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AJW Wellness, Yeovil (2026)

25/01/2024

Day 19 of 30 (Sunday 14th) Finding my limits

With my shoulder still bothering me, it was time for another leg focus, so I selected a glutes and hips session from to challenge the rest of me. By the time I was done, I really felt the after effects of yesterday's lunges and squats with today's routine, so I added on a "post spin" stretch to ease out those muscles. I'm still focusing on not overstretching, just easing into the stretches so that my muscles feel relaxed.

18/01/2024

Day 18 of 30 (Saturday 13th) class planning
Today, I tested out a class plan that forms the basis of my strengthen and lengthen and my pure Pilates classes this next week. I'll be bringing some resistance bands for both assistance and resistance.
I added in some squats and lunges to it to give myself an additional challenge for my lower body.

18/01/2024

Day 17 of 30 (Friday 12th) Feeling the week
Really tired this morning after yesterday doing three classes and all the walking in between, my first time doing the full set so I was really pleased that this morning I didn't have to think about what move I was doing next and I could just follow along with Gemma of Shape Pilates Friday morning live class. I was still in my pyjamas too, so my camera was off. Unfortunately for me it was quite a lot of arms so some of this was a bit one-sided some of it was very much trying to take it easy on my shoulder; lots of adaptions and adjustments made and rests taken to make sure that I didn't do it to any more mischief.
After the class I took a few minutes of quiet to relax with a cat and have a reflect on the week. It's been really nice to get some Pilates done bright and early; getting the session done at the start of the day and not having to try and squeeze them in later on. It is a fantastic feeling to able to move around and get rid of all those aches and stiffness that I feel every morning when I wake. I do need to "work" on getting better rest and sleep during the week. I can't leave it all to the weekend to catch up anymore.

16/01/2024

Day 16 of 30 (Thursday) Exercise within pain free limits
I tweaked my shoulder a couple of days ago putting the Christmas tree away in the garage, deciding to lift it up over my head. This is one of these artificial trees that's six and a half foot tall, it's not a lightweight thing packed up in its box and there I go trying to hoist it above my head and slide it on top of something else in the garage and in the process of it pulled something in my shoulder. It's not very happy today so I need to take it a bit easier, but just because my shoulder is hurting does not mean I can't exercise the rest of me. I'll just need to make sure that I do nothing to make it any worse so only a bit of mobility for the shoulder putting the focus onto other parts of my body. I decided to do my strengthen and lengthen routine for this week and really try and ease everything out focus on control and on exercising within my own pain-free limits. Practice what I preach. Done.

12/01/2024

Day 15 of 30 - Pilates plus vitamin D
I had a meeting in Yeovil town centre today (Wednesday). The sun was shining, so I took my mat with me and made the most of Yeovil Country Park to find a quiet spot to get my Pilates done in the open air.
Looking up at the leaves, or along the line of trees while doing my moves felt really therapeutic. The birds singing made a wonderful sound track too, I thought I would share my point of view with you too. There's a second video in the comments too.

I am still doing my Pilates every day. I will update you all soon.

10/01/2024

Day 14 of 30 - Morning Mover
Just me this morning for Morning Movers, so I took the opportunity to set the level at a challenge for myself.
My idea with my "Morning Movers" sessions is to use Pilates exercises and principles to get the body moving in every direction ready for the day ahead. I combined together a number of exercises to make a flow - in this case Roll Up, Teaser, Spine Stretch and Shoulder Bridge (having watched it back I think I missed the opportunity for a leg stretch in there too, I might try that another day.)
My focus was on continuous movement with control. The morning outside may have been cold, but I certainly warmed up after this.
I felt really good to have got this done at the start of the day, and not trying to squeeze it in before bed.

09/01/2024

Day 13 of 30 - "beginner" abs
I had a busy day out and about today, the children loving stepping out of a shop to find it was snowing. Their excitement at something so simple was really a moment to cherish. After we got home I was keen to get some Pilates done and correct the bag carrying posture from the day. Time was short so I selected an under 20 minute Ab focused workout from ever-growing online selection. This was listed as a beginner session and I didn't read the description before I started. I would say it was challenging, but accessible for anyone. I loved the idea of rolling the back of the ribs into the mat, rather than lifting the shoulders for chest raise/roll up action. I had an added challenge of as soon as I lay on the mat my cats came to join me, Marko remained on my abdomen throughout, so I may have worked my muscles a little differently in some parts than may have been intended by Gemma. Beginner definitely does not mean easy, it just means accessible.

08/01/2024

Days 11 and 12 of 30 "Don't overstretch", and "keeping going"
Day 11 - Don't overstretch - Had a lovely message, and some information on a new approach to hip pain for women from Louise of Prehab Physio which gave me some thinking, particularly about not over stretching.
Now with Pilates many strength moves also stretch the opposing muscles, and then counter moves are used to do the opposite, so through a workout most muscles will be both strengthened and stretched. I have attended sessions where no specific warm up or cool down/stretch were given, the Pilates moves in themselves were allowed to do this. I have been taught to give a dynamic mobility focused warm up at the beginning, and a mix of dynamic, maintenance and development stretches at the end, but maybe this is not what I need in my own practice. I decided to only "relax" where I would stretch previously and only end with any finish off stretches that my body was asking for. I brought out both the small ball and light hand weights. I really enjoyed the gentle stretches of relaxing over the small ball, these "stretches" did not even reach the point of feeling any tightness in my body, just relaxing and letting the muscles return to their pre exercise length. The only additional stretch that I needed at the end was dynamic chest openers with a relax into a twisted stretch as there was little twisting movement in the session. I haven't felt any decline in my mobility from not giving those extra stretches, though it is only one day later.
Day 12 - keeping going - today (Sunday 7th Jan) has been the first day that I have not wanted to do my Pilates, I kept not fitting it in: my daughter woke before I got a morning session done, I had a busy day... When it came down to it I reminded myself that I wanted to meet this challenge and it would all be excuses in the end, so in the evening I got out a mat, found a space amongst the craziness and got it done. I do feel better having done it, physically having moved and challenged my body and mentally for sticking to it.
I have also been struggling with the social media aspect of this challenge, having to post daily particularly when learning to edit video and be on the lens side of the camera has been a challenge of its own, hence the photos of the last couple days. There will be more video of me as the challenge progresses, but for now I am focusing on the main part of the challenge/experiment - Daily Pilates sessions - and on using my social media pages as accountability and to report the findings of my experiment.

06/01/2024

Day 10 of 30 - a focus on mobility
A back story (hope you have a cup of tea at the ready)- I never had any lower back issues until I had a side impact car accident in 2007, weight fluctuations and 2 pregnancies added to the difficulties, resulting in some sciatica during pregnancy 2 in 2017/18. With physio, Pilates and other exercise I thought it was cured.
I let life get in the way, practice slipped, and the niggles came back. Then in 2021, during lockdown, I slipped on the turn of the stairs at home and landed on my side. I was really sore, but as advice was to only go to A&E for life threatening conditions I stayed home and tried to carry on best I could, but also became fearful of exercise in case I made symptoms worse. Any impact, running or jumping hurt. I would wake up and be unable to stand up straight, the same after any period of sitting. Instead, once I got straightened out for the day I would remain standing. I would lead with the same foot up every step as the pain and weakness in the other leg was too much to bear.
It took a year and a half before I was finally able to start physio, a couple months later I was able to return to Pilates. The stiffness reduced over time, but I still experienced one sided weakness including the occasional collapse, pain in my lower back and hip; and still cannot jump or run, so back to the GP.
Following a lumbar MRI scan and a physical exam the GP gave me diagnoses including some arthritis in the lumbar spine and a secondary condition of trochanter bursitis. I am awaiting assessment by the orthopaedic team.

Why is this relevant today?

One of the issues is that walking a normal 10,000 steps in a day would leave me in pain that evening and throughout the next day. Though Pilates eases it, walking any distance is not possible. I have had to schedule my life to have a rest day following any "active" day. A bit of trial and error had me discover that I can do up to 6000 steps on successive days.
Yesterday I walked over 15,000 steps, and at the end of the day I could still alternate legs when walking up the stairs. Today I feel achey, but better than I did only a couple months ago when I had walked around 10,000 steps the previous day. After a now favourited "morning mobility" session by (though I was once again interrupted by my feline friends) I felt even better.
I call that a win for daily Pilates.
"In 10 sessions you will feel the difference" - yes I do!

05/01/2024

Day 9 of 30 - ball and band
My first sessions at Lufton Community Hall were very small. This let me use the small Pilates ball that I do not often get to use, as well as resistance bands. I decided to use these for my own practice too. I particularly love the thoracic (chest and upper back opening found using the ball for the arm circles in the double leg stretch prep move, it really combats that rounding found from working at a desk or browsing on a phone.

Interested in joining my groups? Please get in touch.
I am leading the following sessions
Tuesdays
0705-0750 Morning Movers - Abbey Manor Community Centre
1000-1100 Strengthen, Lengthen & Relax - St Peters Community Centre, Westfield

Thursdays
0705-0750 Morning Movers - Abbey Manor Community Centre
1000-1100 Strengthen, Lengthen & Relax - Lufton Community Hall
1805-1850 Pure Pilates - Lufton Community Hall

04/01/2024

Day 8 of 30 - a cat on the mat
So I set up, walked out of the room, only to return to a cat on my mat. Slid him to the side, grabbed another mat and got it done.
I have been talking about layers/levels/progressions - what are they?
- Well for a start they are 3 different words for the same thing - different levels of the same exercise.
- In a group session I offer 3 different "layers" of an exercise, but there are many levels to choose from. Here I demonstrate 4 "layers" of the Single Leg Stretch that I use in beginner and intermediate sessions. Which 3 I use will depend on the level of the clients in front of me on that day.
- How do I choose which to use? Layer 1 should be achievable by everyone in the room and a preparation to the main exercise for most; layer 2 should be manageable, but challenging for most of the room; layer 3 should be an additional challenge for those that want/need it. The participants listen to their body on that day and decide as they go through the exercise whether to progress to the next layer, to stay at the same layer or to rest and stretch out.

02/01/2024

Day 7 of 30 Back to class
First session of 2024, back at St Peter's Community Centre, Westfield. It is lovely to see that so many of the ladies from my classes with In It Together - Somerset are returning this year.

I stayed on after the class to do my own session of the moves that I led in class. Please note that the videos show a snippet of the progression level of today's class. There are 2 levels below that I cover first, and each person only progresses to the next level on an individual basis as and when ready.

If you are interested in trying Pilates, and you are based in the Yeovil area, please get in touch. I am leading the following sessions:
Tuesdays
0705-0750 Morning Movers - Abbey Manor Community Centre
1000-1100 Strengthen, Lengthen & Relax - St Peter's Community Centre, Westfield

Thursdays
0705-0750 Morning Movers - Abbey Manor Community Centre
1000-1100 Strengthen, Lengthen & Relax - Lufton Community Hall
1805-1850 Pure Pilates - Lufton Community Hall

AJW Wellness

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