Pilates Classes – Bark.com Blog

GET INSPIRED: Unleash your inner Olympian this summer with Bark

There’s nothing more inspiring than watching the greatest athletes in the world compete for Olympic glory. But why should the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Andy Murray have all the fun?

For many of the elite athletes that compete for Team GB in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, this will be the high point of their careers. But your greatest sporting achievement could be yet to come.

So as the clock counts down towards the greatest sporting event on Earth, take a look at our guide to unleashing your own inner Olympian this summer.

Get in shape with a personal trainer

Great athletes have coaches. Just as Toni Minichiello helped Jessica Ennis-Hill get from high school athlete to Olympic gold medallist, your personal trainer will be at your side every step of the way as you achieve your fitness goals.

Whether you’re looking to lose weight, develop speed and agility, build muscle mass or anything else – we’ll find a great local personal trainer to provide you with all the help and support you need.

Place a personal training Bark today and we’ll begin contacting personal trainers in your area on your behalf right away.

Perfect your diet for maximum efficiency

When you’re pushing your body to its limits, you need a balanced diet to help you perform at your peak and recover quickly afterwards.

From managing your protein intake to repair damaged muscle fibres, to helping you replace the electrolytes you lose when you sweat – a great sports nutritionist will create the perfect diet plan for your fitness regime.

Simply place a diet and nutrition Bark today and we’ll start searching for great dieticians in your area right away.

Hone your skills with sports lessons

You don’t have to be a top flight athlete to get a lot out of sports lessons. Not only are they ideal if you’re hoping to get good enough to join your local team, but they’re also great if you want to get fit and have fun in the process.

With 27 separate sports categories on our site – including football lessons, martial arts classes and more – you’re sure to find the perfect sports coach for you with Bark.

Whatever sport you want to learn, place a Bark today and we’ll begin contacting local sports coaches for you right away.

Get washboard abs with Pilates classes

Olympians including swimmer Natalie Coughlin, cyclist Victoria Pendelton and tennis legends like Roger Federer and Serena Williams all cite Pilates as a crucial part of their training regimes.

It’s a great cross training exercise because it focusses on functional movement – working your abs, back, glutes and thighs.

If the idea of toning your body through a combination of controlled movements and breathing exercises appeals to you, place a Pilates Bark now and start getting free quotes from local Pilates instructors.

Have a sports massage – and do it all again!

Whether you’re training to compete at the Olympics, working out at the gym or just stuck in front of a computer all day, you’re likely to experience tight muscular pains and aches at some point.

Sports massages are proven to help you achieve peak performance, reduce the risk of sporting injury and speed up your recovery times.

So when you’re feeling sore after an intense workout, they’re ideal for treating those aches and pains – so you can get back out there and do it all over again as quickly as possible.

Rugby World Cup 2015 – Let the games begin!

At last the gusto, chatting and mind games can finally come to an end as we find ourselves on the eve of the start of the Rugby World Cup. This is not any ordinary World Cup being hosted in England. You feel a repeat of their run to the final in 1991, the last time the tournament was played on home soil, represents the bare minimum most fans, players and pundits expect. We at Bark.com have been as guilty as anyone in getting excited and with friends across the Severn Bridge becoming sworn enemies over the next couple of weeks; it promises to be a tasty pool stage.

Rugby World Cup - England 2015 garden party — Have yourself a ball this Autumn

The plan is that much like the class of 2003 and the Ashes Winning side of 2005 and the football team of…oh wait… this side has the ability to inspire a nation. It may lead to younger children looking for coaching or perhaps for those already playing and seeing the size of those on the field, regular trips to the gym or hiring a personal trainer may be on the cards. It could well be the flexibility of the players that has you in awe and in that case don’t be afraid to do a Ryan Giggs and hire a yoga instructor or find a Pilates experts but there is always the far more appealing option of finding a hiring a massage therapist to ease those muscle aches and pains.

If participating isn’t for you then there is still plenty to do as a spectator and a number of ways to enjoy the experience. While most would have been unable to get their hands on tickets or flat out refuse to pay the extortionate fees, the TV at home or pub with friends represents a decent alternative. You may want to host a rugby-related event for friends and family, or you could leave the barbecuing to the expert and let the good times flow. If you’re really going to get in to the tournament, you may also be keen to look the part and get the shirt of your choice to help support your team; you will not be struggling to find Rugby World Cup memorabilia for the next six weeks.

BBQ enjoying World Cup — We don’t want any shrimps on the barbie…

Hope can often be one of the worst human emotions but hope is exactly what this English team represents. If a tricky group containing fellow heavyweights Australia and Wales can be negotiated and South Africa can be avoided in the quarter-finals then England can expect to go pretty close to claiming the Webb Ellis Trophy which they last won down under in 2003. An encouraging Six Nations performance, much-improved display against Ireland in their final warm-up and a patriotic Twickenham crowd who will be present throughout has given renewed confidence to this mercurial but inexperienced England side. The likes of Jonathan Joseph, George Ford and Andre Watson all have the ability to be match winners on their day but none have ever played so far as a minute in a World Cup match. Be bold, courageous and back your skills should surely be the advice to let these young flyers flourish.

You only have to look back to 1995 and the victory for the Rainbow Nation and the iconic image of Nelson Mandela handing the trophy to South Africa captain Francois Pienaar to see the enormous unifying nature that the tournament can offer. Let’s hope the country can take heed from that competition as well as the feel-good factor of the 2012 London Olympics and get behind the home nations and give the whole country a lift.

Get Inspired, Get Fit This Autumn

To put elite sport into some sort of context, the England Rugby World Cup squad have been in a training camp for almost ten weeks in attempt to get fit and focused for the upcoming tournament, which gets underway in just under two weeks. That’s almost three months of fine tuning fitness and ensuring each squad member is at the top of their physical game once kick off comes on 18th September, a process described as ‘grim’ by Saracens Back Row Billy Vunipola. England Coach Stuart Lancaster is adamant when he says: “If you are not fit, everything else falls apart”.

Obviously, we are not all elite athletes at the top of our game. To some of us, just getting to the gym or putting some sort of effort into exercise is an achievement in itself. Nonetheless, if sporting events like the World Cup or the US Open have got you inspired, here are some useful tips to help you get fit and in better shape this autumn.

Rally Your Fitness

The US Open got underway last weekend, so what perfect time than to delve into your cupboard, dust off your racquet and don that Fred Perry polo? Sport England estimates that there are 4,118 places to play tennis in England, Scotland and Wales. That’s 21,186 courts in total, so ample space to get involved. What’s more, tennis is great for improving your health; studies show that playing for three hours a week can halve your risk of death from any cause. In a fitness context, tennis is a real whole-body workout, and just 30 minutes of serving, rallying and arguing over touchline calls with the umpire can burn 300 calories.

Of course, not all of us are the second coming of Roger Federer when we take to the courts, but that shouldn’t put you off. There’s loads of ways to get into the sport and Bark.com help you if you’re looking for tennis lessons to get started.

Tennis Lessons UK — Serve yourself into shape

Brace yourself, Rugby is coming

In around a fortnight’s time, just about everybody in the UK will proclaim themselves an ardent rugby fan and profess to know everything there is to know about the game. In all seriousness, the Rugby World Cup, getting underway from 18^th September in the UK, will generate major interest within the country and may well inspire many to pursue their new found interest in the sport. If your one of those looking to join the scrum and kick-start a belated rugby career, the sport is seriously good for building strength and endurance. Just remember that the game is as tough as it looks.

With that in mind, if you don’t fancy the challenge of facing off against a brick-wall of a forward every Saturday, there’s always touch rugby, an ever growing spin-off of the game.

And if you’re a seasoned pro about to kick of a new season of rugby, you’re likely going to need a physiotherapist or require massage therapy at some point during the year, so bare us in mind when the time comes.

2015 Rugby World Cup inspired — Tackle your fitness head-on

Different Strokes

If you fancy something a bit more tranquil, there’s always swimming. Perhaps the easiest sport to participate in alongside running, swimming is regarded as perhaps the most rewarding form of exercise.

Swimming is great for muscle toning, a perfect way to increase your lung volume and it takes away the stress of impact on your joints that exercises such as running brings. Surprisingly, according to a recent article in The Guardian, one in five UK adults cannot swim. It seems to be one of those things that of you don’t learn as a child, you’ll likely never learn as an adult. That is not to say that you’re never too old to take to the water; the same Guardian article states that 2.3 million adults are keen to learn to swim. If you’re one of those keen to learn, or even if you’re interested in taking the next step and fancy yourself as the new Michael Phelps, find a swimming teacher now.

Swimming exercise strength fitness — Mould a swimmers body

Inner Peace, Outer Strength

Of course, getting fit and improving your lifestyle isn’t all about immersing yourself in competitive sport; there’s a growing demand in the UK for a ‘mind over matter’ disciplines of yoga and Pilates. Around 30,000 yoga classes are taught each week, with around 460,000 people practising yoga in the UK each week. What’s more, the likes of yoga and Pilates aren’t solely about improving mental focus, it can be very beneficial to gaining core strength and flexibility that will only aid other sports you partake in as well. Just ask Ryan Giggs, the legendary Manchester United and Welsh winger that attributed his absurdly long career to the benefits of yoga. There’s even talk of the discipline becoming an Olympic sport.

So next time you wake up after a gruelling rugby match or a strenuous run, stiff as a plank and cursing your advancing years, why not try your hand at Yoga or Find Pilates Classes and keep yourself forever young?

Yoga Lessons UK Pilates — Channel your energy

For other top tips and advice from Bark.com, why not check out our other blogs?