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By Kate Feinberg Robins Pilates? Yoga? What Is It? Sometimes it feels like everywhere we look there's a Pilates or yoga studio. Every gym and community center seems to offer Pilates, yoga, or a combined Pilates-yoga class. Are they the same? Are they different? What are they? Mind-Body Practice on a Mat Pilates and yoga are both mind-body practices done on a mat. As mind-body practices, both Pilates and yoga focus on coordinating breath with movement. Because of the focus on mind-body connection, Pilates and yoga are typically done slowly, with careful attention to the details of each movement, position, and breath. Both tend to focus on flowing from one movement or pose to the next, with deliberate transitions in between. Like many mind-body practices, the principles practiced in the studio (such as harmony, flow, and centering) are intended to be applied holistically in everyday life. Typically, yoga exercises and sequences are done on a "sticky mat" or "yoga mat....

By Kate Feinberg Robins What Is a Back Spasm? If you’ve experienced a back spasm, you know it can be incredibly painful, start suddenly, and last several days. The good news is most muscle spasms can be managed through home exercise and over-the-counter medicine. (For more on causes and medical treatments, we recommend the Cleveland Clinic’s website .) A back spasm is basically when a muscle in your back contracts involuntarily and will not release. In our experience, it feels like sudden shooting and debilitating pain (usually accompanied by crying ☹️). Here are some tips we’ve learned that help get us through when it happens. 1. Slow Down Be patient with yourself. It can take weeks for the pain to go away fully. Often a spasm is (in part) your body telling you that you’re doing too much and forcing you to slow down. (And maybe next time, we can remember to slow down before it happens and avoid it altogether 🤔.) 2. Keep Moving This is the hardest and most important part. When it feel...

  By Kate Feinberg Robins Exercise for Older Adults As we age, it may be tempting to focus exclusively on safe, low-impact exercise. But weight-bearing exercise is equally important. After age 40, the effects of inactivity increase. When we are inactive, our muscle mass, strength, bone density, and heart health all decline at a higher rate than when we were younger. After age 40, we use it or lose it. Non-weight-bearing exercise helps us build and maintain muscle tone and strength . Weight-bearing exercise builds and maintains our bone density and heart health . What is Weight-Bearing Exercise? Any exercise where you support your own weight with your muscle strength is a weight-bearing exercise. This includes walking, running, dancing, capoeira , and many yoga poses. What is Non-Weight-Bearing Exercise? Any exercise where most of your weight is supported by water, the floor, a bicycle, or other apparatus is non-weight-bearing exercise. This includes swimming, Pilates, and cyc...

By Kate Feinberg Robins How Do I Know I Have a Torn Back Muscle? Here are some signs that your back pain might be due to a muscle tear: You can remember the moment that it started hurting.   You feel lopsided, with one side of your back much tighter than the other. The pain gets worse when you try to use the muscle. How Did it Happen? Think back to that moment when your back started hurting. You might have torn a muscle if you: stretched abruptly without warming up. forced yourself to stretch further than you were ready for. lifted too much weight suddenly and with poor form. Any movement that causes a sudden strain may cause a muscle to tear. How Can I Prevent it from Happening Again? Always warm up before stretching . Make sure you’re doing the the right kind of stretching at the right time. Stretch gently, giving your muscles plenty of warmth, breath, and time before deepening the stretch. Practice proper form with resistance or small weights before increasing your weight load. ...

By Kate Feinberg Robins Warm-up stretching  should increase your mobility in preparation for more intense exercise, without putting yourself at risk of pulling a muscle. Be gentle and dynamic.  Move continuously rather than holding a position.  Keep your stretches small and your muscles in motion.  Cool-down stretching  decreases muscle soreness and tightness, and leads to long-term gains in flexibility. Sustain your position for several breaths or at least 30 seconds. Relax the muscles you're stretching.  Stretching for increased flexibility  requires repeated sustained stretches and lots of patience. Choose a moment when your muscles are very warm--like after a long walk or run.  Hold your stretch for several minutes, making sure not to put weight on the muscles being stretched.  Deepen your stretch gradually and with lots of breath.  The longer you hold the stretch and the more often you do it, the more gains you'll see in flexibility...

By Kate Feinberg Robins If you've never taken a movement-based class on Zoom, it can sound intimidating, and maybe even impossible. After a year and a half of teaching adult ballet, capoeira, flamenco, and Pilates on Zoom, we have a few tips to share: 1. Decide who to watch. Pin your teacher's video  to keep it large on your screen in  Speaker View . Switch to  Gallery View  to see your classmates, yourself, and your instructor at the same time. Switch back and forth as desired throughout class. ​2. Shift your position and your gaze. If your screen is small,  come close to watch , then go back to your space to try the movement. Stay close to your screen while you move if you need to follow the instructor closely. Once you understand the exercise,  look in front of you at eye level  instead of at your camera. 3. Position yourself for feedback or privacy. If you want feedback,  place your camera & yourself so your instructor can see yo...