Promoting your health and fitness

1)  More about Fitness Pilates and Body Conditioning Workouts

Susan will be raring to go this January with a new fitness timetable of classes designed to suit everyone.  During January, Susan’s all level classes will also focus on beginners and those venturing back into an exercise class after a lapse!  Pilates is still one of the world's most popular classes. 

Susan says  “I introduced Pilates in 2006 and the classes are now as popular as ever.  Pilates is such a focused and concentrated form of exercise and is ideal for anyone starting exercise or wanting to get back into it after Christmas.  Pilates strengthens the abdominals, improves posture, spinal strength and flexibility and works on strengthening the weakest areas of the body"

Pilates attracts all ages, shapes and sizes and both men and women find the classes invaluable.  Susan teaches 2 all level Fitness Pilates classes (suitable for total beginners to intermediate/advanced level) every Thursday in Dreghorn Loan Hall, Colinton at 7pm and 8 pm (both for an hour).  She also teaches an all level Fitness Pilates class in Craiglockhart Parish Church Hall on a Tuesday at 7.30 pm (all classes are in blocks of 6 and should be pre-booked to secure your place in class).  See Timetable for class dates.

If your body requires a thorough tone up using your own body weight and resistance band training exercises to strengthen and define your body, then come along to Fitness Bootcamp or Fitness Conditioning Workouts on a Wednesday 9.30 am.  On a Friday 9.30 am both classes are either Fitness Salsa or a Cardio Workout and these classes are in Dreghorn Loan Hall, Colinton.  There’s no need to book for these morning classes: they’re pay as you go classes.  These classes are great for all abilities as everyone can work at their own level. 

Using resistance bands in class, the aim is to help change the entire shape of the body by using the most up to date exercises that work.  Effective technique is the key so why not try a class soon.  .

Susan also teaches Freestyle Fitness Yoga classes and regularly posts articles and fitness information on her website at  www.complementaryfitness.co.uk.  For further details, email Susan at  susancockburn@hotmail.com  

2)  Freestyle Fitness Yoga

You can't pick up a magazine without celebrities telling us about the joy of Yoga.  Well if you have ever fancied trying it out, then Fitness Instructor Susan Cockburn is qualified to teach Freestyle Fitness Yoga (FFY).  She taught a FFY class regularly and would like to teach this style of class again if you'd like to join her (email if you would).

Yoga has been proven to help elevate stress, lengthen tight muscles and tone all areas of the body in a balanced, slow and relaxed format.  Fitness Yoga links together traditional Yoga poses and postures with gentle stretches and light cardiovascular movements and pilates-based exercises and is suitable for complete beginners as each movement can be modified for all levels and needs.  There are many different forms of Yoga including Hatha, Iynegar and Vinyasa, to name a few.  Fitness Yoga encompasses elements of each in a safe and effective workout ideal for everybody*.

If you haven't exercised for a while and feel in need of a good stretch or fancy trying something new and different, email/let Susan know and she'll start up a new class for you (*although this type of class is not suitable for pregnant clients).

A supple and strong body can be achieved via Fitness Yoga and Susan would like to teach this type and style of class again and invite you to try this wonderful class.  Fitness Yoga complements other class types that Susan teaches ie Fitness Pilates and Conditioning Workout classes.

Susan Cockburn has been teaching fitness classes for over 21 years.  For more details about this and other classes, please visit www.complementaryfitness.co.uk

3)  POSTURE ON THE GO. 

Good posture is endemic in most classes these days and our knowledge of postural alignment and core strength has never been so in depth.  It is wise for us to have good posture in our classes, especially at the shoulder which is prone to shortness and rounding at the front and weakness at the back, at the neck (cervical vertebra) where the chin juts forward (protracts) in everyday activity, at the lower back which may show signs of muscular imbalance and at the knee joint which may stand in hyper extension.   

This is all easy to see when we are standing straight or lying down and as long as we stack the body’s major joints into alignment in these positions, we can aim for a better looking posture in our classes.

STANDING POSTURAL TIPS:

• Weight balanced through the feet
• Ankle, knee & hip joints stacked in alignment
• Pelvis natural
• Spine lengthened & natural
• Shoulders back and down away from ears
• Neck long
• Chin retracted. 

HOWEVER, - The joints will not remain aligned on their own.  In order to keep good posture, we need to strengthen the muscles around the joints both specifically and sufficiently to hold our frames in place.  Fitness and Conditioning classes will help to strengthen all the major muscles groups in the body.

Try to think about your posture, not just when you are in class and are reminded to do so, but when you’re sitting at the computer, watching TV and also when you’re standing or moving around.  Have a look at the postural tips above and in the Fitness Pilates Info Pack.