Posts Tagged ‘San Jose Pilates’
Posted by terrepruitt on September 30, 2010
With Nia you get a workout. It is not necessary to have any experience in any type of dance modality or martial arts, or any type of practice (Yoga, Pilates, etc.). Any BODY can walk into a class and join in and following their own body’s way get a great workout.
In the Nia practice there are three stages. So if you want you can take your workout into these areas. The stages are:
1—Learn the Move
When you learn the move you are learning the name, you are thinking about the move. The concentration is on placing your feet in the proper place, learning where your limbs are supposed to be. Maybe trying some of the different intensity levels and the different planes. This is the stage where you are actually doing a lot of thinking.
2—Move the Move
This is the stage we you move the move. You are doing a routine and just moving. Getting the moves into your muscle memory. Your body is learning the move. Here is where you are learning the combinations. This stage is where you let your body lead and you don’t think too much. The body has an intelligence of its own and if you let it sense it can flow.
3—Energize the Move
This is the stage that you can achieve once your body knows the move. This stage could be during a song the first time you do it, if you feel comfortable and your body senses the moves you might be able to just put the energy into it from one of the Nine Movement Forms. Or it could be the stage you get to once you have done the song a few times. It really depends on the you. It depends on how you feel and how you sense the music. But this is where we really get to play with our routines, where we can energize with the energy of T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Jazz Dance, or Yoga.
This weekend (10/03/10), in Willow Glen/San Jose I am holding a Nia Playshop where we will Learn the Move. We are going to play with some of the moves that make up the 52 Moves of Nia. Then after we are going to have a Nia Class where we Move the Move. Since we will have spent an hour Learning the Moves I am hoping that some of you will be able to Energize the moves. See you Sunday!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: 52 Moves of Nia, Jazz Dance, Nia class, Nia Class in San Jose, Nia Playshop, Nia Practice, Nia Willow Glen, Nia workout, Nine Movement Forms, Pilates, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Nia practice, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Yoga, Tae kwon do, Tai Chi, Willow Glen Nia, Willow Glen Workout, Yoga | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 8, 2009
With the Turbo Jam DVD set you get five workouts. Learn and Burn, 20 Minute, Turbo Sculpt, Cardio Party, and Ab Jam.
With the Ab Jam you get the jacket saying the workout is 20 minutes. Timer starts it out at 18:53.
Chalene Johnson says it is 10 minutes standing and 10 minutes on the ground. First there is a tiny warm up then the exercise consist of ab movements. Basically you are bending from side to side and bending forward. But if you are just doing the motion and not actually putting the effort of contracting your abs then it is just movement and you won’t get any contraction type of benefit. As Chalene says it is not “leaning to the side, it is crunching”. So you have to bend but make sure you are getting in the isometric contraction.
The movement includes some of the moves that Chalene calls her “Elite Eleven”. The Turbo Tuck and the row are examples. She also gets some squats and balance exercises in there.
I originally purchased this set of DVDs because it claimed to have standing ab work and it does!
With 9:20 left you’re on the floor. She moves the first exercise from standing to the floor, so you are doing the tuck, then traditional crunches. Here you can clearly see the different intensity levels.
The music has changed from dance music to a more middle-eastern flair. Even though the style has changed Chalene manages to get some grooving in there. I am convinced she loves to dance.
Some on the advanced ab work is done with your feet off the floor. Legs straight in the air or legs in “tabletop” (bent at the knee) as they call it in Pilates.
At the 4:00 minutes mark the routine changes and she has the punches included with the crunch.
When the routine has the ol’ hands-behind-your-head-elbows-out-to-the side cross over crunches she reminds you that you are actually leading with your shoulder and NOT your elbow because that is how you really work the abs.
With a little over a minute and a half left you are sitting up and working your abs with your feet off the ground and your knees going to one side then the other.
At about 20 seconds left you do down dog and child pose.
That is the Ab Jam routine in the five workout series of Turbo Jam.
So here in San Jose, where we normally have nice mild weather it has been cold and doing a workout DVD might be an alternative to going out and doing the regular walk, jog, or run. This DVD was not a cardio workout, but, it still gets your blood pumping and has a variety of ab exercises in it.
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: ab exercises, Cardio Party, Pilates, San Jose, San Jose exercise, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Workout, Turbo Jam, Turbo Sculpt, workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 12, 2009
Today is “whatever” Thursday, I wanted to find some pictures to post, but nothing really struck me. I have thought about it all day and I couldn’t come up with anything. Then I thought of lists. People are always posting lists. In fact, my last post was somewhat of a list; a list of benefits of resistance training. On my short drive after class from Santa Clara to San Jose, I decided to post ten of my favorite exercise in no particular order:
1) Dumbbell Chest Press (especially on a stability ball)
2) Upright Row (on one Pilates DVD I have she calls this the “Zip Up”)
3) Lat Pull Down with Alternating Backward Lunge
4) Tricep Kickback (with a dumbbell)
5) Standing Tricep Pushdown
6) Heel Raises
7) Wood Chops
8) Bent-Over Row
9) Bicep Curl
10) Sit-ups (on the BOSU) (she did NOT just say that, oh yeah, I did)
Of course, I love Nia for my aerobic (cardio) workout and with that I get a lot of these same motions as some of my favorite exercise, but this is just a list of some of my favorite exercises I like to do with equipment and/or weights.
Comments? Questions? What are your favorite exercises? What do you like to include in your workout?
Share your list.
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: aerobic classes, aerobic workout classes, Backward Lunge, Bent-Over Row, Bicep Curl, BOSU, Cardio classes, cardio workout, dumbbell, Dumbbell Chest Press, Dumbell Chest Press, exercies classes, exercise, exercise equipment, favorite exercise, Heel Raises, Lat Pull Down, list of exercises, Nia Classes, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia workout classes, Pilates DVD, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Workout, Santa Clara exercise, Santa Clara Nia, Santa Clara workout, Sit-up, stability ball, Standing Tricep Pushdown, Tricep Kickback, Upright Row, Wood Chops, Zip Up | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 24, 2009
There is no substitute for going to an exercise class. The energy and the camaraderie you get from BEING IN a class is uncomparable, but sometimes class schedules don’t mix with yours or you want to just get a quick workout in.
Like me recently, my husband and I were going to go see a play at the last minute at a little theater in downtown San Jose, but before we went I wanted to do a workout. I pulled out a few of my videos to see the “total workout time” and did a few quick calculations. I decided on Turbo Jam Cardio Party two. But it got me thinking about how I love Collage Video because they do a great job of breaking down the “total workout time” on a DVD.
Do you know what I am talking about? Has something like the following happened to you? You want an Aerobic workout DVD because you want to get your cardio done at home, you buy a DVD and that states it is a 60 minute workout. You put it in your machine and what it actuually turns out to be is 15 minutes of warm up and 15 minutes of cool down leaving you really with only 30 minutes of an aerobic workout. When you were expecting 60 minutes or at least 50 minutes and you only get 30, it doesn’t make for a satisfying purchase (or workout).
Unfortunately you can’t get Turbo Jam from Collage Video so you can’t see a breakdown of workout cycles of those DVDs, but Collage Video has hundreds of other DVDs. One way you can pick the DVD is by workout type: Aerobics, Muscle Toning, Both (Aerobics & Toning), Stretch/Yoga/Tai Chi, Pilates, Interval training, Dance, Kickboxing, Latin & Salsa, Bootcamp.
Collage, then gives a detailed breakdown of the total workout time, just as I had mentioned before. Which can be really helpful, when planning your workouts. If you want to get a combo DVD with Aerobics and toning it is good to know how much you will get of each. Here is an example.
The above shows you will get 4 minutes of warm-up, 37 minutes of floor aerobics, 11 minutes of standing toning, 6 minutes of toning, and 4 minutes of stretching. This allows you to plan both your purchases and your workouts better. You can see exactly how much time you will be spending on each cycle. I think that is very important.
If you are going to be able to make it to your favorite class, do you have a favorite workout DVD that you do instead?
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: areobics, Cardio Party, Collage Video, dance exercise, Dance Workout, dance workout class, exercise class, exercise cycles, muscle toning, San Jose exercise class, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Workout, San Jose Yoga, toning, Turbo Jam, Turbo Jam Cardio Party, Turbo Jam Cardio Party 2, workout class, Workout cycles, workout DVD | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 25, 2009
Here are the main points to the 12 tips to help you move with Nia. These tips are taken from The Nia Technique a book written by the creators of Nia, Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. The book can help you better understand how Nia can be is a great workout and can be just a workout or practice, like yoga and Pilates are practices.
~Use visual imagery to make movements feel natural.
~Combine small movements with large movements.
~Use your Base, Core, Upper Extremities, breath and voice to add energy and power to your moves.
~Use a variety of speeds.
~Use your joints to move energy.
~Use breath to start and stop the flow of energy.
~Add intensity to your movements by sinking lower and rising higher.
~Shift your body weight–don’t drop it—
~Add emotion to every motion.
~Use your fingers and hands to express how movements make you feel.
~Use your voice as you move, to activate your abdominal muscles.
~Lead your head movements with your eye movements.
While nothing compares to the energy of a live class, the book is a great way to get started or to get you acquainted with Nia.
These are great tips to help you get more from your workout yet also help it feel less like exercise.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: 12 tips, 12 tips to move with Nia, Carlos Rosos, creators of Nia, Debbie Rosas, exercise, Nia, Nia Practice, Pilates, Pilates practice, San Jose, San Jose exercise, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Workout, San Jose Yoga, The Nia Technique, The Nia Technique book, workout, Yoga, Yoga Practice | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 19, 2009
At one point there was information released that stated one could be active for 30 minutes a day, five days a week and the result would be improved health. I somehow was under a different impression, and I think my impression is better for overall health.
I thought that the information had said that the 30 minutes needed to be EVERY DAY and that it was for healthy people to maintain health. So my conclusion was that if one wanted to actually improve one’s health one needed to be doing a workout OVER and above the recommended 30 minutes of activity a day five days a week.
Maybe I was seeing into the future of recommendations. Seems like the people that make these recommendations are now saying that more activity IS needed.
What it really boils down to is that everyone is different. Recommendations that are published are broad, everyone has different goals. I would think that some people could improve their health in 30 minutes a day five days a week, but there are a lot more people that need more, just to get healthy. It is estimated that 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure and they don’t even know it. High blood pressure is not healthy and it possible to lower it with exercise, but it might take more than 30 minutes a day.
I recommend 30 minutes of activity every day. The 30 minutes can be anything . . . .cleaning house, walking the dog, gardening, shopping, almost anything where you are moving your body and active. THEN in addition to that 30 minutes every day, there should be an exercise routine. Everyone is different. Everyone has different goals. Everyone has different likes and dislikes. If you are trying to get healthy, I would suggest you examine your goals, then look at the vast amount of exercise options out there and try some.**
There is so much out there it is amazing. There is Yoga, there is Zumba, there is Pilates, there is Nia, there is Cycling, there is Weight Training, oh, the list goes on. Try something. San Jose, Los Gatos, Cupertino, and San Ramon and all cities around have plenty of gyms, clubs, yoga studios, dance studios, etc., and most of them have a vararity of things to try.
Don’t think that the old recommendation of 30 minutes per day will give you the results you want, try more, get out there .. . . move!
**before starting any exercise program you should clear it with your doctor.
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: 30 Minutes per day, cleaning house, Cupertino Nia, exercies routine, exercise program, gardening, high blood pressure, Los Gatos Yoga, Nia, overall health, San Jose Dance Studio, San Jose Gym, San Jose Nia, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Yoga, San Jose Zumba, San Ramon Nia, walking the dog, Yoga | 3 Comments »
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