Welcome to the Pilates Central March newsletter. Pilates Central sends out a newsletter at least once a month about the world of Pilates.

March Highlights:

• Private Pilates studio
• Lucy in the sky
• Potter’s Pilates
• Heavenly Pilates
• Whole new ball game

Private Pilates Studio

We now have a private studio for Pilates lessons. It is a tranquil space full of light and overlooking the rooftops of Islington. Enjoy private lessons with one of our teachers and accelerate your Pilates practice. To book call the studio. More about the private studio. 

Lucy in the sky

“Coronation Street’s Lucy Fallon shows off incredible post baby body doing Pilates just weeks after birth,” declares the Sun’s headline. Fallon, best known for her role as Bethany Platt in Coronation Street, gave birth to her son Sonny in January.

In her Instagram video of a Pilates session in Southport the actor, 27, “showed off her incredibly flat tum as she worked out. She wore a tight t-shirt and revealed her toned legs in leggings for the exercise class.” Fallon, who previously had a heart-breaking miscarriage, looked fit and athletic as she performed aerial leg stretches on a Reformer machine.

Fallon’s teacher from Pilates Works in Southport said: “I love to share what I know and help other new mums to strengthen their pelvic floor, get their bodies moving safely and to give them time out for themselves.”

Sonny’s father is Preston North End footballer Ryan Ledsen. He told the Sun of Sonny’s birth: “It’s been hard for her, bloody hell. Any girl, they’re absolute machines to go through what they have to go through.” Though for Lucy the absolute machine is surely to be found at her Pilates studio.

Potter’s Pilates

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has remained admirably calm through a period of intense pressure, perhaps helped by the fact that his wife Rachel is a Pilates teacher. The Sun recently described Rachel as a vital part of Team Potter, writing that the mother of three, “has her own successful Pilates business and has been the football manager’s rock through the years.”

Graham met Rachel when he was a player at York City. She had her own Pilates business in York but agreed to give it up when he was offered the job of managing Swedish club Ostersund, 240 miles from the Arctic Circle, in 2011. Rachel told the BBC: “When I first moved here people didn’t even know what Pilates was.” After initial doubts about the cold, “she started learning Swedish, making friends, and, very slowly, introducing Ostersund to Pilates.” After making the top division under Graham, the Ostersund fans were so impressed they held up a banner reading, “Thank You Rachel.”

Rachel re-established her Pilates business at a studio in Brighton when Graham became the manager of Brighton and Hove Albion. Potter is an innovative manager who has had his players trying ballet and rapping, so it would be no surprise if he introduces them to Rachel’s Pilates sessions. Though with 17 new Chelsea signings and a huge squad this season she might need to find a bigger studio.

Heavenly Pilates

These days it seems Heaven on Earth for Belinda Carlisle is a place to do Pilates in. The legendary singer was asked by the Guardian’s Saturday magazine what besides a house was the most expensive thing she’d ever bought. Or as Belinda once sang on her 1987 mega-hit: “Ooh baby do you know what that’s worth?”

The legendary singer answered: “I’ve been doing Pilates for 25 years and I swear by it. I decided to kit out my room with Pilates equipment – and I think it’s the most expensive thing I’ve invested in.” Yes it seems for the former Go-Go’s singer the go-to place is the Pilates studio.

Carlisle has previously spoken of her drink and drugs problems, but after joining Alcoholics Anonymous in 2005 she embraced sobriety, Buddhism and getting up at 4am to do Pilates. Carlisle now lives in Mexico and says her greatest achievement is having a career that has lasted 47 years. She is now 64 and has a new single out, Big Big Love. Pilates has clearly played a big part in her longevity.

Whole new ball game

We all know there are plenty of uses for a Pilates ball. But pretending a Pilates ball is a motorbike is one of the more unusual. TV chef Dave Myers, one of The Hairy Bikers, has had to learn to walk again after receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer. On the How to be 60 podcast with Kaye Adams, 65-year-old Dave said: “By God, the chemotherapy doesn’t half age you quickly. Because your balance goes, so for someone with a motorbike that’s a disaster and my walking has been affected quite a lot, really.”

Myers will be back with fellow biker and foodie Si King filming a new series of the The Hairy Bikers Go Local in May and plans to be back on his beloved bike. He told the podcast: “I’ve bought a new motorbike now I’ve got to learn to ride it again. In physio, they sit me on a Pilates ball and rock me from side to side, pretending I’m on the motorbike. I have a rubber band under one foot and a rubber band under the other and I’m changing and braking and making motorbike noises. They [the physios] are good people they are determined to get me back on the bike.” Dave’s been going at his ball exercises at full-throttle and we hope that Pilates accelerates his recovery.

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The Pilates Central Team