Posts by Patricia Massey Welter | Panache Vue' Magazine

Pilates for Every Mother

May 16, 2013 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

Wondering what to get your mother, your wife who is a mother, your daughter who has a child or your grandmother for Mother’s Day? A gift of health is a good choice; a gift of Pilates exercise is an excellent choice. Pilates has been proven to reduce stress and increase energy while strengthening, lengthening, stretching and toning. Pilates also helps to improve one’s posture, coordination and over all well being. Pilates is for everybody.

Suncoast Pilates offers a variety of ways to give a present of health via gift certificates. Gift the recipient a Pilates private introductory session, purchase a private session package, gift a floor class or present a present of group equipment session package. The studio offers private sessions from early morning till late evening, group equipment sessions and Pilates Mat and Barre fitness floor classes are offered at select days and times weekly. The studio also offers private sessions on the CoreAlign.

For the new mother, Pilates is a great way to get the body back in shape. For those thinking of becoming a mother, Pilates is a great way to strengthen the body in preparation for pregnancy. Clients who start Pilates prior to pregnancy are often able to continue Pilates throughout their pregnancy with modifications. The studio has

Baby Rock photography

proudly exercised many mothers throughout their first, second and even third pregnancies. Pilates offers a wonderful, effective exercise program for both pre-natal and post-natal clients. Suncoast Pilates is proud to showcase some of the Pilates babies born to clients who exercised throughout their pregnancy and returned post-pregnancy to their Pilates exercise program. Recent years include 2012 with five Suncoast Pilates clients giving birth to baby boys, 2011 clients gave birth to four baby boys, with dozens of Pilates babies in years past. This year so far in 2013, we welcomed one Pilates baby girl.

Pilates is for mothers of ALL ages (and fathers too!)

Patricia Welter, B.S., PMA®- CPT Lolita San Miguel Pilates Master™ Second Generation Pilates Teacher Balanced Body® Faculty
Owner Suncoast Pilates

Filed Under: 2013, Health, May 2013, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Fitness, Health, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Pinellas County, South Tampa, St. Petersburg, Suncoast Pilates, Tampa, Tampa Bay

Pilates for Golf

April 18, 2013 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

Hit the ball farther, straighter and more accurately with less chance of injury…

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor, Florida

Whether twisting the body on a drive, squatting down to measure a putt or leaning over to pick up a ball, golfers are constantly torquing their bodies. Golf requires repeating the same essential movements. As a result some muscles become overused and others weaken, causing an imbalance. For a golfer, muscle imbalances can affect the legs, hips, arms, shoulders, and the lower back. It can also affect one’s game, particularly for those over the age of 50. Drives may be shorter and less accurate, stamina may decrease, and the potential for debilitating strains, pulls and tears becomes much higher. Many golfers – from weekend warriors to the game’s elite like Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam have turned to Pilates as an essential training tool that keeps the body in balance and actually improves performance.

Why Pilates?

Pilates is based on movement from the center of the body, as are most shots in golf. It strengthens the center of the body, also known as the core (the trunk, shoulder girdle and pelvis). Core strength can improve hip rotation, range of motion in the shoulders and back stability, leading to more powerful and accurate golf shots. Pilates is a full body exercise that works all muscles and is easy on the joints. The end result is a flexible, symmetrically muscled body that is strengthened from the inside out.

Pilates helps you:

Build up the back muscles evenly
Elongate and align the spine for better stability
Strengthen the abdominals
Increase overall flexibility, strength, and balance
Increase range of motion in hips and shoulders
Enhance concentration through focused breathing

A stronger and more stable core helps golfers:

Attain an optimal backswing and follow-through with increased range of motion in shoulders
Get more distance and power because of added hip and torso flexibility
Have a stronger and bigger hip turn for greater power through rotation
Create a smoother and more powerful swing due to evenly conditioned back muscles
Maximize balance and alignment while rotating
Decrease fatigue because of less strain on the body
Hold a body position long enough to play through a shot
Play without pain!

Patricia Massey Welter

Patricia Massey Welter, PMA®-CPT, Lolita San Miguel Pilates Master™, Second Generation Pilates Teacher – Suncoast Pilates – 34080 U.S. Hwy 19 North – Palm Harbor, Florida 34684 - Phone: (727) 772-6772 - www.SuncoastPilates.com

Filed Under: 2013, April 2013, Health, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas County, Training

Suncoast Pilates – Home for Pilates in the Tampa Bay Area

March 17, 2013 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

Serving the area since 1997, Suncoast Pilates has provided thousands of clients throughout the years with Pilates instruction through client engagements, weddings, births, birthdays, children grow up, anniversaries, special moments, special events. Clients come in with special goals, specific needs, post-rehabilitation requirements or come for professional athletic conditioning. As short time needs are met, clients may leave or move, seek other exercise disciplines or have to stop for a while. Pilates WORKS – so a large number of our clients return, finding Pilates yields the best results over a long term basis. When clients return to Suncoast Pilates, in a sense they feel they are coming home, where one knows that Pilates exercise is safe, yet challenging and efficient and provides results.

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor, Florida

Throughout the years, the studio has gone through it’s own “Home Improvement” increasing from 1000 square feet to 2000 square feet, adding a Mat / CoreAlign room in addition to the equipment training room, a private training room and each year adding equipment. The studio revamped their website and added online booking in 2009. The staff is our own family, growing to seven talented Pilates instructors, providing appointments from early morning to late evening.

Serving Clearwater, Dunedin, Palm Harbor for over sixteen years, Suncoast Pilates is renown for offering the best in Pilates instruction in the Tampa Bay area. Suncoast has some of the most experienced, highly trained and Certified Pilates instructors in the area and is a Balanced Body Pilates instructor training facility. Suncoast is a fully equipped Pilates studio, offering one-on-one, duet / trio and group Pilates equipment sessions and Pilates Mat classes. CoreAlign® training is offered in private, duo and trio sessions. The studio recently launched an expanded Ballet Barre class schedule; no dance experience required. Suncoast Pilates Barre classes provide an all encompassing full body workout utilizing the ballet barre as the main prop to reinforce ideal positioning of the exercises. Barre classes increase strength, endurance and flexibility, while challenging the core from a vertical position, providing a cardiovascular workout, slimming the buttock, thighs, hips and stomach.

Never done Pilates? Have not been in the studio in a while? Come home to Suncoast Pilates. Why trust your body to anyone less than the best? Train where Pilates instructors train!

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2013, Health, March 2013, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Joseph Pilates, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Get a Body to Love with Pilates

February 10, 2013 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

February brings a celebration of love. Traditionally sweethearts, partners, or spouses honor their love / affection / relationship on Valentine’s Day. Gifts are a rite of passage – flowers, candy, jewelry, dinner, romantic evenings, spa treatments, and / or a card.

How about taking the time to honor oneself? It has been a short time since the holiday season ended. During the holiday season it is easy to fall off one’s exercise routine and tempting to eat less healthy. The New Year is traditionally the time to get back on track with both an exercise routine and better eating game plan. Finding it hard to get back on track? Bored with the same old exercise? Tired of beating yourself up with a workout that makes you unable to sit, walk, or move the next day? Pilates is a proven exercise system that leaves you feeling worked out, stretched, strengthened, lengthened, energized and yet improves posture, balance, and coordination. Pilates practiced consistently yields a trimmer, more toned physique, with leaner waist, hips and thighs.

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor, Florida

Suncoast Pilates, a fully equipped Pilates studio, specializes in Pilates equipment training in one-on-one sessions. Private sessions yield the maximum benefits with the Pilates instructor developing a specific program to fit the client’s needs, utilizing all pieces of Pilates equipment (Reformer, Tower, Cadillac, Ladder Barrel, Ped-o-Pull, Barrels, and Chair). Private sessions are offered six days a week, with availability from 7 am till 8 pm most days. To fit client needs and budgets, the studio also offers Group Pilates Equipment sessions and group Pilates Mat classes at select times weekly. Find a friend, partner, spouse or co-worker and schedule a duo or trio at a time of your convenience. Never tried Pilates? Suncoast Pilates offers a onetime reduced fee private Introductory Session.

What could say “I love you” more than the gift of health with a Pilates gift certificate? Times it by two and bring your Valentine in for a duet. Come in and get your Pilates Body today a body you will love!

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2013, February 2013, Health, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Joseph Pilates, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Here’s to a New You – Get a Pilates Body

December 17, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

The holiday season will soon be over and the New Year is just around the corner. Did you take time to gift yourself? What better time to give yourself a gift that keeps on giving, a healthy and strong body. Want to shape up, improve your stamina and endurance, manage your stress and lose a few inches? It is time to get your body into shape with a Pilates body.

Is your current exercise regimen not giving you the results you want? Pilates exercise, created by Joseph Pilates in the early 1900’s, is a proven exercise regimen that will yield a sleeker, slimmer, toned physique while strengthening and stretching the entire body. Not exercised in a long time or having a hard time getting started? Pilates is for everybody – the beginner exerciser or the seasoned athlete. Pilates can be performed on the mat (floor) exercises or specialized equipment, providing both assistance and resistance. Exercises on the equipment can be performed lying, kneeling, sitting or standing.

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor, Florida

Tired of feeling beat up after your workout? While extremely challenging, Pilates leaves you feeling energized, relieves stress yet able to move, sit and stand the next day. Bored with the same old fitness routines with only so many ways to do a bicep curl? Pilates equipment provides hundreds of exercises and variations. Each workout can be tailored with no session seeming the same, yet all body parts are worked simultaneously. Resistance training, the essence of Pilates, has been proven to create lean muscle and rev up your metabolism to burn calories all day long.

How to get started? Find a Certified Pilates Instructor to assist in developing a program to fit your needs. Pilates exercise should be practiced two – three times weekly to achieve maximum results, whether in the home, studio or gym. Suncoast Pilates specializes in Pilates private equipment sessions. With services to fit everyone’s budget the studio also offers duet and group Pilates equipment classes and Pilates Mat (floor) classes. Come in and get your Pilates body today!

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, December 2012 / January 2013, Health, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Joseph Pilates, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Give the Gift of Health

November 18, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

What says I love you more than a gift that promotes health and well-being? Regular exercise has been shown to help prevent weight gain and / or help maintain weight loss, reduce blood pressure, improve cholesterol profile, reduce stress, reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, help prevent or manage a wide range of health problems and concerns and increase energy. Pilates can help one achieve a number of health benefits plus improve balance and posture, improve flexibility, improve or prevent back pain and improve core strength. Consider giving a friend, spouse, partner, co-worker a gift certificate of health via Pilates exercise. Many options are available at various price points including introductory sessions, Mat classes, private session packages or tools to use for a workout at home (the Magic Circle, balls, bands, arcs and videos). Pilates can be done on the floor (called Mat work) or on specially designed equipment. Pilates is for beginners, the seasoned athlete, the weekend warrior, men and women, highly conditioned or de-conditioned, young and old.

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor, Florida

Have you considered a gift for yourself? Already stressed with the holidays? Fallen off your normal exercise routine? Fallen into the typical holiday food temptations? Lacking energy? The best gift one can give oneself is a gift of Pilates exercise before, during or after the holidays.

Suncoast Pilates, the area’s first Pilates studio, a fully equipped Pilates center open since 1997. The studio offers Mat (floor) classes and private and semi-private Pilates equipment sessions with experienced, Certified Pilates instructors with appointments ranging from 7am to 8pm Monday through Thursday, 7am to 5pm Friday, and Saturday and Sunday availability. Suncoast is additionally a Pilates instructor teaching facility and offers Pilates workshops.

What is holding you back from getting on track now? Get into exercise, get into Pilates today. Come in and meet the incredible staff at Suncoast Pilates and get your energy back!

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, Health, November 2012 - Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Joseph Pilates, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Fall Back into Fitness and Roll into Pilates

October 19, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

Out of your fitness routine? Never exercised? Have not exercised in a while? Bored with your exercise regimen? Need a new challenge? Fall back into shape with Pilates! Pilates exercise, created in the 1920’s by a man named Joseph Pilates, is no fitness fad, and is here to stay because it works. Among the many benefits of Pilates exercise is that it can be adjusted to fit the needs and interests of all kinds of people. Pilates is for men, women, elite athletes, seniors, pregnant women, yoga enthusiasts, people with back pain, and everyone in between.

To get in shape with Pilates is to embark on an amazing journey of not just physical fitness, but as Joseph Pilates said “a complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit”. Everyone likes to talk about the flat abs Pilates gives you or the long, lean muscles, even weight loss. If one commits to Pilates training those are among the benefits you can enjoy. In doing Pilates the goal is “a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.” (Joseph Pilates).

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor

In order for the Pilates method to work its magic, the exercises should be done with certain principles in mind. Pilates principles include: centering, concentration, control, precision, breath, flow and whole body development. These ideas are integral to achieving the dramatic results for which Pilates is known; a body that is strong, flexible, and able to gracefully accommodate the movement demands of one’s life. If consistent in Pilates training, one’s fitness level will continue to improve. As one progresses, the pace of a workout picks up as do the strength and stability challenges.

Pilates can be done on the floor (called Mat exercises) or on specialized equipment, including the Reformer, Cadillac, Chair, Ladder Barrel or other small apparatus. To embark on a Pilates program tailored to the individual, seek out a Certified, experienced Pilates instructor.

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, Health, October 2012 - Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Joseph Pilates, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Finest in Pilates Instructor Training and Workshops

September 21, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

Suncoast Pilates, teaching Pilates exercise to area clients since 1997, also offers both Pilates teacher training and Pilates workshops for Pilates instructors, clients and the Pilates enthusiasts. The fully equipped Pilates studio, with seven Reformers, six Towers, a Cadillac, ladder barrel and Ped-O-Pull, step barrel, baby arc, six Pilates Arcs®, three CoreAligns® and assorted small equipment, is honored to be an approved Balanced Body Pilates Instructor Facility. Suncoast Pilates is listed under the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) Registry of Schools. The studio has two Balanced Body Faculty members, owner Patricia and co-faculty Carol. Patricia has further graduated from a two year program with Distinguished Pilates Elder Lolita San Miguel, with Carol is currently undergoing the same two year study.

Suncoast Pilates - Palm Harbor

Balanced Body is the largest provider of Pilates equipment and education in the world, with faculty members around the world. Suncoast Pilates teaches the full Pilates instructor curriculum in modular format. The Pilates instructor candidate has the choice of becoming a Pilates Mat Instructor, a Pilates Reformer Instructor or a comprehensively trained Pilates instructor. The studio also offers PMA® and ACE® continuing education credits.

October 6, the studio is offering two special workshops for the Pilates enthusiast or Pilates instructor – working on the foam roller “Rolling for Length, Rolling for Strength” or working with the elastic bands “Resist and Reform with Elastic Bands”. Participants may register for one or both workshops.

Suncoast Pilates has invited some of the instructor candidates to join the staff as Apprentice Instructors while working toward full certification. The studio currently offers both private sessions on the Pilates equipment and Mat classes with our Apprentice Instructors at slightly reduced fees while honing their skills as a trainee.

Check out the studio website, call or email the studio to find out about booking a session with one of the studio’s Certified, highly experienced staff or with one of the Apprentice Instructors, information regarding Pilates instructor training or register for an upcoming Pilates workshop.

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, Health, September 2012 – Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Athlete, Athletes, Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

Pilates for Olympians or the Weekend Warrior

July 18, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter Leave a Comment

July marks the start of the Summer Olympics, inspiring the world with the athleticism and prowess of the participating athletes. How do these Olympians train? In addition to practicing their particular sport, athletes cross train to improve their endurance, strength, agility and flexibility. Often Pilates is part of their regimen.

2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward and Joseph Pilates were both boxers. Joseph Pilates trained professional boxers in England. Ward used Pilates and stated “I use Pilates to strengthen my core, which creates balance and leads to velocity.”

Julia Mancuso who has been deemed “the best American female skier of her generation,” took home a gold-medal in the giant slalom at the 2006 Torina Olympics and was a silver medalist in the 2010 Olympics. Julia used state-of-the-art Pilates equipment during her daily workouts.

Pilates was part of performance enhancing workout preparing Olympic Gold Medalist Sanya Richards for the 2008 Olympic games. A gold medalist in the 4-by-400 relay at the 2004 Olympics and named 2006 athlete of the year by the International Association of Athletics Federation.

Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Natalie Coughlin practices Pilates as part of her training regimen and has been a spokesperson for Balanced Body’s Pilates Arc. “In swimming, speed comes directly from the core so Pilates helps immensely” stated Olympian swimmer Dara Torres.

Olympian Beach Volleyball player Kerri Walsh proclaimed “My favorite core workout is Pilates, which covers the entire core area. Pilates is a must do exercise for volleyball. We need to have very strong core muscles (abs, back, etc)”. Misty May-Treanor has also incorporated twice weekly Pilates equipment training into her training regimen in prior Olympics.

The secret ingredient that gives many Olympic athletes the edge to be the best they can be, keeps them looking great and has enabled them to play long and strong is Pilates and the principles of Pilates. Whether you are a seasoned athlete or a weekend warrior, incorporate Pilates into your workout routine today.

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, Health, July/August 2012 - Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Athlete, Athletes, Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Olympians, Olympics, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

First Generation Pilates Master Lolita San Miguel

January 30, 2012 By Patricia Massey Welter 15 Comments

Lolita San Miguel

First Generation Pilates Master Teacher Lolita San Miguel Shares Her Living Legacy at Suncoast Pilates

“Boundless energy”, “intense creativity” and “an enduring devotion to Pilates” are all phrases that describe Lolita San Miguel, a first generation Pilates teacher. New York-born Lolita San Miguel celebrates in 2011 her 53rd anniversary of practicing the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning. She received her first certification from Carola Trier, Joseph Pilates’ first disciple to open a studio. She then studied with Joseph Pilates himself. Lolita holds the distinction of being one of the only two known practitioners to have been officially certified by Joseph and Clara Pilates and awarded degrees by the State University of New York to teach the Pilates Method. Lolita has also been certified by Polestar Pilates Education and was awarded a Gold Certificate by the Pilates Method Alliance. She is one of the three living “Distinguished Elders” of the Pilates Method Alliance.

After a distinguished career in dance – she was a soloist with the Metropolitan Ballet for over ten years and ballet mistress for Ballet Hispanico for three years – Ms San Miguel moved with her husband to Puerto Rico in 1977. She founded Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico’s finest ballet company) and was its Artistic and Executive Director for 27 years. She also founded Pilates y Mas, Inc. in Puerto Rico in 2000 to teach, train and certify teachers in association with Polestar Pilates Education. Ms San Miguel retired from Ballet Concierto in 2004 and at the age of 70 started a new career, dedicated to the teaching of the Pilates Method. Ms San Miguel is in great demand throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, and has international students and teachers come to train with her. She has published eight DVDs.

Suncoast Pilates is proud to have Lolita San Miguel presenting two Pilates workshops, a “Meet and Greet” and sharing the history and her experiences with Joseph Pilates on February 3 – 4, 2012, at the studio.

Patricia Massey Welter

Filed Under: 2012, 2012, Health, January/February 2012 - North Pinellas/Pasco, January/February 2012 - Tampa Bay, North Pinellas / Pasco, Tampa Bay Tagged With: Clearwater, Fitness, Health, Palm Harbor, Patricia Welter, Personal Trainer, Pilates, Pinellas, Suncoast Pilates, Training

First Generation Pilates Master Teacher Lolita San Miguel Shares Her Living Legacy at Suncoast Pilates

PanacheVue' May 2013