Phanganist's friend Sole Correa kindly offered to come and teach the Phanganist girls some Pilates this week, Sharon was invited too but apparently he is already too good at it to join in?!
Our teacher friend Jessica also joined Tiana and Emma for what was a very hot and sweaty yet satisfying exercise.
Sole is a very skilled instructor with a good load of experience under her belt as her and her sister have two Pilates studios back in their home country Argentina. She is a lovely, friendly and warm soul (no pun intended!) and you will not feel intimidated if you are a beginner.
We started off with a gentle standing warm up, stretching to the sky and learning about how to focus on your breathing which is very important in pilates along with using your abdominals.
An easy way to describe the Pilates exercises is for example, you lay on your back and you are constantly focusing and using your breathing, breathing in and then out, with your mouth open it makes it a lot easier. On the out breath this is when you tighten your abdominals af if you are trying to get your belly button right to the back of your spine, you will find yourself thinking about this when riding around on your scooter or swimming the day after which can't be a bad thing!
So whilst you breath out you are also trying to flatten the natural curve that you have in your spine, to get it down to the floor, doing this whilst breathing out actually helps you to relax yet work on your abdominals.
On the inwards breath you would lift you head, neck and shoulders then on the breath out (contracting your abdominals) you then lift the rest of your torso to an upright position, then you go back down vetebrae by vertebrae.
Pilates is a great exercise. It stretches you, tones you and helps you feel good! It is more of a workout yet not too strenuous which is good in this heat and for people of any level of fitness. As you do pilates more and more you will really see and feel the difference in your self.
This is what Jessica thought of Sole's lesson...
'Sole has designed a well balanced routine which is challenging but not unachievable. She managed to make us giggle through our sweating and I will definitely take one of her Pilates classes again in the near future'.
The Phanganist girls will definatily be continuing with Pilates with Sole, she's one cool lady, funny and a great teacher, plus it seems to be the perfect fitness for what they all want to achieve!
You can read more about Sole in her interview below and contact her by facebook or phone, she teaches group classes every day at Hacienda Resort and also offers private lessons too.
Thank you Sole and see you soon!!