Cross Training with the CoreAlign System: Find Your Balance and Power
Did you know that Holly’s Pilates Village is one of the only places in the region where you can work out regularly on the Balanced Body CoreAlign system?
Why should you care? Because everybody is out of alignment. We might favor a dominant side. We tend to overuse our stronger muscles and ignore our weaker ones. We often sit too much and develop poor posture. And we start losing our balance at age 30!
The Balanced Body CoreAlign system was designed to address each of our asymmetries. It combines cardiovascular work and integrated, full-body exercises with a mind-body approach. Developed by physical therapist Jonathan Hoffman, the CoreAlign exercises “facilitate musculoskeletal rehabilitation by stimulating core stability muscles to fire in perfect timing while performing challenging exercises, very deep stretches, and core-controlled aerobic training. The CoreAlign’s frame encloses two tracks and carts, which move independently with smooth resistance (or assistance) created by six elastic resistance tube assemblies on each cart. Resistance/assistance is possible in one or both directions.”
Pilates teachers around the country have praised the CoreAlign for the way it supplements the Pilates repertoire and enables clients at all levels of fitness to improve their functional strength and flexibility. For example, the CoreAlign system:
Assists athletes who want to target a specific muscle or movement and then advance a reciprocal activity essential for their training.
Helps people who are making the transition from rehabilitation to regular functional movements.
Improves gait and balance and coordination for people of all ages.
Provides extra assistance for people with spinal conditions such as degenerative spondylolisthesis or those with neurological impairments because it focuses on vertical alignment.
Pilates Teacher Tom McCook, founder and director of Center of Balance studio in Mountain View, CA, says "the biggest difference between CoreAlign and any other exercise system I’ve done is that it has a bigger emphasis on movements that are relevant to life--like squatting, lunging, moving, standing, walking.”
Donna G. says that in the short time that she has been taking CoreAlign classes at Holly’s Pilates Village, she already sees “improvement in my overall core strength, flexibility in my hip flexors, evidenced by more range of motion and greatly reduced pain and balance. I’m sold on the class! And the teaching is fantastic.”
Donna praises Pilates teachers Kristie Goodwin and Claire Greenlee for "always nudging and encouraging me to do each exercise correctly, with integrity. It’s really the only way to achieve what can be gained from the method of exercise—to perform the movements with excellent form."
For Kristie Goodwin, the addition of CoreAlign to her own workout showed her the great potential for students at Holly’s Pilates Village. She says that she “enjoyed the new ways I was able to move and use muscles that seemed to have gone to sleep during my normal routine. As a teacher, I use the CoreAlign to improve posture, balance and gait in my clients. I also like to use fast-paced movements to build strength and stamina. The ladder allows clients to attain some amazing full body stretches that can be focused where the individual client needs it most.