30 Minutes - Balance Challenge15 Minuets - Floor Work for arms, abs, and legs
Katalin Rodriguez-Zamiar has three black belts and over 21 years experience in the martial arts and boxing. By looking at her, you would not think "boxing" you would be thinking ballerina or perfectly fit dancer. This program uses ballet exercises that require extreme focus and control. Katalin's creativity is exceptional and her instruction style is exquisite. She introduced me to so many new moves, I can hardly describe them all. Her floor work has some beautiful exercises that will require you to have a good basic core of strength already in place.
From the very start of this program I was pretty excited because after doing so many Pilates workouts, I knew most of the floor/standing moves and the focus here is on standing postures and exercises. Yet, they are exercises with a new creative twist. It is even difficult to describe the exercises because they are truly more like a standing dance. Imagine standing and then raising your leg and then moving your body in interesting directions to test your balance. I think she is mainly focusing on the "tendu en croix" and "degage" with plenty of front and back sweeps where you are standing on one leg and moving the other leg fairly quickly back and in front of you. So, that is the basis and there is a lot of center position focus. The lunges mostly go to the side or are more like a courtesy. I found that they were very easy on the knees and I could actually do them! Yes! Normally lunges are my least favorite, but these were like "dance lunges" which moved softly to the side.
The balance element had my full attention. Unless you have been doing Yoga or Pilates for a few years, the balance exercises might really frustrate you. This is definitely not for beginners because you truly do need to know all the basic ballet moves which move at a rather rapid pace in this video.
Katalin is a perfect instructor. Not only does she never make a mistake throughout the entire workout, her cues are right on target and she has a calming beautiful voice. You feel nurtured all while she seems to gently guide you into some rather intense exercises. Your mind is so intrigued with the creativity that you forget you are exercising your body into a fully body sweat.
Standing Pilates Blend is Intermediate/Advanced for sure! I love it and can """HIGHLY""" recommend it to anyone who loves Pilates and wants to move to what I'd call the "third" level. The first being when you learn the moves. The second when you accomplish the exercises. The third when you start to get creative and take each exercise to a new level of intensity. The camera is also in motion and switches from a group exercise situation to individual segments for instruction by crashing waves or a beach scene. This is a visually interesting workout which seems to almost hypnotize you with beauty so you don't even realize you are working as hard as you are.
This is a "must-have" workout for anyone who wants to improve their balance. It will also tone your entire body and you will feel your abs and butt tighten and lift even after just one workout if you have been working out on a regular basis.
If you are just starting with Pilates, try Winsor Pilates, Karen Voight and Jennifer Kries first. Those will give you a great overview and teach you the poses and exercises you need to know to master this workout.
Also highly recommended: Jennifer Kries' Pilates Plus Method: The Unique Combination of Yoga, Dance, and Pilates- a book that explains the exercises in detail and also have inspirational quotes.
~The Rebecca Review
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Method - Standing Pilates Blend
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