Connect with like minded Pilates lovers or train privately with friends in small, intimate, safe and fun groups. Enjoy the flexibility that a small group offers so that individual requirements or adjustments for injuries can be accommodated in your training. Can you tell us a little about yourself? I've spent the last 10 years teaching Reformer and Mat in my own business in Sydney, having also qualified previously as a Personal Trainer in 2009. In 2017 I completed a Diploma of Fitness and in mid 2019 I completed the Polestar Studio Qualification, which incorporates use of the Trapeze Table, the Chair and the Ladder Barrel besides the Reformer and Mat. The Studio Course involved some 454 hours of training/apprentice teaching in order to be qualified!!!! More recently in 2020 I completed a Diploma of Pilates. How did you get into Pilates? I had given birth to four children and found that Pilates helped me get my strength back and even make me stronger than I was before children! I had shocking abdominal and pelvic floor muscles and had spent 10 years with a child on one hip and years leaning forward with children -and barely time to look after myself with exercise. After several years of doing Pilates myself and noticing positive changes in my muscle strength, posture and no longer having niggles through weaknesses, I decided to have a career change and as I loved Pilates, wanted to train others. My session times started off being predominantly during school terms and during the day so that I could juggle work and children. Indeed most of my clients were in the same position too - juggling school kids. What do you teach? I teach private sessions and groups of 2 to 3 plus online Zoom sessions . You can be any age to do Pilates and in these small groups I can focus on correcting bio-mechanical deficiencies so that people can gain better movement. Clients get results and that makes my job very fulfilling - for example people will come back from a ski holiday and say that they didn't have to stop as much as they used to or that their ability/endurance far exceeded their expectations. The focus is not on pure aesthetic results but on better function - but the physical results follow anyway. Also with the small groups there is a lot of rapport between the clients and also myself - so I call it Pilates Plus! Some classes are dynamic for experienced or Advanced clients, others are more gentle. You will be placed with people of a similar ability unless you have a ready formed group of friends you would like to train with. What are your sports and Hobbies outside of Pilates? I am an avid snow skier, keen golfer and daily dog walker! Who can do Pilates? Everyone! Women, Men, Seniors, New Mums, Teenagers. When I train men they cannot believe how hard it is! Men tend to lack flexibility so exercises for them include flexibility and strength training. All exercises are modified for every individual to either regress or progress the specific exercise according to the clients needs.

Tara Biffin is a Mobile Personal Trainer in Armidale.

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