[This is from a guest post I wrote for Fitmark September 2013 – see it here.  Now, over a year later, I’ve continued using  Tye4 personally,  with test groups and with my clients.  If I had to rewrite this post, I would not change a word.  More on Tye4 here ]

There is a new fitness love in my life, and it’s called Tye4®. I attended the Official Tye4 Launch and Training Workshop in New York this summer and am now teaching five Tye4 classes a week and can’t stop talking about it! This new fitness tool has my creative exercise juices flowing and has given me a fresh excitement and hope for the health, strength, and the repair of our bodies.

The Tye4 is a wearable resistance. It’s a harness that can be worn higher or lower on the chest, depending on preference, with easy adjusting straps. It has a bungee that attaches to both feet separately, and one that attaches to both hands.

It was invented by Joan Breibart, Founder and President of the PhysicalMind Institute. She introduced the first Pilates certification program, the first Mat Work Pilates Video in 1991, ‘Working Out The Pilates Way‘ and other books, articles, and inventions that have helped the Pilates Method evolve and benefit our generation.

I teach two different classes: 1. Tye4 Fusion and Tye4 Pilates. The Tye4 Fusion class is a combination of aerobic, barre, strength training, Pilates and stretch. I start with a dynamic warm up that loosens our spine and hips and awakens the body to move. Using Tye4 gives us something to push or reach through (a closed kinetic chain) and enables greater stretch and lengthening. We move from warm up to full on sweaty, aerobic exercise. I give high impact options for some of the moves, but it is optional. The beat of the music is fast and we have fun feeling a full body burn.

Next, the music slows down and relaxes our minds so we can put full focus and concentration into the Barre moves. Here I use the Tye4 to assist in leg lifts and balancing. We don’t over work the hip flexors and because we are able to hold balance so much better and longer with Tye4, we feel a beautiful burn from our glutes all the way down into our calves in the stabilizing leg! I LOVE THAT! Honestly, this is where I start sweating! Hard work.

After Barre, I take my class through a series of strength moves, including pushups and plank. Again, using the Tye4 is changing the game! We use a front cross leg bungee variation when doing a modified pushup. The leg bungee cross “reminds” the body to keep the core engaged during the movement, and the crossed hand bungees provide resistance! I no longer have to nit pick on form. It just happens with Tye4! And modified or “girly pushups” create such a surprising burn!

I wrap up our class with Pilates down on the mat using Tye4 in each exercise. We now can move with more control, stabilize with more awareness, and stretch deeper. As I’ve heard from a few of my clients, “I can really feel my muscles now.”.

I agree with what About.com had to say about the Tye4, “What is so great about the Tye4 is that the lines of resistance feedback to the core of your body. This is very Pilates approach to fitness. It’s an effect we get from much of the larger Pilates equipment like the reformer, but getting that direct feedback with something as portable as the Tye4 is unusual.”.

Tye4 was invented in the Pilates world, but it is a creative, effective tool that can be used with many other types of fitness.

For more information, visit TheMethodPilates.com and ‘Like’ my my FaceBook page Nashville Fitness for the latest updates on classes, workshops, and Tye4 talk.

So far, I’m getting great feedback from every one of my clients who have tried it out. It seems to be quite addicting! If you can’t tell, I’m really excited about Tye4 and I hope you take some time to look into it. Maybe it’s something you can incorporate into your exercise routine or use to bring your clients to a new level of health!

Stay fit,
Ashley Benson
Fitmark Ambassador 2013