Work your Multifidus! Get to Pilates Class

The MULTIFIDUS muscles take pressure off the vertebral discs so the body's weight can be distributed along the spine. This muscle group keeps the spine straight & contributes to the stability of the spine. These muscles are recruited in most actions of daily living, including bending backward, sideways & even turning to the side. Studies show the multifidus muscles are activated before any action is carried out to protect the spine from injury. When a person carries an item, before moving the arm, the mutifidus muscles starts contracting prior to the actual movement of the body. The arm prepares the spine for movement to prevent it from harm. Pilates is well known to exercises the multifidus.

By: Drew Michael, Pilates instructor at Cyclelates

Inflammation and Its Affects on Aging

by Lorna Sophocleous

My clients hungrily seek advice on how they can delay the aging process, or more optimistically, “age gracefully.” While trying endless “fountain of youth” products brings discouragement, it also opens up many possibilities and allows for a far more receptive approach to the lifestyle changes that are proven to decrease the risk of disease and inflammation. This can lead to a more vibrant and active life. My clients are extremely happy to learn that the assumption that with age comes disease is actually untrue. In fact, the reverse can be true.

Chronic disease actually accelerates the aging process—and the underlying cause of most disease is inflammation. This is relatively new and exciting information, as it gives you the opportunity to be in the driver’s seat in regards to your health. Cancer, diabetes, arthritis and other diseases don’t have to “just happen” due to age. This new phenomenon is known as “inflammaging.”

While modern medicine traditionally treats the symptoms with medications that can only temporarily relieve joint pain or lower cholesterol, preventative medicine focuses on identifying the root cause of the problem. Reducing the inflammation in the body can ward off debilitating diseases like arthritis, which is inflammation of the joints, or heart disease, which is inflammation of the arteries. Dr. Tanya Edwards, Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine, writes that inflammation is now recognized as the “underlying basis of a significant number of diseases.” Although inflammation has long been linked to allergic diseases like asthma, arthritis and Crohn’s disease, Edwards points out that Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and even Parkinson’s disease may all be related to chronic inflammation in the body. Digestive disorders, stress, severe unexplained fatigue, and headaches all have their roots in inflammation.

WHAT IS INFLAMMATION?
We recognize it on the surface as swelling, local redness, and pain. But inflammation also helps the body to heal by bringing nourishment to the affected area and stimulating immune activity. The problem arises when the inflammation persists. Researchers believe than an overactive immune system floods the body with defense cells and hormones that can damage the tissues. Dietary and environmental toxins may build up in the body and activate the immune system, also keeping it highly reactive. On the bright side, addressing the issue of toxins in our body can alleviate multiple symptoms and allow you to feel well quickly and permanently. This involves making small lifestyle changes, which include eating foods that are anti-inflammatory.

FOODS TO AVOID THAT PROMOTE INFLAMMATION
• Processed foods: We live in an industrialized society where many foods are mass produced and highly processed, which means they lack the nutrients that the foods had in their natural form. The nutrients to sustain good health, and avoid inflammation that will ultimately lead to premature aging and disease are missing. Simply put, “If it’s made in a plant, don’t eat it, if it is a plant, eat it!” Processed foods are toxic; this is compounded by the growth hormones given to animals and the pesticides sprayed on our fruits and vegetables. No wonder we are inflamed!
• Sugar: Sugar is also toxic, especially in large doses. It creates a gooey, sticky mess inside the body and clogs up hormone receptors. Over time, excess sugar in the body links up with proteins, causing tissue to harden. This can lead to arthritis and even contribute to premature wrinkling. Sugar can make you look and feel old. It gives you brain fog; your pancreas releases insulin to stabilize your sugar. The adrenals are overtaxed, which can cause insulin resistance or better known as Metabolic Syndrome, leading to Diabetes II.
• Certain oils: Olive oil does not have a high smoke point and is unstable under high heat, which causes inflammation. You also lose its health benefits. When cooking, it is best to use coconut oil, ghee, peanut oil, and toasted sesame oil. Be mindful that a majority of prepared foods, including restaurant food, uses canola, soy, corn, safflower, and vegetable oil, which are all highly processed oils and toxic. Fried foods in these oils create inflammation.

TIPS FOR AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY LIFE, NATURALLY
• Avoid sugar. Eat things that have natural sugar in moderation. Sweeten things naturally with honey, molasses, Stevia, and date or coconut sugar.
• Avoid fried foods, refined carbohydrates and foods cooked in high temperatures.
• Use olive oil, hemp seed oil, sesame oil on salads and things without cooking them.
• Eat avocados, nuts and seeds for healthy fats.
• Omega 3’s are a must! Supplement from a high quality brand and eat wild salmon, sardines, which will also give you Vitamin D. Vitamin D should also be supplemented.
• If you smoke, quit now! It’s highly inflammatory.
• Eat organic fruits and vegetables.
• Maintain a healthy digestive system by incorporating fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, kimchi.
• Drink plenty of filtered water
• Get plenty of exercise.

Healthy living is fun! You can empower yourself by treating food as a powerful “drug” and controlling what you consume. This will be conducive to a healing, glowing body inside and out. We all want to live healthy lives and avoid being on medication and going to the doctor. It absolutely can be done. Follow these guidelines, a step at a time. Your life will reflect back on your efforts in the way of increased energy and improved focus, mood and immune system. You will have a positive impact on your family, friends, and whoever you come in contact with. You are well worth the effort!

Source: Peak Pilates News

Fashion Fridays! Cute Top From Zara

This fashion find is from my bestie:) You can buy it now from any Zara store and it looks AMAZING on! Super flattering in all the right places to rock your new body from Cyclelates! Wear it with skinny jeans and boots or pair it with a gold sequin skirt+liquid legs+cute booties = perfect holiday outfit. Enjoy!

If you have a fav fashion find send it to info@myspinlates.com. We will feature cute styles every Friday. xo, B

TOESOXS: The hidden use:)

Not only are they super cute and provide MAD grip on the pilates reformer, I have discovered another amazing use for these bad boys! Wear these supa cute socks with your winter boots flat or high heel for max comfort. Especially in high heel boots the socks do not allow your foot to move back and forth providing a super comfy ride for you tootsies:) The nice grippers lock you foot in place and provide extra cushion with the grippers. I discovered this phenomenon this weekend when I wore my super sexy high heel boots with no pain:) Thanks Toesox! Helping me inside and out of the studio. Pick some up the next time you are in the studio. We have more colors and sizes behind the desk. Enjoy!

Other TOESOX Benefits:
Toe socks help spread your toes to strengthen foot muscles and increase blood circulation. Stronger feet improve posture and balance. Get healthy, happy feet in ToeSox, they're like exercise for your feet.
Wearing regular athletic socks draws the toes together, making them act as one unit. The purpose of the toes is to spread and anchor to the floor to help the body balance and stay aligned. By restricting this natural movement, you are inhibiting the body’s design and function. When toes spread, blood circulation increases and other muscles are activated. The human foot is a remarkably well-design instrument with 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons and ligaments.

The action of spreading the toes signals the shins, which signal the thighs, hips, and back. The smaller foot muscles, like the abductors, are commonly atrophied due to lack of use. When the toes spread out, these small muscles are used and strengthened, promoting foot health, cell renewal, and full-body support. ToeSox are exercise for your feet even while wearing shoes.

Replace your socks with toe socks to enhance your foot health and wellness.

Calorie Burning Tips - Hello Cyclelates!

CARDIO SPRINT PYRAMID
This adds sprint interval training for a fast and fun workout. Here, after each burst of hard work, you'll recover for the same amount of time.
How to do it:
•Warm up for 15 minutes, adding a few 20-second bursts at the end to prepare for the workout.
•Run, bike, or row: During the work periods, you should have a rate of preceived exertion (RPE of 8 to 10, followed by 30 seconds of active recovery.

Build and taper the workout like this:
30 seconds sprint/30 seconds recover
1 minute sprint/1 minute recover
2 minutes sprint/2 minutes recover
4 minutes sprint/4 minutes recover
2 minutes sprint/2 minutes recover
1 minute sprint/1 minute recover
30 seconds sprint/30 seconds recover

•Finish with a 10-minute cooldown.
Bonus benefit: This major calorie-burning interval training plan gives you the best of both worlds—high-octane cardio and muscle-sculpting sprints.

“Heartless Monitor” - Lite Lesson Week Two by Devon Sasser

Devon will be documenting her experience as she goes through our body transformation package! Stay tuned for her results and story! Go Devon!!! This is her second "Lite Lesson"

I have a love/hate relationship with my heart rate monitor. I love it because it helps me maximize my workout, but hate it, because it has been a rocky start tracking my results.

My Guru (aka David Kimmerle) wanted me to wear the monitor to see how many calories I burned. Being technologically challenged, it took a good week before I realized I was pushing the wrong buttons which deleted my entire workout results. The second week I got the buttons right, but my results seemed weird. For instance, an entire 45-50 minute spin class only averaged around 300 calories burned. That outcome could not be correct; Bambi promised me I would burn between 500-700 calories!
Next, I was suppose to monitor my results for a whole day’s worth of activity, so I positioned that uncomfortable chest strap under my bra and wore it for the entire day. My chest strap must have moved sometime that evening, because I noticed that the display read zero after 15 hrs, and I only burned 1827 calories. I was getting pretty frustrated at this point and dubbed the gadget a Heartless Monitor for all the grief it was causing me.
Take two resulted in 2338 calories over 16 ½ hrs including a 45 minute spin class. I thought “that looks better” and promptly told David my results. He informed me that he wanted my results for a 24 hr period. Okay, Okay, on my third attempt, the monitor produced 3448 calories burned within 23 hrs 30 minutes (30 mins off for a shower), which included two back to back workouts of pilates and spin.
“Gotcha” I shouted, this should be good, so I decided to take the next day off from exercise to compare calories burned with exercise and without exercise.
Results: 3045 calories burned; what? You mean to tell me that doing almost 2 hrs of spin and pilates classes only resulted in a difference of 400 calories burned? I cried to Bambi, and she assured me that those numbers couldn’t be correct. She fiddled with the adjustments, and even mentioned that I might want to look into investing in a new one.
Since then I have been doing a lot of research about heart rate monitors and training zones to determine how to achieve my goals.
I always heard that you burned a higher proportion of calories from fat during low-intensity exercise at longer periods of time. This concept never made sense to me. Shouldn’t calories burned at any intensity level still be calories burned? I finally found an article that agreed with me. According to this article the reality is that you do burn a higher proportion of calories from fat during low-intensity exercise...but, you burn more total calories during high-intensity exercise. So I was half right, regardless, I am concerned with total calories burned when it comes to my weight loss, not the percentage of fat or carbs used. Great, now, I just need to find a heart rate monitor that accurately tracks calories burned, so I am on a quest for an upgrade.
While researching, I have seen a lot of brands and models. It looks like Polar, Garmin, and Timex are among the most popular, but don’t count out other brands if they have the features on your “wish list”. All models come in what I call a Honda “Civic Model” and an “Accord Model” (one that is more basic, and one with a little more). Also, there are a lot more models in between and ones designed for particular sports training such as cycling, ironman training, and running. In addition, there are wireless devices where you don’t need a chest strap, not to mention, with the new smartphone craze, there are numerous apps that integrate the monitor with your phone.
I didn’t really want a wireless model; because everything I read said that a chest strap and wrist monitor are more accurate. But for all you tekkies, the apps are cool and help track all your information, results, and compare workouts with graphs, etc. right on your phone. The non-app devices also have the capability to do those things, but you have to upload the information into tracking software usually supplied from the company and track results online (i.e. polarpersonaltrainer.com).
So, have I found the perfect fit for myself and my training needs? The jury is still out but I do know I want the following in a device:
Nothing too top of the line, as I am not a professional athlete and some of the features would be underutilized.
It must show my heart rate ranges in zones 1-5 (1 being the easiest and 5 being maximum), since Cyclelates is trying to incorporate “Zone Training” into more of their rides.
The option to upload my information and track results. Hey, I am not a tekkie, but I am a math geek (accountant by day), so I like all the charts and graphs.
The option to be used as a stopwatch and possibly GPS enabled, which would be useful if I trained again for another race event.
And last but not least, it must be appealing and sporty looking. I am still a female after all.
I will definitely let you know when I pick the winner. And despite all the headaches in the beginning, it is a handy tool to have in order to take your workouts to the next level, so think about investing. Come on, this is Hollywood, CA; anyone who is anyone has one.

Devon Sasser resides in North Hollywood with her mother and fur roommates. She considers herself a recovering pessimist, and her favorite pastimes include cynicism, smart arse remarks, and telling funny stories.

Have you Taken the JP Challenge? Enter Today!

Joseph Pilates, the celebrated fitness pioneer, made some pretty intense claims about his stretching-and-resistance-based exercise system. Sure, you’ve seen the gorgeous dividends of Pilates in the bodies of stars like Madonna and Jenifer Aniston, but did you know that its founder made specific, quantifiable assertions about results?
Indeed, 66 years ago, Joseph Pilates made a potent promise about his utterly unique workout: “In 10 sessions, you will feel the difference. In 20, you will see the difference. And in 30, you'll be on your way to having a whole new body.”
Cyclelates by HBHM Studios, a boutique exercise studio is putting Pilates’s “whole new body” claim to the test with a scientifically verified 30-session challenge.
Hollywood’s Cyclelates, as the name implies, specializes in a killer hybrid group class of Reformer-based Pilates (30 minutes) and Cycling (20 minutes). Clients are in and out in about 55 minutes—a huge boon to time-pressed Angelinos. Most impressively, owner Bambi Martin has already begun noticing amazing results among her members.
“The first change I noticed was in the shoulders, abs, and general posture of all my clients. I realized I have to document these changes since so many clients are seeing such strong results,” says Martin.
Since Cyclelates is scrupulously devoted to teaching Joseph Pilates’s original principals, his quote came to mind, and Martin launched the “JP Joseph Pilates Challenge.” Martin decided to use the exercise master’s own words to inspire her clients. Thus, she created the challenge: Clients who produced the best results in 30 classes will win a free month’s membership.
The Challenge: Put Joseph Pilatesʼs quote to the test, and discover whether a “whole new body” is yours after 30 classes. Students are encouraged to attend 30 Pilates Reformer or Cyclelates sessions as quickly as possible, for faster results clients are encouraged to complete the challenge in two months.
The Prize: One month unlimited classes at Cyclelates by HBHM Studios and, naturally, a hot new body!
The Rules: Members who wish to participate must submit a “before” picture and allow a Cyclelates by HBHM Studios representative take measurements of their arms, waistline, hips, and thighs before their first class. Contestants must check in via Facebook and log each class they complete. On the 15th of every month, the studio will select a winner via an online voting tool. At the end of each competitor’s 30 classes, each participant’s class visits—as well as diet and other tips—will be on display for all members.
Monthly Winner: Each month’s champion will be selected based on a combination of their measurement results and online votes by other members. The monthly winner will be featured in our newsletter and will receive one month of unlimited classes.
Joseph Pilates was right about a lot of things, Cyclelates by HBHM Studios will find out if his most inspiring message was true; check out our results at www.myspinlates.com!

Meet Lulu! Check out her Pilates Workshop Classes on Saturday and Sunday 12pm-3pm!

Lulu Martinez is a bilingual California native that grew up in a health and fitness orientated family. She became a massage therapist due to her fascination with the human anatomy and holistic medicine. She studied at The National Holistic Institute in Studio City and has been a Certified Massage Therapist for 10 years. Due to a back injury she became interested in Pilates as a form of physical therapy. The combination of massage and Pilates can transform your body while eliminating pain. She did her research on Risa Sheppard and was impressed with her innovative Pilates techniques and knowledge. This led her to train at Sheppard's Method in Westwood, CA. She has been teaching Pilates mat and reformer classes for over 2 years now. She particularly connects with clients with injuries and her goals are to see people not only feel better but become stronger. She is enthusiastic about challenging her clients and seeing them love their bodies. She became a runner due to the strength she gained from Pilates. She is an avid animal lover and loves to talk about cooking, healthy recipes, hiking, and music.
To reserve a spot in Lulu's weekend classes email info@myspinlates.com to be added to the list. She has the following schedule on Saturday and Sunday!

Pilates Reformer - 12pm-1pm
Pilates Reformer - 1pm-2pm
Pilates Reformer - 2pm-3pm

Single classes are $30.00, packages coming soon!

Meet Cyclelates by HBHM Studios

Papa's got a brand new bag..Or name in this case!

In order to gain stronger brand control for future projects Spinlates by HBHM Studios will be changing to Cyclelates by HBHM Studios.

Same great studio in a hot new dress! We will still have the same staff and web address: www.myspinlates.com. We will also have www.cyclelates.com. Thanks for all your patience and support as we will be changing the signs and brochure in the studio very soon:) I am so appreciative of your continued support!
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Bambi