Dr. Vonda Wright

So if we think about what are we trying to get out of Pilates, we're getting neuromuscular control, we're getting core strength, we're getting some breath work and all that is beneficial.

But again, if we're trying to grow muscle and bone, take up space, be strong, it doesn't quite hit the points that we need to in order to create this new strength to bring us to that health span that women are looking for.

So do it a couple times a week.

Yeah.

Not seven days a week.

Correct.

So if she has three days that she can go to the gym.

And has, I should say, three one-hour sessions that you could have at the gym in a week over seven days.

Each one would start with mobilization, so using resistance bands, or maybe you're doing a Pilates reform or warm-up, so you're getting through the range of motion.

Just to open up the joint capsules, make sure you don't have any restrictions so that you can get really good range of motion for the movements you're going to do next.

The next movements would be… Does that stuff actually work?

Oh, yeah.

No, I spend more time mobilizing, I think, than I do actually training now, just to keep range of motion going and keep the joint capsules open.

And so that's using the heavy resistance bands to distend and distract all the joint capsules to increase range of motion.

Stretching doesn't do that.

Stretching will get to an end point of the muscle to allow you to have more flex in the muscle, but it's not actually stretching in the joint capsule to give you range of motion.

So when we talk about mobility work, we want to get into that full range of motion.

So if you have a stiffening, so as I was saying earlier about the guy and my voodoo flossing, well, voodoo floss is a way where you're creating some blood flow restriction.

Then you go in a range of motion and a blood flow restriction.

You take the voodoo band off and the blood flow comes back and you go in the range of motion, get deeper in that range of motion.