Sweat Now Offers a 10-Week Pilates Workout Program, and You Only Need Minimal Equipment
You’re probably familiar with Kayla Itsines’s Sweat app and its popular HIIT and strength workouts. Last fall, Sweat unveiled new yoga and barre workouts, perfect for people who want to build strength with low-impact training. Now, the company has launched a new 10-week Pilates program, available starting Feb. 22.
The program offers traditional mat-based Pilates workouts focused on core strength and stability and improving posture and mobility. Pilates is a good low-impact strength workout that’s doable for all fitness levels. The workouts require minimal equipment (think: light dumbbells, a jump rope, and resistance bands), and are led by former dancer and current Pilates instructor Sara Colquhoun, who has been teaching Pilates for 17 years.
“It’s a dream come true to join the Sweat community and have the opportunity to encourage more women across the world to experience the benefits of Pilates,” Colquhoun said, according to a press release. “The program is tailored for all fitness abilities and you won’t need much space or equipment to enjoy a great workout. I believe that a flexible fitness approach is the key to a sustainably healthy lifestyle, and I love that Sweat programs offer women the convenience and confidence to customize their training to suit their individual needs.”
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StretchLab plans locations in 2 prominent local shopping centers
A business that offers one-on-one assisted stretching sessions is getting closer to making its local debut.
Earlier this year, the Business Journal reported that StretchLab, an Irvine-based franchise company, planned to enter the Sacramento area with multiple locations. At the time, the company said it had not yet finalized any local sites.
But now, a sign for StretchLab is displayed in Folsom’s Palladio at Broadstone, and the chain’s website also says a location in the Pavilions Shopping Center in Arden-Arcade is coming soon.
Palladio General Manager Gloria Wright confirmed StretchLab will fill 1,500 square feet in the Folsom retail center. A sign for StretchLab is displayed at a space next to a We’re Organized location at Palladio. “No firm opening date set yet but tenant improvement construction is underway,” Wright said in an email.
StretchLab’s website also lists a location in Pavilions, which is located along the Fair Oaks Boulevard retail corridor, as coming soon. The website says the studio will be in Suite B-566, which appears to be a space previously occupied by Insight Coffee Roasters.
Kevin Soares, a partner and executive vice president with commercial brokerage Gallelli Real Estate, said StretchLab’s lease at Pavilions is not yet finalized. Soares handles leasing for Pavilions.
A StretchLab representative did not immediately provide additional details.
Clients at the business work with a “flexologist” for assisted stretching sessions. Lou DeFrancisco, president of StretchLab Franchise, told the Business Journal earlier this year that the business shouldn’t be confused with a gym or a massage studio. StretchLab’s website lists a variety of potential benefits from its services, including heightened flexibility, better posture and increased range of motion.
StretchLab is backed by Irvine-based Xponential Fitness LLC, a curator of fitness brands. Other Xponential brands, such as Club Pilates and CycleBar, have a presence in the Sacramento area.
DeFrancisco also previously said that StretchLab looks to open locations near other fitness-related tenants. Both Palladio and Pavilions include fitness businesses.
This Is The Best Pilates Equipment To Buy For Home Workouts, According To Instructors
If you’ve ever done Pilates, you know the full-body workout is not to be underestimated. In fact, after experiencing its trademark muscle quivering for yourself, you’ll be pretty much sold on stocking up on some Pilates workout equipment of your own, whether for at-home workouts or more personalized studio sweats.
“All Pilates exercises are low-impact and often executed in a slow and controlled manner,” says Amanda Jenny, a certified Pilates teacher and founding instructor of the online fitness community bande. “They develop a strong core, improve joint mobility, and enhance coordination.” Most exercises also work several muscle groups—huzzah!
“In a traditional Pilates mat class, the work arises from holding up your body weight and resisting gravity,” Jenny says. You can add intensity with gear like a Pilates ball, magic circle, weights, and resistance bands. Meanwhile, “on a reformer, you use the resistance of the springs to strengthen the targeted muscles.” Because it does wonders for core strength, it’s a great workout for anyone who wants to avoid back injuries or who wants to feel more balanced in daily activities or sports.
So, whether you want to keep things gentle to focus on stretching or level up your sweat with a flow of compound movements, it’s easy to customize your Pilates experience. “Pilates exercises can be modified for beginners and progressed for those looking for more of a challenge, making it adaptable to all levels of workout,” says Cara Bonney, CSCS, master instructor for Club Pilates.
If you want to maximize your burn, check out some of the must-have Pilates gear that instructors and mat- and reformer-fanatics can’t get enough of.
Five Health Benefits of Pilates
Pilates is a form of exercise that helps lengthen and strengthen the muscles in the body while creating mobility and flexibility at the same time. You might see in a Pilates studio a class focused on core exercises and small movements while using unusual-looking machines called “Reformers.”
Pilates is a low-intensity workout that focuses on your core muscles working to restore balance to the body through movement. This type of workout is focused on addressing underlying imbalances in the body that over time creates stiffness and pain that we are all too familiar with. By lengthening and strengthening, creating movement in the spine, as well as focusing on the small stabilizer muscles, Pilates offers a considerable list of benefits.
1. Spinal Realignment/Posture Correction
According to Well+Good, “Pilates is all about lengthening and connecting to your muscles with an aim to improve posture.” The reformer places the body back into proper alignment just by laying down. During a FreedomCore Pilates class, the exercises done on the Reformer will aid the user in moving the spine in four directions promoting realignment in the disks in the spine.
2. Improvement of Flexibility
Pilates is meant to lengthen the muscles as well as strengthen at the same time and as a result, improves flexibility. FreedomCore Pilates offers a 50-minute stretch class to promote relaxation and stretching out the muscles.
3. Correcting Movement Patterns
Through a series of core-focused and muscle-group-focused exercises, Pilates has the overall benefit of strengthening muscles and works to correct movement patterns. Picking up children or grandchildren, unloading heavy things from the car, picking heavy items up, and even sitting at a desk or in a car can take a toll on the body. Pilates’ use of the Reformer and the low-impact exercise can help to correct the issues caused by regular day-to-day activities.
4. Improvement in Balance
When focusing on core muscles, balance naturally improves and Pilates exercise has a large focus on core muscles of the body. FreedomCore Pilates classes emphasize core strength as well as glutes which add to improved balance. During workouts classes, the exercises also focus on one leg at a time adding to better balance.
5. Creates a mind-body connection helping with coordination
In Pilates, you have to focus on your breath and the specific muscles you are using during an exercise. In every move, there is a mobilizer muscle and many stabilizing muscles. “As the instructor, I verbally lead the class and cue the muscles so the clients are always focusing on what to use,” shared Jess Costa, owner/founder of FreedomCore Pilates. Breathing alone creates a mind-body connection and tying that into specific movement will aid in that connection to coordination.
