Why Tracy is Wrong and Twyla is Right

The other day, a student of mine came up to me and told me she heard that it was best to change up your exercise routine every 10 days. I told her I had heard of periodization, where athletes in training would focus on one area of fitness such as speed, or endurance, or strength, for 3 months and switch to another area, and that Russian coaches had promoted this for improved performance. However, I had not heard of the 10-day rule before, so I asked where she had heard it. She said, “Tracy Anderson”. Ah, I said. That explains it – meaning why it didn’t sound scientific. Nothing against Ms. Anderson, who is very successful, but the theory has no basis in exercise science or in real life training experience. If all one is doing is changing toning exercises from one body part to another, I guess it doesn’t matter how or when you do it. But, if you are practicing how to skillfully master your body, whether in dance, Pilates, yoga, or any intelligent system of exercise, with a goal of truly transforming the way you look, feel, and move, then it is going to take a lot longer then 10 days, and actually needs to be practiced consistently over many years. “Training the body – whether to perform surgery, play baseball or do ballet – requires repetition. You can’t just think about it, you have to do it. Over and over.” – Erika Kinetz, NYTimes reporter in her review of Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit. In her article, Ms. Kinetz explains the concept of how the repetition of a “ritualized set of physical exercises”, provides a time for reflective consciousness, which is to say a time to get in touch with the present (how does my body feel today as opposed to in previous days) and to re-investigate the movements anew. Hence, through repetition, we are not just training the body, but the mind as well. This is the definition of discipline – regular practice with attention. Many people ask me how I continue to teach the same basic Pilates exercises every day for so many years without getting bored. My answer is that they always feel new to me!

I have had great satisfaction in seeing the few students who take the time to come back consistently to class, growing in their skill and development of their bodies. With no change in the exercises, they find that they now feel the work even more and get better results, not less, from the repetition. Others, who either found the work too challenging or were not committed, come back infrequently and think things are still the same and are bored. But, boredom is never a problem of the exercise, it is a problem of the mind. In my classes, there is always much to focus on. And it is precisely this focus that creates control and develops the body as nothing else can. You can tell you are in a real technique class by the way the instructor is getting you to focus, not on muscles, but on the way you are moving – with direction, quality, ease of effort, grace, and form. I always make students aware of the whole body so they can sense the oppositional forces, the length, the space, alignment, and control from head to toe. This is how repetition leads to better and better mastery.

With this being said, I am not against learning new things. In fact, I probably challenge my students with more exercises outside of the traditional Pilates and yoga vocabulary than anyone. However, I don’t do it just to have them do new things. I do it to show then how to apply the same exact focus used in Pilates and yoga with any exercise. It is a continuation of the technique, applied to different movements. It is never really about the exercise, but again in how you do it. This is how I approach teaching my Yogilates and Barre Fusion classes. Within the vocabulary of the toning exercises, I integrate the focus on the whole body, proper alignment, centering, fluidity, and balanced development. Needless to say, doing Pilates and Barre Fusion is a natural combination, just like Pilates and Ballet. For me, the goal is still the same – efficient, quality exercises that teach you to move better, as well as look better.
Take care, Jonathan

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

I want to follow up on my article above regarding losing body fat and add some more information about weight loss. Many articles have been written lately (including the most recent Pilates Style magazine) about how exercise isn't very effective for those who mainly need to lose weight. The research on this subject is not very convincing as it doesn't really use a comprehensive exercise program, but nevertheless, common sense is all you need to agree that exercise compares poorly to diet when it comes to adding or losing weight. For example, to burn 3,500 calories, which is equivalent to 1 pound of fat, a 120lb person would need to run at 8mph (7.5min/mile) pace for 4.78 hours. To consume 3,500 calories, all you have to do is drink a Grande Skim Chai Tea and Blueberry Scone five days in a row. No comparison! Cutting back on high-calorie food is a lot easier to do than running for hours. If you only walk, you'd have to walk at 3mph for nearly 20 hours to burn 3,500K! So, let me be clear - exercise doesn't trump diet when it comes to weight loss. That being said, if done properly, the best way to lose weight is a combination of both diet and exercise, and it is proven to be the only effective and healthy way to keep weight off for good. My article on fat burning includes sensible diet guidelines, but the main point is that to really burn fat to look leaner, you have to charge your metabolism through specific exercise, as detailed above.
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

The Most Often Asked Question in Fitness

The Most Often Asked Question in Fitness
What is the best way to get a flat stomach?

Boy, if I had a quarter for every time I've been asked that question. The real answer to the above question is a three part solution: 1) Although you don't have to be super lean to achieve a flat belly, it certainly helps. So, the best way to lose fat around the stomach area, and the rest of your body, is by doing regular aerobic exercise. Contrary to what alot of trainers and infomercials for ab machines tell you, there is no such thing as a spot reducing exercise. So, to burn fat in one area, you got to burn fat in the whole body. And the best way to do that is with aerobic exercise. This is a fact that has to be accepted. Now, to get yourself leaner you will need to do cardiovascular exercise at least 4-5 times a week, with at least one of those workouts being for over 45 minutes at moderate intensity (65-70% of maximum THR) (heart rate calculator) to initiate greater fat burning as a percentage of total calories burned. See, studies have shown that up to that duration, the body's metabolism will still use carbohydrates in the bloodstream for the majority of the energy needed. After 45 minutes, the metabolism starts to shift to fat molecules for energy for the majority of energy needed. It is never 100% from fat, more like changing from 75/25% carbs to fat, to 30/70%. The difference is significant. The more often you do longer periods of aerobic exercise, the quicker the body will adapt to fat as it's preferred energy source for exercise. Highly trained marathoners can start to burn fat as their primary source of energy within 5 minutes of running.
The next part in planning your aerobic workouts is to make one of the other workouts include "intervals", which are several higher intensity periods of at least 1 minute in duration, at or near 85-90% Maximum THR* (see above). To do this, first warm up at moderate speed for 5 minutes. Then, increase the speed, incline, or resistance to a level where you can maintain it for 1 minute. After the interval, give yourself 2 minutes at slower speed to recover. Repeat three times. After a few weeks, try adding another interval. Then, after another few weeks, try increasing the duration of the interval 15-30 seconds. It doesn't matter what form of aerobic exercise you do although for fastest results, I recommend running if you are able to since it tends to burn the most calories per minute next to Cross-Country skiing. 2) Do Pilates exercises under the supervision of an experienced instructor. There is actually a technique of letting the abdominal sink in without force that will teach you to reflexively (unconsciously) draw the stomach in for natural support. All other forms of abdominal exercises are not taught this way and, while they may make your stomach area stronger and harder, they can actually make the area protrude out. You can check out the Yogilates video programs and New York Style Pilates programs for instructions on this technique. 3) You don't need to diet, just eat and drink moderately and sensibly. Two things that you need to watch out for are carbonated beverages, even diet ones, as they tend to bloat the stomach and put outward pressure in the intestines. The other is salt an salty foods. Salt makes the cells in your body retain water, increasing their size. Avoid packaged snack foods, especially chips, pretzels, crackers, and watch out for any canned or jarred sauces such as pasta sauces.
So there you have it. These three steps are the only sure way to get a flat stomach area.
Lastly, if you would like a more complete and personalized fitness and lifestyle program, feel free to contact me directly.