Ultimate Pilates Workout

Kimberly and Katherine Corp taught 4 intensive days of ActivCore® training to Pilates professionals, PT’s and GYROTONIC® instructors from Pilates on Fifth in NYC, from Brooklyn, and from Toronto, Canada. This fast track course was structured with the ActviCore FEX® Basic course on days 1 & 2, followed by the ActivCore FEX® intermediate course 5 days later. Thus, students could complete the required Basic course plus the 25 practice hours before moving on to Intermediate.

The course covers the gamut of exercises in ActivCore’s Function EXercise curriculum.  The Basic course covers highly effective exercises for the lower body, including outer thighs, inner thighs, glutes & hamstrings, as well as upper body exercises for the chest, back and arms.  Despite the varying strength levels in the class, everyone easily found a version that he/she could do effectively.  And all participants saw immediate improvement.  For example, Rena Lichtblau, owner of Pilates by Rena noticed that after the first day, the pain in her hip was diminished while the range of motion increased, and EVERYONE was sore from the upper body exercises, especially the pull ups!

The next four days were spent practicing the exercises, both doing them and teaching them.  …And there was no shortage of volunteers at Pilates on Fifth of Pilates instructors and clients to work with the ActivCore FEX® system and experience the results.  We even held an in-house ActivCore® workshop during this 4 day break for all Pilates on Fifth’s ActivCore® graduates, with much success.  Kurt Gorrell, a Pilates instructor at Pilates on Fifth as well as a gymnastics instructor at Chelsea Piers and Suzanne Gerdes, another Pilates instructor at the studio and a graduate student of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Columbia University, were in attendance, creating workout plans to use with their clients.

The second weekend, the Intermediate FEX course, commenced with learning the EXTREME exercises.  Sound daunting?  Well it is!!!  These exercises take the ActivCore® exercises from the Basic Course, and take them to the next level.  This provided the immediate opportunity to introduce the most unique feature of the Redcord Equipment, the bungees!  Participants were able to experience the magic of weightlessness, even with the most difficult of exercises.  It’s really not magic, but the feeling is so incredible that it almost feels as such!  For example, take the exercise below, the Side Plank.  This exercise is VERY challenging, requiring a great deal of strength in both the abductor of the bottom leg, the obliques, and the shoulder girdle stabilizers.  For many people, this would call for too much strength, which is why the ActivCore FEX® Intermediate series teaches how to place a sling around the pelvis to take the offweight the body.  Voila!  A previously insurmountable exercise is do-able!!  Toni Mercogliani, owner of Toni PT and Pilates, loved the offweighting techniques because of the easy crossover and application with her Physical Therapy clients.  She also loved the upper body exercises, as shown!

The final day of the fast track course ended with a written exam as well as a practical review of all the material covered in both courses.  Here are some pictures of the exercises covered!