Over the last few weeks, my phone has not stopped going. Holly Willoughby has lost an incredible lot of weight and allegedly owes it all to Pilates reformer apparatus and mat with Pilates guru teacher Lynne Robinson. Lynne is the celebrity teacher to the stars including Elizabeth Hurley and Sophie Dahl. Mother of three Holly swears by Pilates and has received a lot of criticism on social media over her dramatic weight loss. Now here is the truth from someone who has run studios for over 20 years and also had dance schools for 16 years.
Pilates, yoga and any sort of movement can have amazing effects on toning and shape of the body. This depends on the individuals quality of their connective tissues. Do you have PPP? (piss, poor, protoplasm as we say in the labs). This, in a nutshell, means poor quality connective tissue which needs to be treated through lifestyle and choices to reduce inflammation, no amount of exercise will change this, it has to come from the inside out. This article is not discriminating against Holly, Lynne or any of Victoria secret models. These ladies also engage in Yoga and have worked extremely hard on their bodies, but the truth and bare bone facts on spot reduction and fat loss are not attractive to the consumer. Of course, we all want the quick fix.
Fact: “Our genes load the gun, but it’s our environment that pulls the trigger”.
Many clients will always ask me for an exercise to tone their bat wings, inner thighs, butt or stomach. A physiotherapist will tell you we take isolation into integration by taking our focus and intention to particular muscles or muscle groups but they never say spot reduction. They talk about firing patterns and recruitment which is essential for optimal movement, health, and vitality.
In my 25 years experience of running dance schools, pilates and yoga studios across the North West, never have I seen any exercise spot reduce a fatty area. The way the body gains and loses weight is genetically controlled. To see, this we just have to look at families and in particular Mum and Dad. I have so many clients come to me from Bootcamp who have been promised ridiculous results. Yes, they may lose the weight with diets that mess up their hormone regulation but guess what they put the weight back on plus more. The diet’s they are given create more stress or fight or flight responses and disrupt hormonal abnormality. You only have to google ‘Biggest Loser’ to see the percentage of those TV candidates who put the weight back on plus more.
There are all sort of experts out there including gyms, personal trainers, shopping channel products and pilates studios who claim to spot reduce. These, in my opinion, are snake-like salesmen, all selling some sort of product or service. Here are my top tips researched and medically backed up for losing body fat.
- To lose fat we do want to increase our metabolic rate but without stressing the body. 20 mins of movement per day is sufficient as long as it pumps all the body’s oscillators.
- We need a minimum of eight hours sleep per night and must be in bed and asleep for 10.30pm each night.
- An organic, seasonal, locally sourced and produced diet is essential. If you are not eating nutritionally rich food which is deficient and chemically laden the body has a fight on its hand. Fat is where the body stores its toxins that it can’t break down. If the body can’t break down the toxins, it does not have adequate nutrition to work the detoxification process.
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day, as the saying goes: ” The solution to pollution is dilution”.
I hear many clients who have tried liposuction, juice fasts, vitamin pills, shakes and more. This is one step forward and three steps back. They continue to fill their body with junk and yet want the quick fix. Pictured below are the three body types. When you are eating it’s so important to go on metabolic typing rather than one diet suits all. We are all a mixture of the body types but are predisposed to one type.
My genetic origin is North India and I can see this clearly when returning to that area in the large hips and voluptuous curves. Yes, of course, i can work on specific exercise and movement patterns to improve my connective tissue and firing sequence, but spot reduction is a total myth and does not work. This is why i won’t give you an exercise to flatten your abs, reduce your bat wings and thighs and there is a bigger picture.
“Today I am better informed”- Gandhi.
What every other Pilates teacher is doing, I was doing that twenty years ago and now I have the knowledge, education to help clients reach realistic goals rather than aesthetic, superficial claims. As the saying goes “Superficial attracts Superficial”.
What I can give all clients is amazing results by treating the body ‘Holistically’ that is a physical, mental and emotional human being.
Bibliography
“Eat, move and be healthy” – Paul Chek
