Let's get Personal with Jess

What’s your biggest challenge in your own Pilates practice?

Finding time to actually attend a Pilates class! Unfortunately it seems that once you start teaching it means that you have less time to actually attend a class. I was doing a lot of reformer pilates prior to becoming an instructor, however now the majority of my workouts are more of a HIIT and heavy resistance based training type, just to mix things up a bit. Nowadays I try and fit in a sneaky Pilates or barre class wherever I can!

How do you define health and what do you do to keep healthy?

I define health as being well in a holistic sense - eating well, regular physical activity and stress management are all key in staying healthy!

What was your motivator to go back to study for another year to become a Pilates instructor and personal trainer?

I’ve always been active and involved in the health industry, so I feel it was a natural progression to incorporate more of a fitness based course to complement the nutritional side of things. I enjoy exercise and want others too as well!

What was your motivator to go back to study for another year to become a Pilates instructor and personal trainer?

I’ve always been active and involved in the health industry, so I feel it was a natural progression to incorporate more of a fitness based course to complement the nutritional side of things. I enjoy exercise and want others too as well!

What’s your pet peeve?

People working outside of their scope of practice. Chefs, celebrities and personal trainers providing specific nutrition information and advice is a common example!

What’s the biggest health myth going around?

I hear many in my line of work - bananas are fattening, skim milk has added sugar, etc. I would say the biggest myth is that there is ‘one diet to rule them all’. Not everything works for everyone. Nutritional advice needs to be tailored to the individual, and you shouldn’t be punished for enjoying food.

What is your health motivator?

Apart from the myriad of long term health benefits, exercise makes me feel good both physically and mentally and I can’t imagine it not being incorporated into my day to day life!

What are your life goals?

To find that elusive work life balance. I always seem to be over ambitious with my time in wanting to do anything and everything both professionally and socially!

What is your biggest challenge in staying healthy?

Time management. I have a lot of different jobs, strange hours and travel to factor in to my life, so it helps that I enjoy being organised and plan my workouts and food around this. Prep is key!

What is the biggest challenge as a pilates instructor?

If it is a large group and there are several people with injuries or restrictions it can be tricky to manage them whilst ensuring that they aren’t monopolising your time so that you are neglecting giving the rest of the class a good workout! Also cueing different exercises can often be a challenge - some people know exactly what you are talking about when you tell them to move this versus that, whereas it can completely misinterpreted by others. And this all comes down to teaching experience - over time you just learn what works well and what doesn’t!

What is your favourite Pilates exercise?

It will vary week to week but I particularly love exercises that work the posterior chain (basically all the muscles at the back of your body) so expect to get those glute and back muscles working when you’re in class! A great example is bird dog (kneeling on all fours and reaching opposite arm and leg out towards the wall) as it requires recruitment of a lot of different muscles just to stabilise yourself in that position, and is even a pregnancy friendly exercise for the abs.

Jess teaches our Monday night Pilates classes in the studio. All equipment is supplied as well as a refreshing drink post class.
Be sure to book online.