Boring, I know.

But, check it out – pretty much all fitness clothing company ads have people standing exactly like that. I wonder if they’ll be headed to physical therapy soon…

Lululemon

Athleta

American Apparel

Hardtail

Lucy

Prana

Zobha

It took me about five minutes to do this post. Because they pretty much all stand like that.

Interesting.

You – reading this. Try balancing your weight equally on both feet. Your balanced hips, knees, ankles, and feet will thank you for it later.

Stay hard core,

Mariska

This post has been Rated R, and contains content that is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18, and some people above the age of 18.  Please read at your own discretion, and it’s probably best to avoid reading it at work.  

Sigh. It’s Valentine’s Day (almost) and even though I have a fella who’ll be wining and dining me on the 14^th—or at least, he better be!—this is a holiday that always makes me roll my eyes. What’s up with all the pink and red, the overwrought heart shapes, the thigh-sabotaging chocolate? Romance is all well and good, but has no marketing professional gotten the memo that we modern women are sometimes equally interested in—or dare I say, even more interested in—the raunchy final act after the fancy dinner? Hallmark might think most women want a chaste kiss on the cheek and some time alone with candy, but at Fuse, we know differently. And a Pilates blog is actually the perfect place to talk about sex, because Pilates, even more so than other forms of exercise, can be a uniquely positive boon to your carnal life.

Let’s start with the more obvious angles. Almost any activity that gets you moving your body, toning your muscles, and burning calories, is likely to have a positive impact on your overall sense of wellbeing, energy level, and self-esteem. That means that after only a few Fuse Pilates classes, you might be feeling energized and encouraged enough to be more adventurous than usual. (We all have different thresholds as to what constitutes “wild,” so for one person that might mean keeping all the lights on while for another it might mean getting frisky after dark in Meridian Park. No judgment!) However it manifests itself, confidence in your body and extra energy to burn translates to one very pleasant date for your lucky Valentine.

But what makes Pilates extraordinarily sex-friendly? For one thing—as you Fuse addicts already know—it’s obsessively focused on the core, that column of back and abdominal muscles that power so many of your body actions, particularly while you’re horizontal.  How many moves do you do in bed that rely primarily on arm or leg strength? (If you answered “most of them” then, wow—I would love to see you in action sometime. How would that even work?) Think of all those pelvic tilts you do in preparation for bridge; your core muscles guide and stabilize the hips in a variety of positions, including during suspension. Why else do you think we instructors are so insistent about you keeping your hips level, ribs in, and tailbone tucked when you’re pulsing in the air? (And yes, I do expect to see this new mental connection manifesting itself through some fierce shoulder-bridging this month!)

Strengthen your glutes and hamstrings for better sex? Yep!

Working deeply into your core through Pilates doesn’t just build strength, it also builds flexibility. For example, I’d bet that most of you can twist more deeply now than you could before you regularly took classes. When you’re wrapped up around another body, an increased range of motion helps you stay connected to one another while improvising new positions or simply angling to be more comfortable. Or let’s say you’re lying under someone and you want to give them a kiss. What lifts your shoulders and head? That’s right: your upper abdominals – the one abdominal region you guys almost never request! (Let’s not repeat this mistake in the future.)

At the risk of making our particularly shy readers really blush, let’s get even more intimate. Pilates isn’t just about the G-rated core; it’s also about the lower core, i.e. the pelvic floor. We don’t explicitly cue “pelvic floor” much in group classes and that’s partially because we don’t have to; you’re recruiting it automatically with many of our exercises. However, you may have heard a few of us say “draw your sit bones together,” which is a more expansive way to envision the muscles around the genitals engaging than the “stop your pee,” Kegel-style standard instruction. If that’s still too subtle and esoteric, you can trick these muscles into contracting with a cough or a laugh. Do you feel how the area of the perineum pulls in and up automatically when you strongly engage your core as a whole? As an alternative to constantly laughing or coughing during sex to create a desired “squeeze” effect, why not see if you can teach those muscles to respond on command through regular Pilates work?

So there you have it: Pilates can vastly improve your sex life, in a variety of ways. If you’re already living out the blissful side effects of your Fuse efforts, know that your after-class glow is all the thanks we need. But may I suggest you treat yourself to an equally Fuse-enhanced partner? After all, if these are the effects when just one of you is a Pilates devotee, imagine the possibilities if both of you were shoulder-bridging and teaser-ing several times a week.

In addition to her work at Fuse Pilates, Monica keeps herself busy as a freelance writer. Her portfolio includes work for The Guardian, Alternet, Huffington Post, The Best Sex Writing 2010, Ms., DCist, and Nerve.  

I’m always puzzled when people are surprised that they’re not taking a “regular Pilates class” when they come to Fuse. We never say we are traditional. In fact, I think we try pretty hard to say we’re not. There have been a lot of questions about what makes Fuse Pilates different from traditional Pilates. The answer? Plenty (but not too much). Let me explain…

There are people who teach what I call “old-school Pilates.” Those people (lovely, well-intentioned, sometimes dogmatic) might hate what we’re doing here at Fuse.  In fact, some of them have told me that I don’t teach “real” Pilates. Groan when I say that we teach our classes to music. Roll their eyes when I say I would never ever start a class with the hundreds. And say a prayer for my soul when I say that Fuse includes some barre style isometric exercises (gasp!). I even got a lecture from a grandmotherly type who clearly wanted to bring me back into the fold as if I were an Amish kid who discovered reality television. These traditionalists think Joseph Pilates had everything figured out at his studio in New York City (1926-1966), and that not a single thing should be altered.

Don’t get me wrong… Joseph Pilates was a visionary – well ahead of his time and quite frankly, ours. If it weren’t for his inventions and his creativity, would there be anything like a reformer out there today? Would people consider using springs as weight? Would something like Fuse even exist?

Traditional Pilates equipment in a non-traditional Fuse Circuit class.

I unapologetically say that Fuse is inspired by Pilates and we use traditional Pilates apparatus, but if you are looking for a traditional class, you are in the wrong place. Although we know and teach traditional exercises as part of the Fuse method, it is not our focus. We are happy to recommend more traditional studios to you if you are freaked out, offended, shocked, or in any other way nonplussed by exercises that Pilates himself didn’t create.

What we offer here is something different, something that is more fitness-focused, and in my (traditionally-trained) opinion – more fun, less stodgy, and a whole lot more approachable than the “traditional.”  For many Fuse students, including yours truly, this method has resulted in more results faster.

It might look like a regular shoulder bridge, but what starts off as a traditional move takes an interesting twist (or three) in a Fuse mat class.

Granted, there are two main schools of Pilates right now: traditional and contemporary. Traditional (or “classical Pilates”) includes those Pilates Elders trained by Joseph Pilates himself, and many of the people they trained. These teachers are committed to continuing the Pilates legacy by teaching exactly as Pilates himself taught.

Contemporary Pilates takes the traditional exercises and integrates what has been learned about anatomy and exercise science in recent years. Well-known contemporary schools include Stott and BASI. Although they take a more contemporary approach and have some non-traditional exercises, they stay pretty close to the original.

At Fuse, we like to push the envelope and fuel our Pilates with exercises that aren’t from the Pilates catalogue – traditional or contemporary. We feature exercises that come from other disciplines and make them work on a reformer, tower, chair, or on the mat. And, we don’t focus so much on rehab (unless you’re working in a private class – the perfect and proper place for that kind of Pilates).

Our main concern is that an exercise works what you want it to work. You want to work your upper back? We’ll make sure you feel that you got a great upper back workout. We take what we know about the human body and exercise science to develop or include variations that target muscle groups in safe, effective, and challenging ways. And, we cue stability, focus, and breath – fundamentals of traditional Pilates.

One of my mentors called what we do at Fuse “vanity Pilates” – focusing on body sculpting to the degree that every single class is created around students’ requests. I prefer to think Fuse is Pilates for the People. Fuse is for the masses of people who want to work out so that they don’t get injured, so their backs don’t start to hurt in the first place, and YES, so that their butts look perky in their favorite jeans.

Because gravity is real, people! As is boredom! And you have to battle both every day.

What does that mean to Fuse? That means classes that are constantly changing, include exercises you may never have seen or done before, and those moves will be choreographed to music so your workout (although so deep that a student recently said she thought I was working her soul), never ever feels like work. It’s like a dance party for your entire body.

I’ve been told (many times) that the original Pilates repertoire is all you need. I don’t disagree, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you do the same exercises in the same order over and over and over again, you will be so bored that you’ll actually think a walk on a treadmill sounds exciting. And you’ll stop coming to Pilates of any sort. Which is a terrible thing when Pilates – both traditional and not – can be so much fun.

Have you tried both Fuse Pilates and traditional Pilates? What do you think?

Stay hard core,

Mariska

I’ll admit that I’m not into football.  But, what I do like about the Super Bowl are the commercials.  A past career as a Video Producer/Creative Director makes me appreciate really good marketing.  And, mostly, marketers bring their A-game to the Super Bowl.  After all, those ads are pricey.

When I saw this ad, though, I didn’t think it was funny. I don’t know if I left my sense-of-humor at the door, or maybe I’m just getting my period.  The people who wrote this ad might think it was the latter.

So, the producers/writers of this ad think that Pilates is girly. Obviously, I disagree. After all, Pilates was designed by a man, in part as rehab for soldiers.

As a teacher, I’ve seen plenty of men struggle in a class and have observed my mentor taking a quarterback through a session. And many elite athletes include Pilates as part of their training, including some of those Super Bowl players from last night (rumor has it the Giants have Pilates apparatus in their training camp…)

I wonder if any of the people who imagined this ad could hang in a Pilates class. I’d be happy to give them a private session. Consider the gauntlet thrown.

What do you think of this ad?

Stay hard core (and don’t assume Pilates is easy),

Mariska

* Caution: Do not read Mariska…Uncut if you are prone to fainting spells, being offended, or taking yourself too seriously.

It’s cold and flu season. Germs are almost unescapable. Maybe I picked something up on the metro, maybe it was at work at a restaurant or at the movie theater – who knows. All I do know is that I woke up last Sunday morning with the dreaded sore throat.

via Blooming Natural Health

I tried my best to fend it off, doubled up on Vitamin C, drank lots of water but try as I might, by Monday morning I was officially sick. Every muscle in my body ached. I had a fever and spent most of the night coughing. After calling in sick to work, I forced myself to take some cough syrup and went straight back to bed. Sometimes your body just needs sleep to fight off whatever virus or germs we’ve picked up out in the city.

I was scheduled to go to a Fuse Chair class on Monday, but knew this wasn’t going to work. Not only could I barely move, but I was most likely contagious. When you are truly sick, pushing yourself to workout isn’t the right thing for your body. If you push your body too far, you can delay your own recovery. And on top of that, I didn’t want to contaminate the studio with my germs. No one wants to workout next to someone who is coughing up a lung. So I minded the Fuse cancellation policy and made sure to cancel in time for someone else to enjoy my spot in class.

Then after sleeping most of Monday and rotating from my couch to my bed several times on Tuesday, I was finally starting to feel a bit better. My fever was gone; I was able to swallow my chicken noodle soup. I didn’t feel great by any means but could tell my body was on the mend. So I went to bed super early and planned to head into work Wednesday.

Returning to work was necessary, work was piling up and deadlines needed to be met. So after staying home for two days, I knew I needed to get back into the office. What I wasn’t sure about was whether or not I was ready to workout again, but I packed my workout bag just in case.

My plan was simple. Go to work, and if by 2pm I felt achy and my cough was annoying, I would skip Pilates; but if I was just tired and sluggish I would push myself to see what a mat class would do for me. Turns out this unscientific little test of mine was, dare I say…brilliant.

Two o’clock rolled around and I was most definitely tired, but I wasn’t sick. My muscles felt a bit stiff but my bones didn’t hurt. And even though my voice had at this point disappeared, I wasn’t coughing, so I decided I should tough it out and go to the Fuse Toys class I had registered for. I figured I’d go, secure a spot in the back, and if I started feeling weak at any point, I could always find a child’s pose or stretch.

As it turns out, I made it through the entire class. I think my body was actually craving the exercise. Concentrating on my breathing and getting my blood pumping again felt fantastic. The movements helped me shake off that lethargic feeling that was holding my body hostage and reminded my body, mind and soul how much better it feels to workout as opposed to spending another hour resting on the couch.

So here’s my recommendation for everyone out there struggling with a cold or flu this winter, listen carefully to your own body. There is a difference between feeling sick and feeling tired. If you are sick, stay home and take care of yourself. But when your symptoms improve, don’t let feeling tired keep you away from working out. Going to the Fuse playground, listening to upbeat music, breathing and reconnecting with your own body may just be the best medicine there is.

Who wants to work arms tonight?

Stay hard core, Mrs. President,
Mariska

Maybe fitness magazines should think about mixing it up, too.

Stay hard core (and try Fuse for those six-pack abs!),

Mariska

Is Pilates yoga?

No. No, it isn’t.

You have a yoga studio don’t you?

No. No, I don’t.

How’s the yoga studio doing?

Terribly, I think. Since it doesn’t exist.

There are a lot of articles out there that take on the topic of yoga versus Pilates. Most of them say the differences aren’t as much physical as they are philosophical. I would argue that the authors of these articles don’t have a very serious yoga or Pilates practice if they think the two are so physically similar.

Let’s say you are a Pilates or yoga novice or newbie and are still confused and curious as to the difference between yoga and Pilates… First, let’s start with the basics and why people probably think the two are interchangeable: Both have exercises that you do on mats.

Now, let’s move to some key differences:

The Philosophy

To quote a long time student who tried his first yoga class recently, “Mariska, I went to this class last night and there was (insert my favorite expletive) chanting.“

Beyond an asana (or physical movement) practice, yoga is, for many practitioners, a spiritual way of life. Some forms of yoga call for you to be vegetarian or vegan, to meditate, to chant. In fact, asana is just one of eight limbs, or aspects, of what yoga practice entails.

Pilates doesn’t have any limbs other than the ones you exercise. Sure, there is a Pilates lifestyle, Fuse included (you can engage your core at any time, keep your shoulders down, and practice your Pilates anywhere). But, it doesn’t have the same spiritual connection as yoga. Although Pilates does engage the mind in the exercise, it doesn’t seek to make the mind and body “one.” Om shanti? Nope.

The Physical Practices

The goal of Pilates is to increase the core strength of the body, focusing on proper muscle engagement and stabilization of the pelvis and shoulder girdles.

For many, the purpose of yoga is simply preparation for meditation. But, in today’s world where yoga is a workout you’ll find at every gym (and on every corner in our Dupont Circle neighborhood), others state the goal is strength and flexibility – and that’s not too different from Pilates.

However, even though some of our exercises look similar, the focus is generally different.

Take a bridge pose, for example. Yoga emphasizes the backbend, so there will be an emphasis on creating an arch in the back, often as a prep for wheel, or a full backbend.

In yoga, the goal is the backbend. Hmmm, my left foot shouldn't be turned out like that. Time to get back to the yoga studio for a tune up.

For Pilates, a bridge is a straight line from shoulder to knee. Add one leg moving for extra challenge to core stability.

Basically, Pilates focuses on core. And that can benefit a yoga practice significantly. In fact, Pilates core strengthening is so valuable for building strength and control for yoga that I shot these photos comparing a Pilates exercises to a similar move in yoga (that I haven’t done in years), and I didn’t have any trouble doing it. (Stay tuned for a future blog post about the magic of the bandhas and for the Pilates students out there, what the heck they are).

Full pike on the Pilates chair is a great way to learn core control for yoga arm balances.

Yoga arm balances like crow pose are all about the core (not so much about arms).

The Equipment

What Pilates offers that yoga doesn’t are really cool toys. Where yoga practice might have a block, strap, and sticky mat, Pilates has moving carriages of the reformer, a Cadillac from which you can hang upside down, and a Wunda chair for balancing exercises.

Essentially, we can challenge the body by making the floor underneath it move, or having no floor at all, or pulling spring weight.

A Pilates reformer. Isn't it pretty? You can work pretty much every muscle in your body using its spring weight and moving carriage. Ever see anything like that in yoga? I don't think so.

Pilates Cadillac. Sort of like monkey bars for adults. Also not found in yoga.

The Calorie Burn

If calorie burning is your goal, which exercise wins?

Of course calorie burn is a complicated formula that includes your own body weight and the effort you exert (so it’s impossible to say exactly how many calories an exercise burns). But, in a head-to-head comparison, an advanced or fast-paced Pilates workout (like Fuse) burns 40-50% more calories than a power (flowing) yoga class.

Ultimately, both yoga and Pilates offer benefits. I started my practice with yoga and focused on Pilates because my body liked it better (and I kept injuring myself in yoga class). In an upcoming blog post, I’ll talk about why all serious yogis should consider adding Pilates. In fact, we count several of DC’s most prominent yoga teachers as Fuse Pilates regulars (and countless Fuse Pilates students split their time between us and their favorite yoga studios).

But, no, Fuse isn’t a yoga studio. Namaste.

Stay hard core,

Mariska

Ah, 2012. For me, a year of new beginnings, strengthened friendships, positivity, and possibly the end of the world. After taking two weeks off at the end of 2011 to relax with family and lay on the beach all week in the Bahamas, you would think I would have spent much of that time reflecting on New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. As hard as I try to channel all of my energy gained from my year end vacation toward fixing any negativity in my life, I always find that I somehow break my resolutions before I really even start.

I spent my New Year’s Eve with good friends, and as soon as the clock struck midnight, one of them yelled to me over the music, “I don’t even have a New Year’s resolution this year!” Okay, Debbie Downer. So I guess it is safe to assume that you also broke the news about Santa Claus to your younger siblings as soon as you found out? She told me she found it pointless if she was just going to break it anyways. Why set yourself up for the disappointment? But even though I can understand the reasoning behind it, I still couldn’t bring myself to get on her level. To me, there is still some kind of magic in resolutions. It’s just like how I still find that magic in my family’s annual Easter egg hunt years after finding out there is no elusive, giant bunny scattering them around my yard (I’ve also recently discovered that people my age stopped these hunts around age 8…but I have younger siblings, okay?).

My friend’s pessimism got me thinking in a different way about my resolution. I realized that I am sick of breaking my goals and that I need to take a new approach this year. I think the fundamental problem with most resolutions is the broad, sweeping nature of them. If you’re going to make a commitment to change, it’s going to be hard to accomplish with the hugely expansive promises most of us make.  Saying to yourself that you will never eat another carb again is probably not going to work. As soon as you have an extra glass of wine, that slice of pizza your roommate left in the fridge is going to start looking pretty good. Eat a bite, and we break the promise we made to ourselves. It is disappointing and it is easy to give up.  This year, I decided that I need to make a few small resolutions that will help me reach my goals. If you’ve taken any of Mariska’s classes, you know that you can work out your butt all you want, but you’ll never get the lift unless you work out the little muscles around it (the gluteus minumus and the gluteus medius). So, here goes my 2012 resolutions:

1. “Never Confuse Movement with Action.” A favorite quote of mine by Mr. Hemingway himself. Even though I have used this phrase in the past, its meaning just recently dawned on me. Last year, I resolved to lose 10 pounds. A couple months into 2011, my mother asked me how my progress was coming. I told her it was going well, and that I had been signing up for classes at the gym and joined an online dieting program. Guess what? I wasn’t getting anywhere. Even though I was taking steps to get to my goal, I wasn’t reaching it. Signing up for things was the movement that I thought would get me there, but I wasn’t taking the action. I would often get too busy at work, or feel too tired and skip the classes. As far as the online dieting program went, I don’t think I’ve signed on to that site since January of last year, and I’m pretty sure I’m still paying for it. This year, I decided to act on getting my goals accomplished – to go to workout class, to actually do kind things for others, and to not just sit around believing I was getting there by just thinking about it.
2. Reward myself for good behavior. I feel like I may not always look at some of the things I indulge in as rewards. This year, I am going to. The first step is going to be identifying these rewards. Instead of looking at a pedicure or a nice dinner as weekly activities, I’m going to use them to my advantage. If I can look at these indulgences as rewards instead of as givens, then I can incorporate them into my life in a way that will have a positive effect on my behavior. I used to go to the movies as a time filler. Now, I will go to the movies if I have reached a good productivity level that week. Eating well and exercising = movie outing. Psych majors, think of Pavlov’s dog.
3. Save $150 every month. We have probably all tried the “save money” resolution. Maybe you’ve succeeded – I haven’t. Now that I have officially saved a net total of $51.46 in 2011, it’s time to try something different. Instead of the broad ‘save money’ plan I’ve had in the past, I’m going to set a short time frame and a specific amount. Easy.

Long term goals have never been easy for me to accomplish. A lot of little things often pop up in life that will change my course. Hopefully, accomplishing smaller, short term goals will allow my long term goals to develop and strengthen over time this year. Step one this week will be to get to three Fuse classes, and then get to the nail salon for a pedicure after I’ve completed those classes. Seems pretty doable to me.

As a fitness professional, I feel it is my responsibility to add my voice to important causes related to the industry: childhood obesity, adult-onset diabetes, fashion tragedies… There is a serious problem in our society – ladies (and gents) wearing tights as pants.

The manifesto of the organization Tights Are Not Pants clearly outlines the issue:

An excerpt:

“In the context of sports, ballet, hair metal, and Renaissance fairs, tights function as suitable leg coverings, but still – they are not pants. These are not activities that transform tights into pants; these are historically acceptable acts of pantlessness.”

For reference, my husband snapped this photo from last year’s Renaissance Festival. Even if tights as pants “work” there, does that look good to you? Me neither.

Maryland RennFest Fall 2011 Collection.

I’ve been teaching for nearly ten years, and in that time, I have seen a lot of things. A LOT of things. More than I would care to see. There was a class I taught once with a shirtless guy wearing flesh-toned short shorts whose man parts were visible, for instance…

Last year, a friend emailed me this very important flowchart. It was originally posted on Buzzfeed and designed by Amy Sly. I thank them both. Check it out. Print it out. Send it to friends.

Facebook even has a page dedicated to the cause of pantlessness. Actually, do a search – there’s more than one!

The basics as I see it:

1. If your pants are skin tight and don’t have pockets, they are possibly tights. Please don’t be confused by anything bedazzled. Tights are easily bedazzled.

2. If they are see-through, they are definitely tights. They don’t need to have feet attached to them to be tights. Note, that footless tights are sold in many retail outlets.

3. If they are, in fact, tights, you can wear them out, but your shirt or sweater should hit below the butt. (Stay tuned for a future blog post – “T-shirts aren’t dresses”)

4. Pajamajeans, as seen on TV (and spotted in my local CVS), aren’t pants. Nor are they jeans. Or pajamas.

5. We’ll still love if you accidentally wear tights as pants. I admit to being an occasional offender. Other teachers have done it as well. After all, fitness facilities are one of the few places where tights are (borderline) acceptable. As long as they aren’t see-through, of course.

Stay hard core (and appropriately covered),

Mariska

* Caution: Do not read Mariska…Uncut if you are prone to fainting spells, being offended, or taking yourself too seriously.