Confession: I am NOT a morning person. I hate getting up early, I really do. It takes me a while to get moving (I’m a big fan of the snooze button), and when I finally do drag my butt out of bed I feel tired and grumpy. I’m trying to work on this. That being said, on a Saturday in August I left my house at 7:30 in the morning and drove 2 hours to Santa Barbara to attend a workshop at Core Fitness Training — and I am so glad I did!

The workshop is a production of Body Arts and Science, International (BASI) and is called Pilates for the Mature Client. The PMA has approved this workshop for 6 continuing education credits. It was presented by Sheri Long, and I can’t say enough about how awesome she is. When I was emailing the studio to ask questions about the workshop, I was told that Sheri’s passion would come through from the first “Hello.” And that is the truth! Her immense love and respect for the senior community was evident from the moment she opened her mouth. The workshop was six hours long but I can honestly say that the time flew by. Sheri does a great job of providing information without being too overwhelming. She likes to take breaks to give us all a chance to practice what we’ve just learned and to get our bodies moving, which is great if you’re the type of person that learns by doing. During these breaks, Sheri will walk around the room and spend a few minutes with everyone, correcting form, answering questions, and giving support or encouragement.

Sheri spoke about the aging process and how an inactive lifestyle can impact 4 key areas: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Our goal as Pilates instructors is to incorporate exercises that focus on these areas for our elderly clients. Sheri shared and demonstrated exercises that are designed to help our senior clients:

• Improve cardiovascular condition
• Improve muscular strength
• Maintain or improve flexibility
• Improve coordination and balance
• Encourage relaxation, decrease depression and memory loss

She also discussed conditions that are likely to be present amongst elderly clients, contraindications for these conditions, and appropriate exercises and modifications. Specifically, Sheri demonstrated exercises that would be useful if a senior client had any of the following:

• Disc conditions
• Vertebral conditions
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteopenia/Osteoporosis
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

The workshop was especially helpful and inspiring because I recently left my job in the South Bay and took a position at a physical therapy office closer to home. The transition has been a challenging one for many reasons, the biggest of which is that the client demographic is almost the exact opposite of what I’d been used to. In the South Bay, most of my clients were healthy, physically fit women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, who were seeking an active and challenging workout. These ladies wanted to work up a sweat; they wanted to burn calories and exercise their muscles to the point of fatigue. By contrast, at the physical therapy office, I see a lot of people in their 50s, 60s, or older (I have a client turning 90 this year…NINETY!). The majority of these clients have some sort of injury or condition, and they just want me to help them move their bodies in a safe, pain-free way. It’s totally different.

I’ll admit that at first I was at a loss as to how to work with the older population. I had never worked with people who were so severely limited in their movement, and I was terrified — of hurting someone, of not having enough exercises to fill the hour, of not having enough experience or knowledge, etc. Fortunately, I was able to spend a lot of time observing the other instructors with their clients, which helped me plan my own sessions. Still, that first month was a challenge and I spent hours on the computer researching anything and everything I could to improve my teaching. When I saw an ad for the Pilates for the Mature Client workshop, I jumped at the chance to learn even more.

Below are a few of my favorite exercises from the Pilates for the Mature Client workshop. I encourage you to give them a try, and to take the workshop with Sheri. You won’t regret it!

Standing Single-Leg Footwork on Reformer (start with 1 spring): a great balance challenge for young and old clients alike! Stand at the end of the reformer, at the spring side. Feet are hip distance apart to start. Place one foot against the edge of the carriage and exhale as you press the carriage out. Inhale on the return. The idea is to hold your body steady and move just the leg. You can do this on the heel of the foot or on the toes. My advice would be to start slow, with your client holding on to something (a gondola pole, the wall, your hand). A more advanced version would be to place the hands on the hips or open the arms to a T position or goalpost arms.

Single-Leg Footwork on Reformer

Extend the leg without shifting hips/pelvis.

Spinal Articulation with Long Box on Reformer (1 spring): this is excellent for helping an older client understand articulation of the spine–and it’s a great way to warm up the body and practice breathing, too. Have your client sit on the edge of the reformer with their feet in the well. Hands are on either side of the Long Box. Exhale as you articulate the spine forward. Pause and take an inhale. Exhale as you return, working your way up the spine from the tailbone to the top of the head. You can also do this exercise with a flat back, hinging forward from the hip as you inhale and exhale as you return. Finally, you can combine the two and flat back forward on the inhale, articulating up through the spine as you exhale. Have your client move with precision and control, focusing on engagement of the core and the movement of the spine.

Spinal Articulation with Long Box

Exhale as you articulate forward, abs engaged.

Gluteal/Hamstring Stretch on Reformer (1 spring): lying supine on the reformer with one foot in the strap, cross the unstrapped ankle over the opposite knee and bring the strapped leg to tabletop. This is basically a figure-4 stretch, but having your leg in the strap increases the stretch because of the added weight of the spring. Hold for 30 seconds and then go into your hamstrings by extending the leg in the strap straight up to the ceiling, and placing the unstrapped foot on the floor. Be careful when you lower the free foot into the well–watch out for the springs! If your client can’t reach the floor, place a box or stool in the well, or have them place their foot on the footbar.

Gluteal Stretch on Reformer

Hamstring Stretch on Reformer

Have you run into challenges with older clients? Have you come up with modifications or variations that work well for this population? Tell me about them 🙂