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Strength Through Pilates
EMPOWER YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY
My goal is to aid in you developing your strength, flexibility, and coordination, through Pilates. I will help you improve your quality of movement, with maximum efficiency and minimum stress to the body. The focus of each session will be building strength, restoring joint mobility, and improving alignment and flexibility. You will experience challenging sequences of movements designed to make you feel stronger and better connected to your body. Together, we will help you to build a balanced, strong, and mobile body.
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MISSION
To ensure that you feel better walking out the door than you did walking in. Everything else flows from that
Who is Tracy Bohland?
Love Pilates? Me too! My years in the industry allow me to create a personalized sequence that will challenge and inspire you. Focus will be on building strength, restoring joint mobility, improving alignment and flexibility. You will experience challenging sequences of movements designed to make you stronger and better connected to your body.​​
My journey into Pilates began at Orange Coast College, in Costa Mesa CA. After a lifetime of childhood ballet, I went to petition for a full ballet course at OCC. The instructor was an exquisite 70+ woman named Kay; she explained the class was full and told me to get in on the school’s reformer until there was space.
Reformer? Pilates? I had never heard of it. I was instant love with how it made me feel. When I transferred and graduated from San Francisco State University, I loved my after college job, but it was administrative and I longed for movement. In the 90s, San Francisco was a hub for Pilates breaking into the mainstream.
I began at a small studio with an amazing women on the forefront. From there I went to a Body of Work, Sonoma, and received a certification; Intensive Teacher Training with Madeline Black, a world re-nound movement/Pilates specialist. Other workshops and certifications followed. It remains my passion, I love practicing and I love teaching Pilates.
What is Pilates?
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Pronounced (“Pih-lah-teez”) is a unique method of whole-body conditioning. This exercise method develops strength, flexibility, and coordination while improving postural alignment. In Pilates, movements originate from the inside out working the deep musculature of the body to stabilize and support the spine. We emphasize quality of movement with maximum efficiency and minimum stress to the body. Conscious breathing patterns bring the mind and movement together, directing energy through the body in a fluid manner.
The focus of each session is building strength, restoring joint mobility and improving alignment and flexibility. In each session you will experience challenging sequences of movements designed to make you feel longer, stronger and better connected to your body. The ultimate goal of each session is to build a better balanced, strong, and mobile body and to foster ease of movement for life
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Paducah Pilates Utilizes the Pilates Reformer
​Pilates Apparatus … Reformer/Tower / ChairSpringsThese apparatus combine all elements of Pilates to mobilize your spine, strengthen your core; improve your flexibility and balance while minimizing stress on your joints.The spring system will stretch and lengthen, leaving you more mobile in your whole body.The equipment supports the body to ensure proper stabilization and positioning while providing added resistance for strengthening and elongating.
The springs are magical, you’ll feel grounded, connected, and challenged as you find new mobility in your joints. You will increase bone density and strengthen your muscles.
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What are the benefits of Pilates?
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Practicing Pilates regularly offers numerous benefits for both physical and mental well-being. Here are some key advantages:
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Improved Core Strength:
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Pilates emphasizes core stability, which enhances overall strength and balance.
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Enhanced Flexibility:
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Regular practice helps to stretch and lengthen muscles, increasing overall flexibility.
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Better Posture:
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Pilates promotes awareness of body alignment, which can lead to improved posture and reduced strain on the spine.
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Injury Prevention:
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By strengthening muscles and improving flexibility, Pilates can help prevent injuries, especially in athletes.
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Increased Body Awareness:
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The focus on breath and movement cultivates a deeper awareness of your body, enhancing coordination and control.
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Stress Relief:
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The mindful nature of Pilates can promote relaxation and reduce stress levels.
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Improved Balance and Coordination:
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The exercises often challenge your balance, leading to improved coordination and stability.
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Enhanced Athletic Performance:
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Many athletes incorporate Pilates to complement their training, as it improves strength and flexibility.
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Rehabilitation:
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Pilates can be therapeutic and is often used in rehabilitation settings to help recover from injuries.
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Boosted Energy Levels:
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Regular physical activity, including Pilates, can increase energy and combat fatigue. Incorporating Pilates into your routine can lead to a healthier, stronger, and more balanced body and mind.
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The History of Joseph Pilates
Joseph H. Pilates was born in 1883 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Pilates was a sickly child and suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, and he dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength. Besides skiing frequently, he began studying body-building, yoga, "cong fu" (probably what we now call qigong), and gymnastics. By the age of 14, he was fit enough to pose for anatomical charts. Pilates came to believe that the "modern" life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. He ultimately devised a series of exercises and training-techniques and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods properly.
Pilates was originally a gymnast, diver, and bodybuilder, but when he moved to England in 1912, he earned a living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and self-defense trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. Nevertheless, the British authorities interned him during World War I along with other German citizens in an internment camp on the Isle of Man. During this involuntary break, he began to intensively develop his concept of an integrated, comprehensive system of physical exercise, which he himself called "Contrology." It is told that these inmates survived the 1918 flu pandemic due to their good physical shape. After the war (WWI), he returned to Germany and collaborated with important experts in dance and physical exercise such as Rudolf Laban. In Hamburg, he also trained police officers. When he was pressured to train members of the German army, he left his native country, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and emigrated to the United States.
The year 1925 is the approximate time when Pilates migrated to the United States. On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s. His method, which he and Clara originally called "Contrology," related to encouraging the use of the mind to control muscles. It focuses attention on core postural muscles that help keep the human body balanced and provide support for the spine.​​​In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles.
​Physical or Medical issues?
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We all have our particular health concerns or issues, be it an old sports injury or a tender lower back from long hours of driving. It is important to communicate any pre-existing medical issues before your session. I will tailor the exercises to accommodate your needs. This is particularly true for people recovering from injuries, with chronic muscular-skeletal issues, or are recovering from surgical or medical procedures. Dress should be comfortable. Wear loose-fitting or non-restrictive clothing and avoid accessories that could impede your movement. Classes and sessions are all barefoot or with grip socks.
Sessions are not a, “tune out and push through it”; instead TUNE IN to your bodies and experience the power and potential of their mind-body connection. I am looking to empower each client with a solid movement foundation, and then systematically layer more challenges that maximimize your movement potential for your unique set of circumstances and goals.