I am a people watcher. Airports, at the beach, at coffee shops, on the NYC subway….I people watch, hard. Yesterday, I was sitting in my car, waiting for the red light to turn green, watching folks traverse a cross walk in Saint Augustine, Florida. It was a looonnnnng light. I noticed three things: 1. While being overweight is very different from being obese, both situations create labored movement. Joints are over burdened. Body temp elevates too fast. Breathing...
A new release called Standing Stretch on Let’s Move has arrived, and it’s short and sweet, ultra grounding, a bit flow-y, and subtly choreographed. By standing up, the act of stretching has an innate balance challenge, which enhances core engagement and muscular integration. What does this mean? It means the stretch will be less passive and more dynamic. The transformation happens with stretch. Cardio is crucial as is strength training, and everything needs everything else, but the stretch is when the energetics change for the...
I probably would not watch NCAA basketball March Madness if not for my husband and son, but with that said, I am enjoying it. I tend to notice things that my family does not pay much attention to, and one of those things is enthusiasm. The players, the coaches and the fan are all so into it. Witnessing such a high level of enthusiasm is exhilarating in and of itself, and I think it is contagious! It got me...
The affirmation of the week this week is The best is yet to come. It actually came out of Dolores Cannon’s mouth during a 2008 lecture she gave on what she’s learned as a past life regressionist. She talked about the twists and turns of her own journey on this planet, and how she delighted in her “new” (and legendary) career which didn’t start until she was in her fifties. She repeated the best is yet to...
When you’re Pilates Strong, you’re not just strong – you’re integrated – and that’s a big deal. Strong is great, but integrated means: 1. You’ve got stellar mind/body connection. 2. Your muscular system is united. 3. You’ve got a heightened awareness of proper alignment. Movement at large, including traditional strength training, promotes integration, but (in my opinion) Pilates is the integration superstar. It fast-tracks us and it complements just about every other form of exercise. All those professional athletes and dancers – especially the one’s with career...
You may have wondered how I create each week’s inspiration board, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to explain my rationale. There are some very practical factors, specifically with the workout rotation. For one, I don’t want to have back-to-back weighted workouts. I also don’t want back-to-back seated workouts. Movement variety is important. Second, a variety in terms of length is nice, so you’ll always see pretty much every duration represented each week. I truly...
You’ve probably heard the saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” I have found this to be a thousand percent true. It’s true for me personally and for people I work with. As a personal trainer, the clients that never cancel are ironically the one’s with the fullest plate. At the root of this, it’s because the busy person has a tight schedule and he or she intends to keep it. There’s no time for procrastination. Kids procrastinate...
Classic Cardio was the plan, but I had to scrap that plan as I was not proud of the workout. Sorry to disappoint you all – I’ve lost sleep over this, and usually with editing, videos are fix-able. I feel that this one is not. Perhaps, we’ll re-shoot it with different music and in a different set in the future because the “bones” of the workout are solid, but at this time it’s just not the right energy for ellenbarrett.com. (As...
I keep hearing people use age as an excuse for lack of mobility, lack of physical fitness, or pain in their bodiy, saying things like, “I’m too old to sit cross-legged on the floor,” or “Running is out of the question at my age,” or “Everyone in their 50’s has a bad back.” My message today is don’t blame age. That’s not to say challenges don’t come with age – it’s just that age is unchangeable. Age is what it is...
“Everything we do is infused with the energy with which we do it. If we are frantic, life will be frantic. If we’re peaceful, life will be peaceful.” – Marianne Williamson For a long time I thought finding serenity was getting rid of stress, but it’s actually diverting your attention away from stress and towards the peace of now. I know that sounds corny, but for most of us, stress isn’t ever completely going away. The top athletes have mastered serenity. During competition,...
