Happy Friday! It's your last chance to catch Tiffany Nork's bodywork before she goes on maternity leave! This week we're giving away 1, 60-minute BB; must be used by June 30, 2013. For a chance to win, please leave a comment below telling why YOU need one. One winner will be chosen at random on Monday, so you have three days to enter. Rules: One entry per person; Thank you, and good luck!
Also, TIf is extending a discount starting tomorrow: $15 off any 60-minute session during the month of June (one per client).
Image of Tif working on Lauren via Johanna
Jump in and get Lithe! Our June, 3 week Immersion course begins next week, and it's the final Immersion course we will hold until September.
Rittenhouse
Mondays & Wednesdays 8:15pm-9:15pm, beginning June 3rd
Old City
Tuesday & Thursday 5:15pm, beginning June 4th
Main Line
Tuesday & Thursday 8pm-9pm, beginning June 4th
If
our three week Immersion course doesn't work for you, you can opt to
take Lithe 101 classes. Call 215-545-5144 (Rittenhouse) or 215-625-4919
(Old City) or 484-416-3323 (Main Line)
Image of Lithe Instructor Jaime Powers wearing Lithe via Dom
Check out Lithe Instructor Danielle Ingerman in See-Saw on the jetty in Longport, NJ. Beautiful, Danielle!
Image of Danielle via Aaron
Come Lithe with me in the beautiful Garden Shed at Terrain! Watch nature do her thing while we stop, clap, sweat and sculpt with a special Lithe for Terrain version of our ever popular, Rock Steady. Reserve here
Images via Terrain at Styers
Love this! Lithe on Location is part of Hotel Monaco's wellness program and our class is free for guests and is open to local Kimpton Inner Circle and InTouch Members, too (first class is on the house). All you have to do is call the hotel by 8PM the night before to reserve your spot!
Images via Philly.com
Watershed!
What you need: Gloves!
Props: Pom Bands, Spiky ball
Clothing Considerations: I would wear pants--cropped or full length is fine. Avoid shorts because the spiky ball will leave marks on your bare skin
Sweat Factor: Prepare to get a little sweaty. Not drenched, but a good all-over sheen.
For those of you that have been Lithing for a few years, you are probably familiar with Watershed. It used to be a low key, theraputic, sculpting class where you would massage a small, spiky ball on various parts of your lower body--between sets at the barre and sculpting on the mat--to release fat-trapping fluids via the lymphatic system. Hence the name, Watershed.
As with all Lithe classes, it was a workout, but it was also a bit of a break from the norm of intense cardio and marathon sculpting sets. I used to chase it around the schedule, because it was perfect for those days when I didn't feel like I could ramp up the intensity normally required for Lithe classes, but still wanted a workout. Now, things have changed. In Lauren's ever-evolving quest to give no one a free pass, no matter what the class, Watershed has ramped things up a bit.
You begin the class at the barre, sharing a set of Pom bands with your neighbor--meaning you have one band in one arm and your partner is gripping its mate. You then begin the process of absolutely exhausting one leg (and getting your heart rate way up). Double Jump Squats and every possible Lithe exercise (lunge, curtsy, sumo, hover) all in one combination. Then, yep you guessed it, you do it on the other side too.
Our instructor, Joellyn, explained that while a lot of the barre work we do in Lithe is about muscle exhaustion, it is particularly important for Watershed. The more warmed up and primed our muscles, the more effective the next part--which hasn't changed--rolling around on a small rubber ball covered in spikes.
You use your own body weight and arm strength to keep yourself lifted as you roll the ball up and down the back and front of your legs, which helps to not only loosen up and relieve our often tight and tired legs, but also to smooth them out. In fact, if you take Watershed a few weeks in a row, you can see a noticeable difference in those dents and dimples we all hate so much. But you know what they say about beauty--it's effing painful, and those balls are no exception. It's totally common place to hear a few choice words fly around the studio when it's time to rub those spikes onto the tight and tender IT band--the long band that goes from hip to knee. But don't let that scare you. It's the good kind of hurt. The kind that you feel when a good massage therapist, like Tif, gets into a tight spot on your back and works it out. And when else will you loosen those muscles?
Then you flip it over and end the class in what seems like an eternal butt series. You work those glutes to exhaustion, and then use the spiky ball to get after them too.
Despite the fact that Watershed isn't as completely low key as it used to be, I still love it. It's nice to get the heart rate going, and then get down and deep into the legs and glutes in an effort to get rid of the appearance of cellulite and relieve tightness. It's definitely still a departure from typical classes, and I think the adjustments only add a calorie-burning bonus to how effective it already was. For my part, I will still be chasing it around the schedule.
See you in class!
This week, make it your goal to find (and know) your neutral! If you're not sure, or if you're even a little bit confused, ask an instructor or get your hot buns back into a Lithe 101.
We're all about muscle balance at Lithe. Lithe will do amazing things to your body, but if your form is all wrong, you're not going to get anything good out of the workout.
Does your back hurt? I can see why. Recently, I've been stopping just about every class at the barre and the bands to re-explain neutral spine placement. Please don't over-tip the martini, ladies! If you're Lithing properly, you're only tucking in a few positions throughout our workouts. Even then, you want to tuck properly by taking your imprint further by squeezing your glutes, rather than lengthening out your lower back and jacking your hips to your ribs (via your lumbar muscles). You want to work (mostly) in neutral and imprint when you Lithe. Over time, over-tucking will land your buns right into Physical Therapy. Why? Because over-tucking lengthens the lumbar muscles and creates muscular imbalances.
Understanding how to find your neutral spine position is a fundamental part of Lithing correctly - whether you are at the bands, barre or on the mat. "Neutral spine" refers to the position of your spine when it is naturally curved throughout the neck (cervical), middle (thoracic), and lower (lumbar) spinal regions - Just like it is when you are standing. When these three curves are naturally aligned, your spine is in its strongest position, whether you are standing, sitting, or lying down.
To work in neutral, do not flatten/press your back into the mat, round out the lower back during lunges, squats, or grip the glutes and hip-flexors while thrusting your pelvis forward during wide second. Instead, keep the natural curves of your back present throughout the workout, while contracting your abs and squeezing your glutes. This works the back muscles and the abdominal muscles simultaneously, which strengthens your entire core. You can maintain neutral spine position in exercises performed on your back, but also in those requiring you to stand, sit, or be on your hands and knees.
Wanna practice? You can even work on finding neutral (AKA balancing the martini) throughout the day. Whether you're waiting in line, sitting at your desk or lying down. Maintaining a neutral spine can help prevent any back pain caused by misalignment and will really power up your Lithe practice!Image of Lithe Instructors Nicole Sewall, Bari Rosenthal & Amy Larkin via Dom
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