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Anne Samoilov

Movement, Mindset and Clean Eating to A Healthier, Happier Life

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Category: Online Pilates

Pain-free Thanksgiving!

Nov 18
Online Pilates

Hey everyone! I recently had a review published on Blogcritics.org about Pilates Solutions for Back Pain. I know that many of you have different conditions from simple strained backs to overstretched or tight muscles.

No matter what your problem, no one wants to be dealing with back or body pain of any kind during the holidays. When I found Lynda Lippins Pilates for Back Pain 30 minute audio class, I immediately wanted to share with as many of my pilates students as possible. Now, I’m passing the information on to you!

Check out my Pilates Solutions for Back Pain review and consider making this part of your holiday workout program.

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10 ways To Get In Shape with Twitter!

Nov 4
Fitness Motivation, Online Fitness, Online Pilates

Ok – This is a quick list I made – off the top of my head. I was brainstorming ways that I use Twitter to stay in Shape…
Whether it’s pilates, kettlebells, yoga, or hiking…you will find people doing your favorite activity on Twitter. If you haven’t checked Twitter out yet, you should…It’s fun…and clearly as I share below…it can help you get & stay in shape.

  1. Find a Workout Buddy
  2. Tweet your food journal
  3. Keep In Touch with your trainer or class teacher
  4. Get new workouts & tips from your trainer
  5. Find fitness tips from other trainers and resources
  6. Stay motivated by learning what other people are doing
  7. Post your daily workout to share with friends and your trainer
  8. Find someone that inspires you to get in shape and follow them–i.e. Jen Garner, Jennifer Biel, Rachel Nichols
  9. Read, Post, and Share Motivational Quotes
  10. Create a blog and post on twitter when you update it.

Here’s the top people/users I would follow just be on top of different ways of getting in shape, eating right and living a healthy lifestyle:

  • @livewell360
  • @healthyirishman
  • @valeriewaters
  • @ideafit
  • @annesamoilov
  • @WeightWatchers
  • @toscareno
  • @toneitup
  • @jillianmichaels
  • @mbthin (one of my workout buddies!)

There are a ton more to follow.  Do a search for different people or companies or “diet” names — or anyone that you might know and think can give you good information.

The importance of Twitter is in helping you join/build a tribe of people that share a common goal.  Sure you could get carried away with how many people are following you, but if you go into Twitter with the goal of gaining new knowledge, you won’t go wrong.  You might meet some fun new people going through exactly what you are!

If you’d like to try pilates and get more information on joining the Twitter tweeters, reserve your first private pilates session with me today!

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Pilates Breathing for Beginners – When Do I Breathe and Why?

Oct 29
Online Pilates, Pilates

Pilates beginners are always asking me the question, “Am I doing it right?”  Most of the time, it’s a question about their movement.  I think what trips them up is that the movements themselves are often “simplistic” so they think they might be missing something.

Pilates BreathingMost of the time, all they are missing is the right breath and muscle recruitment before the move begins.

So, here’s my simple beginner’s cheat-sheet on Pilates breathing. These are not hard and fast rules.  Just as you get used to them, your instructor might cue you differently, have you exhale when you used to be inhaling…just to shake things up.

First – How Do You Breathe?

>Inhale through the nose

>Exhale through the mouth – with lips slightly pursed to help connect more to those abs!

Second – When Should I Breath?

Generally, you should be exhale:

  1. On the Exertion – pressing out during Footwork, pulling your hands down during the arm series on the reformer, as you lift your head and shoulders, whenever you need to hollow out your abs to create a c-curve.
  2. During Flexion – whenever the body needs to round forward — as in c-curve exercises.

Try to Inhale:

  1. In preparation for most movements – Inhale & engage your abs to move with stability through an exercise.
  2. To Increase  Back Extension — Swimming, Breastroke, Pulling Straps, Swan Dive.   Anytime you open your chest and “bend backward”, the inhale helps to increase this extension.
  3. To Increase Rotation – Instead of exhale each time you twist your torso, try to inhale through your nose as if you are filling up your rib cabge. Exhale to release back to center.

Here are some exceptions found in reformer exercises where you might feel like you are doing the opposite breathing:

  1. Elephant – I ask you to INHALE as you press out and EXHALE as your legs come back in.  You might think think you need to exhale on the exertion as you push your heels into the shoulder rests, but the hip and torso flexion as you come in is a more important place to put the exhale to get the abs firing.
  2. Knee Stretches – same thing here. You are pushing out with your feet against those shoulder rests, but you inhale as you push out, exhale to quickly bring the knees back underneath you.

Third – How Do I Improve My Breathing?

  1. Try to focus on breathing deeply and evenly throughout your pilates session or class.  Stay focused on the quality of your breath.  If you start thinking about other topics, your teacher will most likely see you glaze over and bring your attention back!
  2. Make your breath as important as the spring setting on your machine or the ball between your knees or any other part of the exercise.  Start with a good deep breath before your class and then try to find the breath just before the exercise to get the most out of it.
  3. Let others hear you….especially your teacher!  Keep your breathing even, but let your teacher hear it.  If he/she doesn’t, it makes it more difficult for them to deepen the exercise for you.  I’ve seen people with their mouth closed the entire class, no matter what I say…Give me a good exhale once in awhile so I know you are listening!  Even more than that…breathe so I know you aren’t holding your breath!

For more Detailed Breathing Exercises and Advice:

Learn to Breathe More Deeply: About.com’s Pilates Guide Marguerite Ogle has compiled a lot of useful and clear information on how to learn to breathe more deeply.  She even gives advice on different types of breathing — another way to improve your pilates practice.

Pilates Breathing: Easy Vigour is a great site for pilates information. This section on pilates breathing has a few diagrams and instructs the beginner on how to do pilates style breathing. Pilates breathing exercises are included as well!

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Excuses Be Gone!

Oct 15
Fitness Motivation, Online Pilates

In honor of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s most recent book and lecture series, I’m calling this section Excuses Be Gone! You get the idea.  No more excuses.  Take responsibility for your health now.  You can get in shape and lead a more active life today — even with no extra money or extra time to do it.

So, let me share the freebies first:

Free Newsletter From Anne – :) Every Month, I will provide you with at least one short exercise video that you can do every day, several times a day, several times in a row like a circuit or whenever you can’t make it to a class.

YouTube – Look up any body part, any type of exercise, and you will probably find a few videos that you can do at home…FOR FREE.   If you’d like some pilates video suggestions, let me know, and I’ll point you in the direction of ones that I actually love and do at home.

ON DEMAND – If you have an On Demand feature with your Digital Cable service, dive in and look for the Sports & Fitness Section.  Then, find Exercise TV section.  They have videos for pilates, yoga, circuit training, cardio…and you’ll even find well known instructors like Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper.

Ok, now the inexpensive and free online ones that I really like:

1. Spark People – Free Membership to an exercise/diet website.  They have forums too, so you get a built in support system of people who are working toward their goals too!

2. Jillian Michaels Online – Jillian has many free resources on her site.  The free newsletter alone is a great reminder to workout and she always gives nutrition tips too.

3. Bob Harper – If you don’t know Bob from The Biggest Loser, check out his site’s free tools and resources.

4. Yoga Glo – This yoga studio in Santa Monica, CA offers an online membership to get yoga classes that just happened LIVE in their studio!

5. Ultimate Pilates Workouts – There are several different memberships to get full pilates routines – the mat workouts are offered in the FREE membership.

6. Valerie Waters -  I started off by doing her Red Carpet Ready program with AMAZING RESULTS.  Valerie is my guru right now on getting in shape at home.  She has a great program set up where there is a community of people who are always there to support you.  She updates exercise circuits all the time.  You never feel alone.  I love it.

*This is an excerpt from an issue of my newsletter a few months ago in my bi-monthly health & fitness newsletter.   People are always looking for places online they can go for health & fitness motivation.  This small list should get you started.  If you’d like to know how to receive my newsletter, please submit your name/email in the box on this page.

Also, check back soon for my complete health & fitness tools I use page!

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My Pilates Fitness Formula

Oct 12
Fitness Motivation, Online Pilates, Pilates

Ok this pic was taken about a month ago with my daughter on the beach – my body is toned all over, my normal pale seems a little more ivory-ish. I am not a tanning type girl (maybe someday), but I think you can see I’m out of the bathrobe and out in public again.  It was a beautiful day and I love looking at this picture to remember that feeling!

Pilates Fitness Formula

Pilates Fitness Formula

As I mentioned, I started doing Valerie Waters’ Red Carpet Ready program, joined her RCR club, and did mat pilates exercises — I do teach pilates, so this was a must for me!

My first 6 weeks on the RCR / Pilates  program, my workouts looked like this:
3 Days of Strength Training Circuits – Full Body Circuits on Alternating days.
2 Days of High Intensity Interval Training Cardio – on treadmill mostly
2 Days of Full Mat Pilates Routine

Now, my workouts look more like this – but it’s mostly because I’m very busy teaching pilates.

2 days of Strength Training Circuits – These are full body circuits I do at home.  They require stability ball, stretchy bands, and dumbbells, and my trusty Valslides.
2 days of High Intensity Interval Training Cardio – I have a few different treadmill workouts I do as well as plyometric training I just starting doing at home.  I also walk with my daughter a few times during the week.

I try to do pilates 3x a week – on the mat and the reformer.  Some weeks I only do mat pilates if I can’t make it to the studio! I often do the pilates mat exercises and valslide moves with my clients to get in a little extra if I know I can’t do stuff during the week.

If you want to know the specific pilates exercises I do and more information on Valerie Waters’ Training Systems, please feel free to email me.  I can give you information on both.  Also, I’ve finally been able to integrate this same type of combo training with my pilates classes.  I use the same techniques I used to get back into shape with my clients.

….this is a process…so for now this is what I do and I’m really happy with the results.  Stay tuned for updates to my progress.  I like to add new things to my home workout program to shake things up and keep me motivated.  One huge piece of the puzzle for me is sharing my results and process with others.  I’d love to know what you are doing to stay in shape and live a healthy life.

If you want to start integrating pilates exercises into your workout, check out the various pilates classes I offer.  You’ll see that even if you aren’t in Los Angeles, I can still help you get started using my Online Pilates Program.

See you tomorrow to share the exact workout I did and how I combined 2 really effective programs to finally look/feel healthy again!

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