Own Your Movement
There are a ton of different types of exercise programs out there that it can be overwhelming to find one that works for you. One thing they all have in common, is that they all require some sort of movement. Movement is universal. Whether you’re participating in weightlifting, yoga, Pilates, CrossFit, or a bootcamp class; you’re going to have to move in one way or another. Attention to detail is important when it comes to movement mechanics and staying safe. Unfortunately, injuries can happen at any time during any type of exercise program. They can even happen when you perform your everyday tasks. That is the reality of physical activity and life. You can, however, minimize the risk of injury when you own your movement. Owning your movement takes patience, practice, and intent. Being able to perform any given movement when your body is fresh is a bit easier than performing that same movement under fatigue. Scenarios like an increased heart rate, muscle burn, or mental/physical fatigue are common effects brought on by exercise. When these moments arise, this is your opportunity to direct your focus to the quality of your movement instead of simply completing the necessary work by whatever means possible. However, it’s important to introduce yourself at a progressive rate to moments like these. When you’re starting out, it’s important to understand the movement that is required when you’re as fresh as possible. Simply because, it’s hard to learn things when you’re tired. Give yourself a few classes to understand different exercises and the variety of workouts that are presented to you. There is no rush when it comes to developing sound movement mechanics, and often times, it’s something that is continuously being developed over time. Once you’ve learned the proper movements mechanics of the exercise, you can begin to slowly introduce workouts that require you to move with tempo, require you to pace, or intervals that really invite intensity into the equation. When you begin to combine different types of stimuli with your movement, it’s important to take note of when you begin to lose focus on how your mechanics are feeling. If you’re starting to lose focus on how you’re moving, this is the time to really prioritize your awareness! Change gears and focus a bit more on your movement mechanics, or make an adjustment that allows you to regain that focus. Just like building strength, flexibility, or endurance; focus is something you can train as well. Over time, your ability to focus will improve. You’ll begin to notice that you can focus through longer bouts of intensity, different types of tempos, or various types of exercise programs. Most importantly, you’ll have more body awareness and a stronger foundation for movement; minimizing your risk of injury to physical activity. Your foundation for movement is important in that it allows you to stay moving, enjoy life, and maintain a healthy lifestyle for years to come. Begin to own your movement!
Fitness Class for Functional Movements
What are functional movements? They are movements that directly relate to how we move on a day-to-day basis. Generally, these movements can be categorized into squatting, pushing, and pulling. Most of the time, as we go about our daily lives, we don’t think about how many times we perform some type of squat, pull, or press. Walking up and down the stairs, carrying groceries, picking something up from the ground, and simply opening or closing a door; these are just a few examples of movements that help us function day in and day out. Sometimes, functional movements require a combination of squatting, pulling, or pressing as well. In our Fitness Classes, you’ll see common movements programmed like air squats, pull ups, ring rows, and push-ups. In addition, you may encounter exercises that require a combination of movements like wall balls, rowing, medicine ball slams, and burpees. In our classes, we provide a controlled environment for you to practice and continually improve your foundation of movement using functional exercises. Since life isn’t the same day to day, you can expect different types of workouts also. Some days you might find a 20:00 AMRAP that includes a wide variety of movements and other days you might find yourself doing short interval work. By varying exercises and how you perform those exercises, ensures that you’re getting a well-rounded stimulus. Being efficient, well-rounded, and mechanically sound throughout a variety of movements and time domains really prepares you for whatever life throws at you. Next time you come to a Fitness Class, I encourage you to think about how the different exercises prepare you for what you encounter on a regular basis. Additionally, although some workouts will cause muscle fatigue or have you breathing hard at one point or another, it’s still important to continually focus on your movement quality. Just as physically strengthening the body is important, our Fitness Classes allow you an opportunity to strengthen your mind-body connection as well. It’s no secret that when things start to become more intense, it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on movement mechanics. Being strong not only physically, but being mentally strong and improving your ability to focus through different workouts, makes for a solid combination. Obviously, in life you won’t always think about your hip and back alignment, whether or not your knees are tracking in line with your toes, or if your shoulders are rounded forward or not. The more awareness you can bring to each movement in class will help your body learn and eventually perform on it’s on. The goal is for your body to be autonomous with its movement. Own every inch of your movement so you can simply focus on enjoying life!
How I Found Pilates
In November 2021, I ran the Golden Gate Half Marathon. I was very proud and ecstatic after completing my very first half marathon race. Of course I was expecting a bit of soreness the next day, but what I encountered was completely unexpected and new to me. I woke up and immediately felt a problem with my left foot/ankle; this was a sensation I’ve never felt before. I could barely walk or put any pressure on my left foot, and when I did, it would be excruciating painful. Not to mention, my ankle was swollen to the size of a tennis ball! Sometimes I can get up, move around a bit, and the pain would subside; this was not the case on that day. Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to manage the pain and figure out what was going on. I discovered the cause was from a major episode of Achilles tendinitis. Utterly debilitating to say the least. After I figured out what was going on with my injury, I was determined to get back to being outdoors and running. Setting goals for myself is a good way for me to train and continue to be active on a day-to-day basis. In December 2021, a little less than a month after my injury, I signed up for not one, but two races in the month of July 2022! At the point of signing up for these races, I was still recovering from my Achilles tendinitis and walking was still painful. I knew I had an uphill battle to climb, but I was determined to overcome this injury and complete the Ragnar Trail Relay Race and the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon in July 2022. In January of 2022, 6 months out from my races, I was still unable to do anything remotely close to running. At this time, I needed to get moving again and reached out to Rise Physical Therapy and Pilates. At Rise, Nikki helped me begin my rehabilitation process and thus began my journey to running again. At physical therapy, Nikki introduced me to the Pilates reformer, something that I’ve never seen or used. The exercises we performed on the reformer were the perfect balance of strengthening my ankle while continuing to allow it heal. Over the next 2 months, thanks to Nikki and her team at Rise, I was able to slowly regain my stability and strength in my left ankle. The pain from my Achilles tendinitis, as well as the swelling, had finally began to subside. At the start of March 2022, I only had about 4 months left until race day. At this point, the swelling in my left ankle was gone and the pain had pretty much disappeared. After 2 months of physical therapy and using the reformer with Nikki. I was ready to start training again. This time around, I wanted to include Pilates into my training program. I felt that with Pilates, I had a stronger foundation for movement. I enjoyed the focus on how I was moving, instead of constantly thinking about sets, repetitions, my time on conditioning workouts, and how much weight I was using. Safe to say I had a better mindset going into training. I found Pilates Forever in April 2022, where I continued my Pilates practice. At this time, I was combining Pilates once a week with some weightlifting to help regain the strength in my legs. With my injury being related to the Achilles, I was still nervous about running or doing anything dynamic. At Pilates Forever, Alina had me working hard for my first month. This demanded an entirely different level of body control, and exposed weakness in not only my physical movement patterns but in my ability to control my movement mechanics under fatigue. Slow and controlled movements were the name of the game. As the fatigue would set it, this was my opportunity to focus on my body alignment instead of just powering through to finish the exercise so that the burning sensation would stop. I started to feel stronger not only physically, but I felt that my mental strength to control my body under fatigue was stronger than it had ever been. I thought this would be perfect for running; after discovering my injury most likely came from poor movement mechanics under fatigue, which probably resulted in muscle imbalances, then to my Achilles injury. As an added bonus, when I would go into the gym to do my typical weightlifting and strengthening workouts, I felt as if I had a better understanding of how I was moving while performing these exercises. Like I mentioned earlier, as my muscles began to fatigue while working out, I used it as an opportunity to strengthen my ability to focus on my movement mechanics instead of just powering through to finish. It wasn’t until May 2022 that I started incorporating running into my training program, and I was 2 months out from my first race in July. At this point, thanks to Rise and Pilates Forever, I was confident in getting back to building my endurance capacity. I felt I had a stronger base than before, and not only physically, but mentally as well. Knowing that 2 months was not that much time, I had to be smart with how I approached the next couple of months. As I began incorporating running into my training program, I focused more on managing my fatigue throughout my runs. I made sure I always balanced the amount of fatigue and intensity I was feeling with my ability to focus on how I was running. If I couldn’t focus on my movement mechanics, then I would simply slow down to a pace that would allow me to do so. Previously, I would just complete certain distances for time and then try to improve upon that time on my next run. This time around, I never focused on how fast
February Raffle
February Raffle Details: · Each class you attend through the month of February will give you 1 entry into the raffle (limit 1 entry per day) Raffle Prizes: · 4-pack of FitAid -or- 1 pair of Grip Socks · 4-pack of FitAid -or- 1 pair of Grip Socks · Athletic Performance Studio T-shirt · Athletic Performance Studio Sweatshirt · 5 Personal Training Sessions · 1-month Complimentary Unlimited Class Membership Raffle Drawing: · The raffle drawing will take place on March 1st, 2025 · Follow us on Instagram for the live drawing (@apstudio_pleasanton)
Fitness for Life
Life isn’t always about fitness, but life can be more enjoyable with fitness. The world is full of wondrous things to discover and enjoy! From doing puzzles and reading books at home to hiking and exploring the outdoors, there is always a certain amount of fitness to be involved. The amount of fitness can range from being as simple as sitting up straight, bending over properly to pick something up, to something more complex like having the endurance to run a marathon. Let’s be honest, when you’re out and about enjoying life and the activities you love, how many times do you actually think about those things? For me personally, I don’t think about it that much! Life has a tendency to pull our bodies out of alignment and balance, it’s just the truth about participating in the things we enjoy doing or going through our daily routines. At the Athletic Performance Studio, we focus on movement alignment and use exercise as a tool for you to challenge your ability to maintain that alignment in a safe and controlled environment. You get the benefits of exercise, along with being more aware of how you actually move day in and day out! The goal is not to constantly be thinking about whether or not your hips are aligned with your back, if your shoulders are rounded forward or not, if you’ve put in enough time to build that endurance to run a marathon, and so forth; but it’s important to notice when your body is getting drawn out of alignment or balance. The gym is great place to always come back to and, in a sense, reset your body’s alignment. As an added perk, when you spend more time actively focusing on how you’re moving in the gym, sometimes you do catch yourself noticing how you’re actually moving when you’re out and about. Maybe every now and then you notice yourself slouching, reaching down to pick something up in a poor manner, or if your shoulders are rounded forward. With your awareness, you can make the quick adjustment and continue on with your business. Small moments of having the awareness to sit up a little taller, pick something up a little bit better, or whatever the case may be will lead to big improvements towards your health and fitness in the long run! Pilates Class is a wonderful environment to begin to discover how you’re moving and what is actually going on with your body’s alignment. Even for the more experienced Pilates-goer, your foundation for movement can always be improved and developed even more to be rock solid! Our Fitness Class will provide an environment where you can challenge your movement patterns and your ability to focus on how well you’re moving in different modalities such as strength training and conditioning. In the end, you get to use exercise to move better, gain strength, improve flexibility, and increase your metabolic capacity among the many other benefits related to your overall health and well-being. All of this leads to being able to use your fitness for life and enjoy everything it has to offer!
Rhythm and Flow
Activities like Walking, Running, Hiking, Swimming, Biking, and many others all have similarities. Among those similarities includes the ability to move. Your quality of movement, whether you are actively mindful about it or not, plays a large role in the longevity of what you enjoy doing. When you go to the gym or exercise, most likely you’d want to gain some strength and/or lose some weight. Both are ideal goals to get you started, but how often are you able to think about how you move when you pick up those dumbbells, get on any piece of gym equipment, or do some conditioning workout? If you’re unable to maintain movement awareness throughout your exercise program, chances are your intensity is far greater than your ability to control. I for one, have fallen into this trap many times – leading to injuries, plateaus, and loss of interest among other things. Contrology, a Pilates term that refers to one’s ability to maintain physical control and mental awareness throughout any given exercise movement. There is a state of balance that can be found with each movement or workout. It also applies to when you start to add intensity into the equation. When the heart rate starts to rise as you begin your workout and fatigue begins to settle in, workouts can start to become a little bit more intense. It becomes increasingly difficult to maintain focus on how you’re moving, instead its far easier to focus on just “getting through” the work. Because, no pain no gain, right? Not the case here. The next time you find yourself in this position, which is inevitable when you decide to exercise, try taking this approach: find a state of balance. What I mean by finding a state of balance, is finding the right amount of exertion where you can still maintain your mental awareness throughout any given exercise or movement. It may seem hard at first because you might find yourself slowing down or choosing less weight to lift, which isn’t bad, but is a necessity in reaching your full potential. Over time, maintaining balance between exertion and movement awareness will allow you to continually make physical improvements with less risk to injuries, plateaus, or simply losing interest in your favorite activities. It will take some time to learn because everyone is different and moves at their own pace. Sometimes, some days are better than others, because life is funny like that. It’s important to remember that there is an ebb and flow to any given day, and the same goes for every workout and exercise movement you choose to partake in. I encourage you to find that flow, and again, that might mean speeding up, slowing down, choosing a heaver/lighter weight, etc. This can be applied to activities like Pilates, CrossFit, Weightlifting, Yoga, Running, Biking, Walking, you name it. Movement is movement in whichever form you enjoy doing it in. When you can find yourself mentally engaged in what you’re doing, throughout the entirety of the movement or exercise, you’ll find that you can finally begin to reach your full potential. You’ll become not only physically stronger, but mentally stronger as well. You’ll begin to adjust on the fly based on feel and experience, and your movement quality will improve and become almost automatic. Give it a try next time: choose to find your own rhythm and flow!
We Are Open!
Here are some details about the classes we currently offer: Fitness Classes – Here is where you’ll find your typical strengthening exercises and conditioning workouts. Classes are all coach-led. You’ll be taken through a warm up, given workout instruction, and have a fun/safe place to exercise. All class workouts are programmed in-house and our coaches will always be able to provide any modifications depending on your needs and goals. You can always check out what the workouts for the week will be by clicking here. Pilates Classes – This is where you’ll be able to continuously develop your foundation of movement. Enjoy workouts that will challenge your body and mind. This is a wonderful opportunity to understand movement just a little better and carry what you learn into Fitness Classes, if you choose to do so. Getting Started – Whether you’re looking for a place to put some roots down, or just visiting from out of town, we’d be happy to have you! Getting started is easy, here are two ways: Jump right into your first free Class Sign up for a free 1-on-1 Trial Class to learn more From now until 1/31/25, sign up for your first free class and receive 25% off your first month’s class membership or personal training. Ready? Click here!
Introducing: Athletic Performance Studio
First and foremost, thank you to everyone who made this space a possibility. Without the experiences that I’ve shared with all of you, I wouldn’t be here opening up this studio today. I’ve experienced so much through my journey in the health and fitness industry, that I felt it was time for me to share what I’ve learned. I’m excited to build a place and community where everyone can exercise, develop their own foundation of movement, and have a good time improving quality of life. Stay tuned for our opening day – we hope to see you soon!
