Optimal Class Size for Pilates

Karen asked for my personal opinion on optimal class size. I would say, bearing the cost and quality of class, 12 students in a group class would probably be the maximum number of students an instructor can focus on.

For any class bigger than 12 students, (unless your instructor is born with octopus tenacles), it is quite impossible for him/her to give adequate attention to all the students and provide efficient tactile cues to make sure everyone execute exercise in safe and accurate manners.

That's why I don't recommend any one who are serious to learn Pilates and those with any pathology (illness) to attend pilates class in mega gyms. Because Pilates emphasizes precision and it is difficult to learn and perform precise movement if you don't have sufficient guidance from the instructor.

If you don't have access to small group class, make sure "to supplement with an occasional private lesson", as suggested, among other tips for beginners, by About.com.

Spine damaged by Sitting

Recently yet another good friend of mine was diagnosed with slipped (herniated) disc.

Most people thought slipped disc only happen to old people, or those who work in labourous jobs. But most of my friends who suffer from slipped disc are only in early 30s, and they are all white-collared PMEBs. They didn't do anything drastic or contact sports or been through any serious accidents or falls.. so how did they injure their spine?!

Sedentary lifestyle was the culprit! Even simply by sitting for long hours can damage your spine.

Our backs are perfectly evolved for a hunter gatherer lifestyle, which was much more strenuous than ours (and did not include chairs!) A bushman or aborigine crippled by back pain would be unlikely to survive long enough to have descendants, so evolution ruthlessly eliminated all but the fittest. So we have inherited a perfectly spine design for an active (but definitely) not sedentary lifestyle!

When we sit, the chair usually tipped the pelvis backwards off balance. As the torso weight bears down on the spine and the seat pushes the base of the pelvis up, the pelvis becomes a lever bending the spine forwards and distorting it. (There are ligaments to limit this bending. They are strong for brief exertions like lifting, but under prolonged stress they stretch till they can’t protect the discs.) The results are strained ligaments and compressed intervertebral discs. The more the pelvis slumps the more pressure it puts on the discs. The damage this causes gets worse the longer you sit in this posture.

Ideally we should adjust the height of the chair so that thighs are higher than the knees, thus allowing the thighs to slope downwards and prevent the slumping of the pelvis.

Applying Pilates principles will help to prevent pelvis from slumping too:

1. Think of length in the spine. Always sit as if there is a helium balloon tied to the top of your crown, lifting the entire spine up long to the ceiling.
2. Keep your navel to spine to allow the "powerhouse closet" to support your spine.
3. Gently draw your thighs together to get the adductors (inner thighs) and pelvic floor activated.

Toxic Chemicals in Plastic Bottles

I have mentioned previously about toxic chemicals that may potentially leached out from baby milk bottles, actually such toxic chemicals can be leached out from other plastic containers that we use everyday.



There are literally plastics everywhere in our city life, and many city dwellers probably can't live without plastics (imagine Great Singapore Sales without the plastic shopping carriers!) We are exposed to vast amount of toxins everyday and they may potentially harm our health, as these toxins can leached out into the food/drink. How many times you heard your friend saying that 'I don't like this, it taste like the plastic bottle ...', while in fact, they are really "drinking" the plastic.



What should we do? It is quite impossible to avoid using plastic all together, but since some plastics are better than other, the very least that we can do is try to lower our exposure to the "bad" ones.



Many plastic containers have triangle symbol on the bottom with a number inside. They are not just meant for recycling only. The number actually tells you the kind fo plastic the container is made of: (http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_plascod3.html)

Among the 7 categories, No. 3, 6 and 7 is the worst. In my baby milk bottles entry, BPA (an environmental hormone) can be leached out from bottles made of polycarbonate (PC) plastic, which is under No.7 ("Other" category) in the coding system. PC is widely used in colourful clear plastic bottles and many renouned brands like Sigg and Nalgene used to use it in their products.

So, as much as possible, try to:

1. Do not re-use plastic water bottles
2. Do not use plastics containers (such as styrofoam box, chicken rice paper wrap, plastic bags) to keep hot food.
3. Transfer food content from canned food once it is opened (as the interior of tin cans are lined with plastic).
4. Use glass or metal containers as much as possible.

New Fat Loss Study

A new study* published last month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed really interesting result on effect of exercise training and abdominal fats.

In the study, 27 obese women (average age 51 years) completed 16-week of aerobic training in one of three aerobic exercise groups...
1) No exercise training/control
2) 5 days per week of Low-intensity exercise training (LIET)
3) 3 days per week of high-intensity exercise training (HIET) (above lactate threshold level)plus 2 days per week of LIET.

Exercise duration for all the subjects were adjusted so that every one burns 400 calories in each session. In another word, the LIET group would have exercised longer per session as compared to the HIET group.

And the results showed no significant changes in the LIET group. On the other hand, the HIET group lost a significant amount of abdominal fat. So the study reveals 3 things:

1. Exercising harder results in more fat loss in less time


2. Hard exercise burns belly fat


3. Low-intensity cardio doesn't do much for fat loss

Here is the interesting part, all the women in the study burned the same amount of calories after 16 weeks of training, the old-school thinking would probably expect same fat loss results. So the differentiating factors should probably exist outside the training time. Is it because high intensity exercise induces changes in post-workout fat metabolism (like increasing lipolysis and its related enzymes in adipose tissue) but low intensity exercise dosen't? This would be up to the scientists to conduct more research to find out.

This study verifies what I always advocate for my clients, that if they want to burn fats, they should exercise hard at higher intensity, instead of wasting their precious family/social time to hog on the treadmill at low intesity for hours!

Inspired to do some 'HIET" cardio to burn that annoying tummy fat off right away? Take note that to train at your lactate threshold (as in the HIET group in the study) is often about 80% of your VO2max or even 85% if you are fit. Training at your lactate threshold is a painful experience, as that is the intensity level where lactic acid will start to accumulate in your blood, which will in turn cause burning aches in your muscles. So remember to self-monitor your body to train safe and look out for any symptoms of overuse injuries.

*Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Oct 8. Effect of Exercise Training Intensity on Abdominal Visceral Fat and Body Composition. Irving BA, Davis CK, Brock DW, Weltman JY, Swift D, Barrett EJ, Gaesser GA, Weltman A.