Strength for Today September 2006

by K. Landry
Photos by R. Byrne

An Antioch professional has been a trainer of champions. Now she brings her skills and experience to the service of East County residents who want to get the most out of life through fitness and strength

I’m a Pilates professional. My greatest memory is from 2002 when I worked with the champion Women’s US Olympic Bobsled Team at the Winter Games held that year at Park City, Utah. The Team Captain, Bonny Warner Simi, was experiencing tremendous back pain from driving her bobsled and hired me to be the team’s Pilates Specialist.

Bonny’s pain was a common bobsledding symptom because of the strain that the sport places upon the bodies of competitors. They are forced to sprint from a dead stop and cover a 50-meter distance in less then seven seconds. Once full speed is reached the team members leap into the sled. At that point the demands upon their bodies are just beginning because bobsleds are ergonomically deficient to an amazing extent. A bobsled looks beautiful but is actually nothing more than hollow shell in which team members must sit with their legs stretched out in front of them while leaning low over their knees.

A bobsled usually weighs more than 450 pounds and is driven in freezing weather at velocities in excess of 80 miles per hour down twisting and looping tracks producing G-forces that press down on the spines of the riders with a couple thousand pounds of pressure. Competitors’ bodies must be strong to endure being subjected to that kind of stress while being forced into those torturous positions. Any physical weakness will result in the kinds of strains and injuries that had been causing Bonny such discomfort.

Pilates saved the day and enabled the team to achieve success. The US Women’s Bobsled Team won the gold medal that year. And they accomplished that amazing feat with no pains and injuries whatsoever.

From Illness to Athletics
I was born in Long Beach, California. During my earlier years I was a very ill child with a seriously underdeveloped respiratory system. As a result I was subject to bouts of pneumonia, and had a collapsed lung when I was six. I lived in and out of an oxygen tent and during a particularly horrible period spent months without coming out of that tent for any length of time. During one terrible crisis I wasn’t expected to live through the night. My physician, Dr. Penner, told me that I should forget any dreams of ever becoming an athlete or even of living an active lifestyle.

My mother probably saved my life. She was ahead of her time in terms of health care. For an entire year she took me to get two acupunctures every Saturday. Mom also discovered through her own tenacious study that my problems stemmed from allergies to certain foods. She began to make changes to my diet and, as a result, I completely recovered. My wheezing and allergic conditions dissipated and the problems with my lungs cleared up.

In fact, I actually went on to become a track and field star. When I was 14 years old I took all my medals to show Dr. Penner. He said, “My, you’ve been a very busy young lady, haven’t you?” And then told my parents, “Your little girl proved my assumptions incorrect. You must be proud.” I hope that he was glad to be proven wrong.

I continued competing in track & field and tennis through high school and into college at the University of Hawaii. I also excelled in gymnastics and later competed with Diablo Gymnastics in San Ramon, which is a premier club turning out Olympic quality athletes.

I was competing in a qualifying meet to go to the Olympic trials when I took a terrible fall and injured my hip so badly that the joint nearly went out of place. The accident tore my connective tissue and crushed my Olympic dream.

I was told that I would never be able to run or ski again. The doctors thought that they might have to insert a pin into my hip.

I eventually recovered completely from the injury through the help of a woman named Mary Smith who was working out of a garage that was full of healing devices.

Mary took me under her wing and put my broken body back together. She used Pilates techniques to restore me and keep me out of the operating room. To this day I still have no pain – or pin – in my hip. It took Mary a year of hard and patient work to restore me to health, but she did it without drugs, shots, surgery, or a cast. That experience provided the inspiration for me to become a Pilates practitioner myself. I knew that if Pilates could help me, as severely injured as I had been, then I could use Pilates to help others.

Pilates Miracles
Pilates can work seeming miracles because of the nature of our bodies’ construction. The physiology of the back is very complex because of its association with the muscles of the diaphragm. Back muscles become weak when the abdominal muscles, which connect to the lower back, are weakened. Blood-flow circulation is reduced, movement is constrained, muscles grow stiff, and the body loses the integrity required to maintain correct posture.

Pilates attacks the problem at the root by strengthening the abdominal wall, which then restores integrity to posture alignment and helps the body adjust to whatever demands caused by standing, bending, twisting, walking, and running are placed upon it. Pilates brings wholeness to the entire body. People are flocking to the discipline. Not only is it effective, but Pilates is efficient. You can accomplish a lot of things by doing several exercises over a relatively short amount of time without much repetition.

Pilates plays a significant role for anyone no matter their size, shape, or condition. It doesn’t have the deferred gratification challenge of other kinds of exercise regimes. Anyone can come into a professional studio with a well-trained instructor, do several exercises without pain or joint stress, and feel better after just one session. They always get off my Pilates machine (which is called “a reformer”) feeling better than when they got on it.

Pilates is making important changes in the lives of a lot of people. For example, it is widely prescribed for pregnant women, both as a pre- and post-natal exercise. Pilates strengthens the “pelvic floor muscles,” which are the muscles used during labor. Research has unambiguously shown that strengthening this group of muscles can decrease the duration of hard labor and provide for easier delivery and swift recovery.

Pilates is effective for weight-challenged people because it does not put stresses on the body that are experienced when beginning some traditional weight training programs.

Pilates is an effective ally in fighting the forces of aging, and has been called “The anti-aging exercise method.” For one thing, it is excellent for women fighting the ravages of osteoporosis by providing a resistance type exercise that can actually rebuild lost bone mass. At a more general level, it has been proven that the bodies of sedentary people will age 50 percent faster than for individuals who stretch and keep their bodies flexible on a regular basis. Pilates has also becomes a significant tool for diminishing the symptoms of arthritis. It has become the primary exercise endorsed by the American Arthritis Association.

Pilates also provides fibromyalgia sufferers with a method of exercise that does not aggravate their symptoms. People with this condition often feel good while working out with some traditional exercise but later are in tremendous pain because the exercise has impacted muscle fibers thus aggravating the condition. The fluid, smooth, flowing exercise patterns done on the reformer machine, on the other hand, soothe the muscles and create a gentle circulation that painlessly restores flexibility to the affected tissues.

Encouraging Athletes
Much of my work has focused on helping athletes. As an Olympic trainer I didn’t make much money. I donated many hours to the work and became part of the team. I was not simply training the athletes, but nourishing them physically, emotionally, and mentally. At the same time I was being a role model for them.

I used my experience to help other athletes. I served for several years as a Pilates specialist in the Athletic Training Center at Stanford, where I worked in sports performance programs, and in injury prevention and recovery.

We reach into a lot of sports. For example, Pilates has become the most important component in the conditioning methods of professional golfers. Ben Hogan once said, “The most important piece of equipment is the body that swings the club.” The body is a vulnerable instrument, however, because a golf swing creates seven times more sheering force on the spine than any other movement pattern a body will regularly go through. This sheering damages tissue when a golfer lacks the proper strength, body alignment, and abdominal conditioning that could enable him to withstand that kind of pressure.

I am one of the Master Trainers of The Pilates for Golf Coach Conditioning Method. The method is designed to condition golf pros to withstand the pressures they endure as they swing a golf club and to avoid sheering of the spine that would, otherwise, limit their play or force them into early retirement. Golf greats such as Tiger Woods and Annika Sörenstam rely upon Pilates to provide an important part of the conditioning that allows them to become and to remain champions of the sport.

Even non-professional golfers generally desire to play without pain for the rest of their lives. It is sad when they eventually lose the hip rotation and flexibility that they formerly had because they haven’t properly conditioned their bodies to maintain the integrity that the sport demands. The Pilates for Golf Coach uses a variation of Pilates that is specifically designed to reinforce the golf swing. No other type of exercise method can match the optimal conditioning The Pilates for Golf Coach provides.

Being a trainer in those Olympic Games changed me for good. Olympic athletes accomplish great feats with no pay or lavish accommodations. I witnessed the character that develops from such discipline and focus. I saw how the athletes were focused so completely that they were able to reach unimaginable limits, often enduring tremendous amounts of pain without being distracted from what they were there to do.

I have learned that the mind and body must work as one before a person can be whole and healthy in whatever they do in life. Nobody can accomplish this alone. The insight humbled me and changed my perspective on who I was. That’s been huge!

Wholeness and interdependence form the philosophy by which I try to coach, train, and serve my clients. Education, care, and effort come together in passionate service. Anyone can apply the pattern of my life to success in whatever lifestyles they are living. If we can stay focused upon serving others while taking optimal care of ourselves, then each of us can reach our potential and find the strength each day to make a positive difference in this world.