Tag Archives: Fitness

PILATES QUOTES

PILATES PRODUCES RESULTS

“I wish I could zap you with how good I feel after I go to Pilates! You would understand why I love it and encourage you to go!”  Jean Hill

Pilates

 “Finally a workout I can look forward to. But is it really a workout?! I don’t even break a sweat!  I had noticeable results in flexibility and posture after only a few classes.”  Collette Ashley

Nashville Fitness

 “Pilates is a workout but it’s not exhausting. I usually feel relaxed and less stressed after class. It involves stretching, balancing and I have noticed my posture has been better, others have notice too. My shoulders aren’t scrunched up underneath my ears either, they’re more relaxed. Ashley is an awesome instructor that loves what she does & helping people. Each person in the class is different not only in age, shape and size but also in levels of flexibility and fitness. Exercises are well explained & shown. She can modify the exercise for everyone’s need, as a beginner or to make it more difficult, your choice. It’s for anyone.”  Jennifer Fopiano

We love using the TYE4 apparatus to provide assistance to overstressed areas like neck and hip flexors.  We also use it to add resistance through full range of motion to add intensity.

Check it out!  PhysicalMindInstitute.com

Purchase TYE4 here

Tye4 PhysicalMind Institute

WORKOUT VIDEOS – TYE4® WEEK 1

 

Welcome to Phase 1 training!

Here we will work the FOUNDATIONS of true strength and fitness…

FLEXIBILITY • MOBILITY • CORE  • BALANCE

 TYE4® will help us achieve this quickly!


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⬇ DAY 1 ASSIGNMENT ⬇

1. First thing in the morning, follow the 8 minute warm-up video below.

2. Last thing before going to bed, follow the same 8 minute warm-up video.

Click here for WARM UP video


 

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For those of you who are new to TYE4, I hope you had a chance to get comfortable in it during Day 1. The morning warm-up wakes up the body, initiates circulation allowing oxygen to start moving, and is the ultimate ‘Morning stretch’ – PERFECT way to start your day!

The evening session serves a sightly different purpose:

•  To open up and stretch the chest and shoulder muscles that have been shortened throughout the day, pulling the head forward from our technology lifestyle
•  To lengthen the hamstrings, releasing back stress
•  To move hormones caused by stress from the day out of the body faster. This results in better sleep… which leads to faster muscle repair… which gets you closer to your goals! IT’S SO GOOD!

So good, in fact, that we are repeating the same routine for DAY 2! This time, think about WHY you are doing the TYE4 warmup.

Reach farther, go deeper and feel the muscles stretching!

⬇ DAY 2 ASSIGNMENT ⬇

1. First thing in the morning, follow the 8 minute warm-up video below.

2. Last thing before going to bed, follow the same 8 minute warm-up video.

Click here for WARM-UP video


 

 

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I hope you are feeling great from the past few days. Now it’s time to start layering on!

WORKOUT FOR DAY 3

• Start with warm-up video [8 min 52 sec]
• Next, do the balance video [5 min 21 sec]
• And end with the shoulder workout [this is only 1 min 33 sec… this is a good amount of time isolating the shoulders, but push yourself and do more reps than I instruct if you can]
Find a time in your day to devote 15 minutes to these sets. It won’t hurt to continue using the warm-up first thing in the morning and right before bed, but that would be extra
Continue in your regular workouts if you have any. These TYE4 warmups will set you up for better and safer workouts!
WARM-UP VIDEO

BALANCE WORKOUT VIDEO

SHOULDER WARM-UP VIDEO


 

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• Start with warm-up video [8 min 52 sec]
• Next, do the balance video [5 min 21 sec]
• And end with the shoulder workout [this is only 1 min 33 sec… this is a good amount of time isolating the shoulders, but push yourself and do more reps than I instruct if you can]

… Find a time in your day to devote 15 minutes to these sets. It won’t hurt to continue using the warm-up first thing in the morning and right before bed, but that would be extra
Continue in your regular workouts if you have any. These TYE4 warmups will set you up for better and safer workouts!

WARM-UP VIDEO

BALANCE VIDEO VIDEO

SHOULDER WARM-UP VIDEO


 

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• Choose best time of day for your workout
• Start with Warm-up Video
• Grab a mat and floor space for Roll-up Video
• Next do Leg Circles Video
• Finish with Foot Work Video

If you aren’t comfortable getting down on the floor, you can follow these workouts in the standing position. Let us know privately if you need more help modifying!

Continue using the Balance and Shoulder sequences as you see fit.

Continue using Warm-Up to help wake up your body or wind down before bed where you see value.

WARM-UP  VIDEO

PILATES ROLL UP VIDEO

LEG CIRCLES VIDEO

FOOT WORK VIDEO


 

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Choose best time of day for your workout

• Start with Warm-up Video
• Grab a mat and floor space for Roll-up Video
• Next do Leg Circles Video
• Finish with Foot Work Video

If you aren’t comfortable getting down on the floor, you can follow these workouts in the standing position. Let us know privately if you need more help modifying!

Continue using the Balance and Shoulder sequences as you see fit.

Continue using Warm-Up to help wake up your body or wind down before bed where you see value.

WARM-UP VIDEO

PILATES ROLL UP VIDEO

LEG CIRCLES VIDEO

FOOT WORK VIDEO


 

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• Start with Tye4 Warmup… try to start anticipating what comes next. Reach farther, go deeper in each movement
• Next do Balance video. Push harder today… lift leg just a little higher, pause at the top and lower with control resisting gravity
• Stay standing and do the FootWork Video standing. Triangle the leg bungees out to the side to help with balance
• End with the Pilates Roll up down on a mat

… this is the minimum workout… add more if you have time!

WARM-UP VIDEO

BALANCE VIDEO VIDEO

FOOT WORK VIDEO

PILATES ROLL UP VIDEO

 

FITMARK BAGS GUEST POST: TYE4

[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.

tye4collage.jpgIt 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

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JANUARY 2015 – BREAKING BAD EATING HABITS – JOIN US!

TRUTH RIGHT THERE.  IF YOU NEED HELP WITH KITCHEN PART, JOIN OUR GROUP IN JANUARY – WE WILL BE DOING THE ADVOCARE 24 DAY CHALLENGE TO RESET A HEALTHY EATING ROUTINE.  IT HELPS KICK THE BAD HABITS TO THE CURB AND ESTABLISHES NEW GOOD EATING HABITS.  IT ALSO CLEANS OUT THE SYSTEM – MUCH LIKE AN OIL CHANGE – SO WE CAN ABSORB THOSE IMPORTANT NUTRIENTS FROM THE FOOD WE EAT AND THE SUPPLEMENTS THAT FILL IN THE GAPS.

EMAIL ashley@ashleybensonfitness.com FOR A FREE EVALUATION.

1 YEAR AGO – NYC – PILATES STYLE MAG. PHOTO SHOOT

It was a year ago this week that I was flown out to NYC for the Pilates Style Magazine photo shoot that introduced Tye4® to the Pilates world.  This is an experience I’ll never forget.  The shoot lasted 5 hours and I was sore in EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE afterwards … so I know exactly what muscles are engaged while using Tye4!!!  I now KNOW exactly where my CORE is – I was even sore in my intercostal muscles (the one’s in-between the ribs)!  LOL

The atmosphere during the photo shoot was relaxed and it was a lot of fun.
I stayed in the most beautiful room with a view at the Hotel on Rivington.

This was a perfect place to rest, relax and focus on the upcoming shoot.

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And of course, I cherished the time with my friend Monica Mendes Bittenbender (also featured in the story), as well as Yuu Fujita-Toews, PhysicalMind Institute Lead Teacher and the most valuable time spent with Joan Breibart – Founder of the PhysicalMind Institute, started the Pilates boom in 1991 and inventor of the Tye4.

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Ashley Benson and Joan Breibart

The story was featured in the March/April 2014 edition of Pilates Style Magazine!

View here.

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A few months after this, I was back in New York for TheMethod Pilates Tye4 Standing Pilates training – see here.

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We are still discovering new ways to use the Tye4 and I am more in love with it today as I was the first time I got my hands on a Tye4 prototype  Feb. 2012 – a year and a half before it was even released!  See my original 2012 post here.

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.  I’m grateful and humbled by this experience, and SO EXCITED for what’s to come!!!

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TYE4 CHEST/TRICEP WORKOUT PREVIEW

We just spent a great week in the cool little German town my parents live in – New Braunfels, Tx.  It’s a tourism town and a GREAT place to visit!  There are two rivers that run through the town, and I couldn’t help but use both of them as a backdrop for your next workout videos :).  First, we filmed behind Bubba’s Big Deck at Gruene River Co., right on the Guadalupe River.  It’s a gorgeous location with it’s huge old trees, the river rapids and the interesting wildlife all around.  In the summer months, this is an awesome place to tube the river, kayak or just hang at the bar and watch all the river traffic pass.

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MUSCLE INJURY REHAB

“Hamstring strain injuries are very common in sports.  They can become chronic, nagging injuries due to scar tissue formation with up to a 63% chance of re-injury.”  Dynamic Physical Therapy & Sports Enhancement

In high school – long, long ago – I injured my hamstring playing sports and have re-injured it many times since.  IT’S SO FRUSTURATING.  

Five months ago I developed a pinched bursa in my left hip → which led to spasms in my gluteus medius  – a TRUE pain in the butt! → and then the problem trickled down into my hamstring… because it will take any opportunity to cause me grief.

theSOLUTION

First, I got K-Laser Therapy from Laser Therapy & Chiropractic Center for my hip.  This started helping immediately and paired with icing for a few weeks, inflammation was reduced without any medication.  Then I started doing pressure point therapy for my butt muscle – basically I would sit on a tennis ball holding for intervals of 3 minutes while crying from all the pain until the spasm released. Thank you Results Physiotherapy, Murfreesboro Tn for the torturous, yet effective instruction you gave me 🙂  And finally I started using a foam roller and Tye4® to rehab that stubborn hamstring.  

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My BFF.  Her name is Foam Roller

The Tye4 has been HUGE in helping me maintain/regain flexibility and maintain/build strength during this time.  Over the past weeks, when my hamstring is being a nerd and causing aches and pains, I have consistently found relieve after using Tye4!  

 I also kicked my nutrition into high gear by supplementing with a few products that the pros use when they are recovering from injuries.  I figure, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!  I’ve added Advocare BioTools and Post-Workout Recovery Drink to my daily intake.  This, along with my basic core nutrition, has done wonders for my recovery.  

Here’s one extra tip…
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Tennis ball + wall + back tension = much relief!!!
Give it a try!
When dealing with muscle injuries, we need to have patience, proper resources and common sense while recovering.  I just thought I’d share what’s been going on with me.  It’s easy to get discouraged, but we gotta hang in there and keep going!  
There is too much life to live to quit. 


STAY FIT ON VACATION

WORKOUT ROUTINE ON VACATION?   
NO THANK YOU.   
BUT WE ARE ACTIVE IN THE ADVENTURE

Whether you work the gym into your weekly routine, attend exercise classes, work with a trainer or workout at home, you have intentionally added fitness to your routine. I hope you have found a workout program that is efficient in getting you to your goals, is safe in preventing injuries and building your body stronger, not tearing it down and is something you enjoy doing.  Even still, it’s part of your routine.

In normal life, we workout to reach a goal – weather it’s to decrease body fat, strengthen muscle, improve cardiovascular system, or provide a “home” we can live in that will support our lifestyle and help us to live to the fullest… and the list goes on.

When I’m on vacation, however, you will not find me in a typical hotel gym or visiting a familiar health club to get in a workout.  Nope.  The essence of vacation is to pause all (or as much) of life that produces stress and requires diligent focus, right?  You know, all the routines and demands of life.   It’s a time to rest, gain new perspective and refresh the soul.  I believe this to be good and true for you physically as well as mentally.  Now if you de-stress and “relax” at the gym – more power to ya!

HOWEVER

I am NOT implying that vacations need to be lazy.  NOT. AT. ALL!  Vacation should also include adventure, and this is where activity happens.  Staying ACTIVE on vacation can be a lot of fun and will push your body in ways it’s not use to!  At the end of the day, this mind set will remove the guilt that accompanies “missing a workout”.  Guilt can be replaced by fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment knowing that you’ve challenged your body beyond it’s norm.  I like to think of this like a “free” workout”!  And you will be able to return back to your normal routine once you get home without missing a beat.

FOR EXAMPLE…

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REVIEW: PowerICE

 It was a happy day when the nice delivery guy dropped these off at my door.  Just in time for some beautiful warm weather.  PowerICE is a company who makes frozen hydration bars and I am super happy review their product.  They sent a generous amount that has allowed me to share the love and get some good feedback!  Two big things that caught my eye about this product: they don’t have high fructose corn syrup or artificial preservatives.  You can see the ingredients here.  
 
Years ago I stopped buying these for my kids
image here
because of the HFCS and dyes 
and there was much sadness in my house.
So as you can imagine, I was really hoping these icy pops would be just as good and exciting as the ones that have been banned from my house.   The kids were pretty pumped about trying them, so I packed them on ice, threw it all into my cooler bag and we took them with us on our hike. 
This was really our first time to try them… and we all thought they were really yummy and refreshing.   I left the cooler bag in the hot car for about an hour, then I took it out when we went down to the river.  After that amount of time, they were melted some, but still very frozen and I was happy about that.  
 
WE TRIED ALL THE FLAVORS
Grape Score
Lime Kicker
Orange Blast
Pomegranate Raspberry Rip
 
My girl didn’t love the Pomegranate Raspberry so much but really liked the Grape and Orange, my little man was all over Orange Blast and Lime and my fave was Pomegranate Raspberry and Grape.
I shared PowerIce with my class after doing a great cardio/toning workout using Tye4® wearable resistance.  Everyone really loved the PowerICE bars.  Here are some of the things that were said:
“The texture is great, like sonic ice.  Really good.”
“… not so salty and more refreshing then Gatorade”
“Doesn’t leave an after taste like products with artificial ingredients”  
Thought that was great feedback and I 
happen to agree.
 

I also put them to the test at the ball field.  As you can see, I was hard at work reviewing this product.  It was very difficult not to sneak into the cooler bag and  help myself to a second one.  I did think it nice of me to practice self control and share with the kids after their game.  
 
 
 
Excuse me as I go off on a soap box for a moment:  
Parents, if you have kids playing sports, teach them at an early age to be an intentional athlete.  They can learn to give 100% on the field and off the field as well.  This will develop character and life skills that will follow them into all areas of their life.  As a parent, you have the opportunity to teach them how to fuel their body before the game and teach them what they need to do to repair after a game or practice.  This is a fun experience for the kids.  I’ve seen it first hand.  This is a great way to empower our kids to take responsibility over their own health.  Post game snacks are fun and exciting as the kids celebrate their game, but as parents we can choose healthier options to give them.  These PowerICE bars were PERFECT for this b/c I knew they were getting some good stuff to replace electrolytes and they were excited to get a fun treat!  
Win Win… Win.  
 

 
To sum up this PowerICE review, I really like them and so does everyone else I shared them with.  Bam. 
 
Check out their website here to order and get to know this fun company on Facebook,  Twitter, Pinterest and Youtube.