This week’s guest blog post is by Andrea, one of our studio’s fabulous instructors and an accomplished runner.
Pilates and running is a great combination I reckon! Pilates to teach your body to moving efficiently and with ease and running to improve and maintain your cardiovascular fitness.
While there are many benefits of both forms of exercise, have you ever thought of how Pilates can 
benefit your running specifically? No matter if you’re a marathoner aiming to improve your last time or a casual jogger who wants to achieve a lap of the local park without falling over breathless, add a few well chosen Pilates exercises to your routine and you’ll be running strong.
One of the benefits of running is the strengthening of our leg muscles but often we end up with tightness in the hips – one of my own issues for sure! And of course there’s knee and low back pain which a lot of runners are affected by too.
So how can Pilates can help us achieve our running goals?
Our posture is a key factor for successful running and Pilates aims to correct postural imbalances, improve body alignment, and make movement more efficient thus reducing the chance of injury. You’ll gain core strength and improve the balance in the muscles of the hips, back and legs. Goodbye tight, grippy, hips from me! Gaining improved balance of muscles through the hips saved me from a reoccurring old injury rearing its ugly head through my marathon training.
So if you’re keen to shave some seconds off your time or feel less strain on the body during and after a run, move efficiently, breathe efficiently AND enjoy your running, DO Pilates!!
We are running a Pilates for Runners Workshop on Saturday 14th of June at 12:30. This workshop will show you how to best release tight muscles in the legs, strengthen your core and will give you specific Pilates home exercises to keep you running, injury free.
Andrea Green is a Balanced Body Pilates instructor and completed the Paris marathon in 2013. She loves to run and also coaches those new to the sport.