Pilates Q & A with Heath & Pek from the Western Force

We asked Heath Tessman and Pek Cowan a few questions about their Pilates experience..

What did you think of Pilates before you started 18 months ago?  Heath: Haha, honestly I thought it was something that was geared towards older women as an easier form of exercise... Pek: I knew it would probably be something that I would benefit from but wasn't overly keen on it.  What did you find the most challenging part of starting Clinical Pilates initially? Heath: Early on, the most challenging part for me was basically needing to teach my body to move again. After spending many years working hard & getting strong in certain planes some fundamental movements were a real struggle. Particularly exercises that isolated smaller muscles that I wasn't isolating in my regular training.  Pek: Personally it was finding out and learning how much work I actually needed. I was naturally strong globally but once I was asked to isolate smaller muscle groups and have awareness of what my body was doing... that took some time.

Since starting Clinical Pilates at PROmotion what aspects of being a professional athlete has it helped with? Heath: The biggest change for me has been in my recovery. Being able to bounce back quicker and train at a higher intensity sooner means we get a lot more out of our training week. That and the strength I am developing through performing different movements.  Pek: The biggest for me is definitely my awareness of my body shape and posture while doing exercise from specific Pilates movements to everyday bending and normal training.

Any advice on managing injuries to our younger athletes at PROmotion? Heath: The greatest form of injury management is doing as much extra work as you can to prevent being injured in the first place. In my early days, I applied nearly all of my time to being stronger in the larger muscle groups. Now, I have made the balance between heavy lifting and 'prehab' work a 50/50 split, meaning I devote nearly equal time to working smaller stabilising groups & re-working the strength of my movement as I do to lifting heavily & being globally strong.  Pek: To learn how to be able to target problem areas as well as identify problem areas through consistency in sessions. As well being able to replicate that while while away with simple but effective exercises you learn.