I think that's one of the misconceptions. People think pilates is easy. If you watch someone doing it, you might not think it looks like much, and then you get on the mat and do it yourself and then you start to actually feel it in your body yeah, yeah so those ones definitely in that sideline position. I've had some runners in my class who okay, they they it's a love hate one.
Speaker 2:They like it because they know it's good for them. But especially if your hips are tight it can be a bit nasty all right. So that's the clam the clams and yeah, just any side lying leg work. Again, I can give you some links to these, if that's great, yeah, no, it is definitely be useful.
Speaker 1:And also in terms of, let's's say, tight hamstrings are there anything for that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we do quite a simple hamstring stretch, lying down on the floor Again, you can use a band, so having your leg in a 90-degree position, trying to keep your thigh bones still in space and just extending the knee to reach the leg to the ceiling. So you've probably done that before bending and straightening the leg. But the key again is to keep your thigh bone stable. So if your leg is moving in and out from the leg sorry, from the body then you're going to be using your hip more than getting that lengthening into the back of the leg. So again, it's just that really building awareness of what's actually moving, what you want to be getting out of the exercise, rather than just moving the leg and hoping for the best yeah, so that's it.
Speaker 2:To repeat that again, that's the, so you're lying down on your back yeah you can have one leg, just the foot on the floor. Bring your other leg up. We call it a single knee fold yeah and your thigh bone, if you think, is perpendicular to the floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and your knee is in a right angle and if you extend, okay, from the leg up and then come down, so extending the back of the knee, and you can wrap a band around your foot again to get a little bit of resistance and really think pushing up into the band. And that's one of the ones. If you, even if you're not using a band, but you flex your ankle and pull your toes down towards your face, you're going to feel it much more into the back of the leg as well. Um, and that's one we often do in class and I'll say how everyone's hamstrings feeling and it's always the same answer tight.
Speaker 1:So even if you're not a runner, I think we yeah, lots of people would have quite tight hands, yeah because I think with running you do put, uh, your body through quite a lot of stress yeah and it I don't know shortens, because I know when I was trying to do more swimming and whatever, I had really bad ankle flexibility and a lot of people could said, oh, that's because you're running, because you and it tends to, you tend to not get that flexibility, whereas you need to have the ankle flexibility if you want to swim, do a proper kick or that kind of thing, yeah, definitely again it's a bit like what I said about the spine moving in all directions.
Speaker 2:You want to move your joints in the directions that they can go in. With the hips, for example, we, because we sit so much, we have a lot of hip flexion, but for for most people it's quite difficult to get hip extension, and that's another one with that side lying if you have your legs straight. Trying to get your leg to go behind your spine, so behind the body, is often quite challenging just to get that extension at the hip. Yeah, like I said, we can go forwards, but going backwards is quite challenging for most people right and it gave me an idea about in terms of the structure of your class.
Speaker 1:So how does it work, let's say, for someone you know who starts out. So is it an hour?
Speaker 2:long 55 minutes. Yes, almost an hour okay and then.
Speaker 1:So how do you start? And then, what is it start, middle and end?
Speaker 2:yeah, generally it varies week to week. Like I said, I always try and teach the bodies in the room. Sometimes I'll have an idea of what I want to teach and what I want to do and people will come in and I'll say we're going to start standing and everyone will groan, and so we end up lying down and starting lying down. So I try to match the energy and sometimes I'll say no, we are going to start standing, that's what we've planned, but um, what do you mean?
Speaker 2:start standing so everyone's got their mat and you there, various start positions. So generally we've got standing. So you'd start from a standing position feet, hip distance, finding a neutral spine and then you start to move from there. Or you might start the class lying down. So again, you take a moment to find your neutral spine lying on the floor. You can start from four point kneeling, so it varies. I try to mix it up so that we don't do the same class every week, so you can't. You build on exercises and we'll always refer back to certain things, and there's some exercises that I always teach just because they're really good ones or I know the class needs it. But yeah, it's quite varied. So we tend to do some kind of warm-up, often moving the spine, getting the the hips to move, getting the shoulders to move, and then you build on that. So the meatier part of the class is when we do more things like the hundred and we do things to get the body, and then we either finish the class back up in standing.
Speaker 2:So everyone's ready to walk out, or if it's been a particularly challenging class, I often like to get them to lie down and we have more of a relaxation, focus on the breath, a bit of a cool down towards the end all right.
Speaker 1:And then you, I mean so once a week, that's according to what you were saying, that's, that's quite good, that's good enough, sort of thing. You can build. Obviously you can do more times and maybe the odd exercise during the week. But you feel that for someone who has a busy life, that's enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's realistic to say if you've got a busy life, if you've got a family, if you're working full time and if you're doing other things, if you're a runner or if you're cycling and you come once a week. That's a great start. I would hope that people might get the bug and think actually I want to do this twice a week and alternatively, we are at our welcome parties. We have an on-demand studio.
Speaker 2:So, because 55 minutes is quite a long time. It's a chunk of someone's day. They have to get there, they have to get back.
Speaker 2:Obviously, we have got the online classes, but the on-demand studio gives an extra alternative, so we've got classes on a seven minutes long and classes that are full-length classes so you can decide if you fancy it on the weekend or if you've come back from a run and you think, oh, I do want to do some kind of mobility stretching. There's lots of classes on there. You can go and filter them based on how much time you have, what kind of class you want to do, what level you are. So if you are more advanced, there's an option for that and then you can pick a class and follow along with it. If you are starting out and you can only commit to one class a week, but you've got the option to add on as and when ad hoc okay, these are videos which are on the yeah website exactly, yeah, okay all right, okay, that's probably you would say, maybe a couple of times a week, two, three times a week.
Speaker 1:You would certainly feel those benefits in terms of definitely in terms of additional training additional training if you were doing running, or to any aerobic or any exercise that you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even once a week you would notice the difference. I have people coming who do it once a week and they've told me how much they've noticed the difference. Don't be put off thinking you have to do it. It's more about the consistency. Like I said, don't just go to one session and think you're going to be cured. Pilates is magic, but it's not as good as, okay, you have to do it you have to do it a few times to start to know, like anything in life, nothing you're not, harry potter, not harry potter.
Speaker 2:No, nothing in life that's worthwhile is a quick fix, is it?
Speaker 1:yeah, for a young person this day and age. And you've got your own company and you've got your own business. So what's the mission for lucy? Going forward big.
Speaker 2:Big question. I would love to have my own studio one day.
Speaker 1:That is a big dream.
Speaker 2:But for right now I am just looking to expand what I can currently offer my members, obviously always looking for new members as well, so if anyone's listening and wants to come, I'd love to have you. But yeah, so just putting on more classes I'm in the talks with hopefully holding a retreat next September.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got a space in Italy not my space, but I've found a space in Italy that I'm hoping to do a retreat. That's been another dream I've had for a while and was looking into doing it just before COVID and then obviously that didn't happen. But it's the same place and I've been speaking to them and I recently met a really amazing yoga teacher and there's quite a lot of retreats that offer Pilates and yoga. It's quite nice to do a combination of the two and she's very similar to me.
Speaker 2:We have very similar values, so we're hopefully going to be doing that next September, putting that on and giving people a nice four or five day retreat so are you.
Speaker 1:Are you yoga trained as well?
Speaker 2:no, I'm not yoga trained. So, ali the teacher, she would do the yoga part, I would do the pilates. Yeah, it's quite nice as well doing it with somebody else as your first one kind of takes a bit of the pressure off all right, okay, so what are lucy's values then? At welcome parties. Definitely the inclusivity aspect. I think my mission really is to get as many people as possible trying Pilates and, like I said, there are some misconceptions around it. Even just getting men to come to the class is quite a challenge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think lots of men think it's only for women and obviously I told you it was created by a man, so it's definitely not just for women. But I think in today's society it does seem quite a women's exercise. So really trying to break down those stigmas. That it's not. You don't have to look a certain way to do it. You don't have to have fancy leggings to do it. You don't. Yeah, you can just be yourself and come.
Speaker 1:If you have thought about doing it, then this is Although I did see on your Facebook page you do have some men in. Yes, we do.
Speaker 2:It's still more women, but we are getting more men and they do spread the word as well. I know I've got some friends who are teachers who do men-only classes because I think it is quite daunting. I think sometimes I've had some men come and they're just quite nervous to come. They think they're going to be judged or they don't think they're going to be able to touch their toes and I say we don't need to touch your toes. I really strive to make the classes inclusive and a non-judgmental space. Come exactly as you are. So inclusivity and what was my other one? Adaptability that was it.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I want people to come as they are and we can always adapt and exercise. So if you are suffering with back pain or you have a sports injury or you haven't been doing fitness for a while and you're getting back into it, there's always ways around things and we try to teach the classes based on and make it so that everyone comes and feels like they're getting a really tailored experience. So we know, when people are coming, their reasons for coming, we ask them before they start and then we make sure that everyone is getting something personal. Even if it's not a one-to-one, they're actually going to benefit from the class and the final value, I think, is how I try to live. My life is fun. We want the classes to be friendly and fun and welcoming. And exercise can be daunting, it can be scary to go to a class, so we try to keep them lighthearted. We try to have fun in them. We do things. We have drinks at Christmas. We like to build a community. We've done two summer solstice classes on Twickenham Green.
Speaker 1:The weather's always held out, which has been. Yeah, I did see that.
Speaker 2:I did see that on the facebook page by the billion yeah, exactly so we did that this year and the year before and have a picnic after, and it's just nice for the members to meet each other. Obviously, there's a few classes, so you don't always cross over with everyone, so it's nice to bring everyone together. And, yeah, the weather's been great the last two years, so it's just nice practicing outside as well for me.
Speaker 1:I know this is a bit left field but let's say from from what have been the challenges for you to setting this up, you know, in the last few years, because you said, I mean you've been doing it for about five years, is that right yeah? What would you say have been the kind of the main challenges and setting it up.
Speaker 2:I think when you start, or when I first started, when I decided to train, I think I thought it was going to be quite quick the training and it actually took me two years to qualify fully, which is a good thing and I'm very grateful for it now because I think if I'd qualified sooner I would have been even more out of my depth. But obviously when you first start it is challenging just to get clients to get classes. We're in London and it is competitive here and I think when you first start you don't really have your own voice or your own style. So you're often trying to emulate and you're trying to please everyone in the room and you want everyone to get something out of the class. But over time you start to find your own style and I think I now, having done it for five years, do have much more of my own style and feel much more confident even just standing in front of a room and talking to people.
Speaker 2:I wasn't a natural speaker spokesperson at school, so and now you've done a podcast my first podcast. Yeah, thank you, brian. It wasn't as scary as I um, but yeah, that's a challenge. And then obviously just keeping it afloat, knowing how to do your taxes, all that kind of stuff exactly, exactly, yeah things that you're not really taught at school. But it's good. It's great. I wouldn't want to do any other job. It's an incredible job because you are your own boss, basically, yeah, my own boss and helping people every day is really amazing.
Speaker 1:And did you find it difficult getting other?
Speaker 2:teachers, Because you have.
Speaker 1:I think two other people who work with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have two other teachers at the moment. The good thing is, where I trained is Body Control Pilates, and they're very good at keeping everyone connected. So they have a Facebook group and they have a newsletter. So whenever I've needed to bring teachers on or get cover, I'm able to utilize that and that way that the teachers are going to be a really good standard because they've gone through the quite rigorous training as well. There's that's not to say body control Pilates is the only good training provider. There's lots of good training providers, but there are some slightly less good ones or ones that are a little bit more kind of quick trainers, training providers.
Speaker 2:So I'm always confident getting a teacher who's training with body control, because I know that they're going to also have similar principles to me and always be teaching the person in front of them rather than some teacher. You go to some classes where they'll do the class with you and not actually offer corrections or walk around and check people are doing it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, often I've been to gym classes where you have 30 people in the room and it's impossible for the teachers to get around everyone so that's where we keep our classes quite small and we have a max of 12 just so we can get around people and even that sometimes trying to get around everyone yeah, and are you always looking to build on the education that you've had? Yeah, do you have to have do that, yeah, you do have to, yeah, so you have to do a certain amount per year okay um, which is great, I think, because obviously medical advice and things change all the time, so it's good to be kept up to date yeah and there's loads of different training you can do.
Speaker 2:You think there's not enough time to do all the things that I want to do, but the reformer was something that I did. I qualified in last year.
Speaker 2:We haven't thought about reformer, so much okay, um, but yeah, so that was really good. And also, it's always good to go back to kind of where it all started and be back there, and the trainers there are incredible and they're so generous with their knowledge. Yeah, um, and you always learn stuff and it makes you a better teacher all around it. It's a bit like driving a car you pass your test and then you learn on the job yeah, just going.
Speaker 1:I mean, as I said, we were, yeah, we did uh talk about quite a lot, but then talking about the reformers, so what? Just explain to um, a complete novice like myself? Yeah, what is the reformer. And then how is it different to, let's say, from someone not using that equipment?
Speaker 2:yeah, so the reformer is essentially a bed with springs attached, so you have the carriage that you can lie on, you can sit on, you can stand on and that moves. And generally with reformers there's five springs. Yeah, um, the heaviest spring is often a red, and then you have a half spring, a blue, and then a quarter spring, so the spring tension will. You can get whatever you need to out of the exercise and alter that depending on what you want to get out of the exercise and the body that you're the person you're working with.
Speaker 2:So again, I think people think, oh, you're going to put it on the heaviest setting, that's going to be the hardest. It would be really hard, but actually putting on the lighter setting can make it much more challenging.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So essentially you can do the mat work exercises on the reformer to make them more challenging or to make them easier. For certain people, the reformer is really good for rehabilitation. So if you've had injuries. It's raised off the floor so it's much easier to get on and off so especially for older people. It's a really good way right of getting them onto into doing pilates. And you also have pulleys so you can do things like your curl up, but with the added resistance of the springs.
Speaker 1:So it's essentially pilates with the resistance as well okay and Okay, and would you say that you would it makes Pilates, or would you say you're trying to make it? You know, for someone who's more advanced would use a reformer, or is it something that you can get away with doing Pilates by just not using the reformer at all? Definitely at all, definitely, yeah, um, but it's not something that you feel that is because it's a piece of equipment that it's felt is it something for someone who's done pilates for a while?
Speaker 2:no, it's not. It, like I said, you can advance exercises on it. And if somebody wanted to add that resistance and they said I've been doing pilates for however long and I want to, add this on then definitely you can get that. But, like I said, it can also be for rehabilitation, so it can make some of the exercises more accessible for people. It's very it's a very versatile machine and it's growing in popularity. Especially has done in the last few years so lots of reformer studios opening up right and it is a great piece of equipment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say, definitely try it if you've done pilates, but you don't have to do it you can get.
Speaker 1:I think my point is that you can get just as much out of pilates by just not not doing it and using the network exactly.
Speaker 2:And the thing is, reformer is often much more expensive than the network. So network is much more accessible for most people and you can do network at home. If you have a few thousand pounds to spend on a reformer to do it at home, then by all means but most people I don't think do all the space for them now the thing is we I can't believe it we just done an hour.
Speaker 1:But I uh, for the first time on brian's run point we're going to do a q a session. And it's a big shout out to my sister, irene O'Connell, and so she asks when doing Pilates exercise, when do you inhale and exhale? I think you maybe touched on that earlier on.
Speaker 2:Yes, so generally you would inhale to prepare for an exercise.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And generally you exhale on the harder part of the exercise.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that's to do with your alignment and the breath and your centering, sorry. So, as you breathe out you're increasing that intra-abdominal pressure and that's going to mean that your core is more switched on, ready to take the load of, say, your legs moving away from your body. So that's general and, like I, as long as you're breathing, it's fine.
Speaker 1:And then she asked can she recommend any good exercises for flabby upper arms? I've had that one before. You have heard that one before I have had that one before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I would always ask why somebody is worried about that. I do understand. As a woman, you have those certain pressures, but things like tricep presses presses it's going to help to strengthen and tone. Unfortunately, some, as we get older, there's some areas of the body which you know even like men, it's around exactly yeah, and we, the abdominals, that's right yeah, I would say, you want to build confidence in your body so that you feel better.
Speaker 1:But okay yeah, I think tricep presses if she's if she wants to yeah yeah, giving them a go and then the final one was is and I think it's quite a good question is that she did say pilates exercise is beneficial for a sore lower back yeah, that's another big one.
Speaker 2:People tend to come to class um having suffered from lower back pain. So, like I said, moving your spine in all directions is really important things like. One of my favorite exercises is the spine curl. So lying on the floor with your knees bent and you want to make sure they're a comfortable distance from your sit bones, and then you're going to roll your pelvis towards your head, slowly wheel your spine up to about the tips of the shoulders and then, as you come down, it's the same thing. You want to try and bring every single bone down one at a time so it's, you're getting a massage for the spine.
Speaker 2:You can even just do it the lower part. So if it's really your lower back that's suffering, getting the lower part of your spine to mobilize, yeah, doing it gently, recruiting your abdominals to come up and come down and again, using that breath, so using the out breath, to lift the spine up.
Speaker 1:So you're lying back on. You're lying on the floor, yeah, with your legs bent, and then you're bringing the leg.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, you roll your pelvis, so you'll feel your lower back press into the floor. And then you start to lift the hips and then lift each bone off, so you're in a bridge position, okay. And then you start to lift the hips and then lift each bone off, so you're in a bridge position, okay. And then you roll the spine back down from the top all the way to the bottom, come back to neutral um, so that one is really nice, and also hip rolls so you can have the feet together. You could have the feet wide, same position as we just had, and think about your hips rolling to one side. You want to keep your shoulders glued to the floor so that you get that rotation in your lower spine and then use the abdominals to come back and obviously do both sides links in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Links in the show notes, exactly great class and I can show you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah anyway, I think it's we've. Honestly, if you're not convinced about going to pilates classes, you never will be. But after this. But no, it's been wonderful talking to you, lucy. What I'd just like to ask you is there anything, any links, social media links or anything you'd like to add?
Speaker 2:yeah, thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed this oh good, but yeah, so we're welcomepalates. On instagram we offer your first class free. So if anyone's in the area or if you want to try an online class, then if you go to our website, welcomepalatescom, and there's no dot in the middle of that one yeah you can sign up for a free class and there's no obligation. Once you've done that, you can come and try us out, see if we're a good fit. And yeah, we're on facebook as well.
Speaker 1:Welcome, pilates, and I think that's it really, but it's been lovely to speak to you oh great, and just in general, just give pilates a go wherever you are in the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly and I would say, yeah, if you go to a class and it's not quite for you, try a different teacher, because there are lots of styles of Pilates. So, yeah, my mission to get everyone to give it a go is helps the masses, all right.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much.
