A variety of tools to challenge and transform

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I use small equipment routinely and will supply enough for each class participant, however if you would prefer to bring your own please feel free. 

I use the following items to make classes interesting and challenging.  

Every class is different.

• Weighted bars
• Magic rings 
• Weighted toning balls 
• Small (9 inch) squishy Ball 
• Looped resistance bands
• 2m resistance bands
• Balance pads
• Foam rollers 
• Blocks 
• Straps 
• Dowels and poles 

I am on a mission to add load to all my classes - whether via body weighted exercises or specifically designed weighted equipment. These bars are a humble 2 or 4kg, but boy they make you work harder when you combine the control, precision and challenge of multi-planar Pilates based moves together with offset positions and one sided loading.  There is a reason clients love them because they can feel the whole body benefits. By simply adding a modest load to your exercise regularly you invest in your longterm stability, strength and stamina.

Easy to hold for adding the all important load and resistance to your repetitions to challenge you more and encourage progressive changes, with some instability thrown in for good measure. There is no escaping the longterm proprioceptive and strengthening benefits of adding load to your workouts. You'll be surprised how heavy 2lbs feels when you've been holding it for a while!   

A versatile and popular class addition for challenging stability, encouraging greater muscle activation, enabling more efficient alignment and stimulating the brain-body connection - ultimately this squishy ball makes you work harder and with much more control. 

To help with comfortable positioning and alignment. These can make a world of difference so you can surprise yourself and reach positions you thought you couldn't. They can help you to progress your ranges of mobility without overloading or causing discomfort!

I hear it all the time "my balance is awful".  Proprioception is a vital contributor to ensuring longterm health, strength and injury prevention. As it declines with age, working on our motor control and balance is even more important if we can remember the fifties, sixties and seventies!  I am very passionate about using classes to activate those signals between our brain and bodies that help us maintain our balance, stability and control. These quality foam pads do just that, challenge those automatic signals and get us to concentrate thus working harder but with control and confidence! These pads are much safer to use than traditional wobble boards, clients absolutely love them as they can achieve much more than they thought. A whole class exercising on one of these whether standing or on the floor and you will know you've reaped the benefits!

They come in all forms long, looped, with handles and from light to extra heavy - there is so much variety.  I tend to use 2m lengths for whole body workout benefits and looped bands for convenience when targeting specific areas.  Resistance band training is effective because your muscles are under sustained tension. This generates a constant feedback mechanism between the brain and the body requiring continual focus as you move while controlling and maintaining tension and form at the same time. The upshot is you work harder and recruit a wider range of muscles including the all important slow twitch, deep stabilisers of the body. These guys are all about core strengthening and whole body exercise!

Not the Lord of the Rings type but pretty close - it's a ring to rule them all definitely! This beauty really gives good value. Designed as an effective piece of resistance equipment it makes you work harder as you have to remain in control. Offering flexible material, it provides a variable amount of resistance, dependent on how hard it is squeezed. You can use it in all types of positions to target specific areas and needs.

Just the mere mention of "foam roller" can bring people out in a sweat!  But it really is an amazing piece of equipment covering all bases.  They challenge stability, control, strength - you can lie, kneel and sit on them, wield them during movements, balance with them, create motor control opportunities.  Used as a fascial rolling tool they can help target specific areas to reduce discomfort after exercise and to aid warm ups.  They can help restore "normal" during cool downs, can aid positioning to achieve lengthening poses, increase flexibility and improve joint mobility.  A master of everything really.

The humble broomstick although posh Pilates speak refers to dowels or gondolas, it is basically a pole.  A versatile piece of kit that creates feedback between the brain and the body. It is unwieldily (and can be weighted) so can provide a challenging exercise while having to control it, thus stimulates a greater muscular engagement and need for stability. It provides a balance aide to encourage reassurance and increase stamina and range. It helps build flow, precision and awareness of movement.  It can help retrain joint mechanics and integration.