Anatomy of Pilates | MSc Kin (orthopedic rehab/adaptive sports)

Hi! My name is Cody. I have always been a lover of movement. I played water polo, swam, barrel raced in the rodeo, did gymnastics on horses… but it wasn’t until I started teaching Pilates that I realized what I actually love is the study of human movement. Pilates hooked me. I ended up pursuing a Master’s in orthopedic rehab and adaptive sports to appease my desire to learn everything I could about anatomy of rehab. After graduating, I realized that the Pilates community doesn’t have many up to date resources directly talking to us about human movement. That’s why I created Anatomy of Pilates. Pilates instructors deserve to feel confident that what they’re teaching is current and reflected in today’s scientific conversations around specific pathologies. AOP distills the years of learning I spent in my master’s program and condenses it into the most relevant and actionable information for Pilates instructors. How nice is it to have something in anatomy and rehab that is specifically for US?? AOP delivers foundational concepts in exercise science like how muscles get stronger, the difference between strength and endurance, how to leverage biomechanics and applies those concepts to the Pilates studio. Through courses, 1:1 mentoring, studio partnerships, and the AOP membership I will help you get confident you’re delivering results to your clients and charging your worth. Some fun facts about me? Thought you’d never ask 😉 I. Love. Food! Give me all the carbs. If I could eat one thing every day it would be potatoes I also love CrossFit! How do you know someone does CrossFit? They won’t stop talking about it...haha! (I won’t bore you) I love to dance. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of losing yourself with some really loud music I have an amazing daughter and husband. I mean, how did I get so lucky?! Love a good joke. Got one?

Studio owners and teacher trainers, this is for you!! Seriously, we can’t do it all. AOP is here to help you focus on what you do best. Let AOP take care of the anatomy. AOP can integrate into your teacher training so you can focus on teaching the repertoire OR can stand alone as continuing education for your whole team. We create bespoke learning opportunities for studios just like yours. See our highlights for details about partnerships or book a time to chat through the link in bio. Can’t wait to meet you!!

Pilates instructors! This is for you! AOP is here to help you feel more confident teaching people with pain and injury. Explore the different ways you can learn with AOP and check out our highlights above for details! Don’t miss upcoming opportunities to join the membership, Flagship courses, or upcoming workshops by getting in the mailing list (link in bio) and don’t miss all our free recourses like course preview, blog, and upcoming podcast. I’d love to know a little bit about you! Where are you located? What do you love about Pilates?

It’s true! I did it. Am I going straight to Pilates jail? Will I be struck by lightning? And I’m even classically and contrology trained 😱 so what made me step outside the box? He likes footwork as a cool down. It made him happy. We had been working hard all session on hip and leg strength (and other things) and he wanted to end with footwork because it makes him feel accomplished. It’s a familiar exercise for him and one that he had trouble doing when we first started together. So, the fact that he can use it as a cool down boosts his self efficacy and allows him choice in his workout. That’s buy in. If you’re feeling burnt out, confused about how and when to change your clients routine, don’t feel like you know what to focus on to get your clients results comment FLAGSHIP to get information about the AOP 2025 cohort for our flagship course where you learn basic exercise science principles and evidence-informed ways yo help you and your clients thrive. WE ONLY ENROLL ONCE A YEAR! And enrollment starts next week. ✅ confidence > burnout

IYKYK. Jazz feet. It’s a whole vibe

I am so excited to dive into the AOP flagship course for 2025! 2024 was a great year and we learned as much from our course graduates as they learned from us. Graduates expressed increased confidence and better knowledge base at the end of the course they were able to translate that into improved client outcomes with less burnout. Boom 💥 the 2024 cohort made magic happen. AOP also made a few changes to the 2025 course based on student feedback. This year the AOP flagship course will be more accessible than ever without sacrificing the high touch benefit of the VIP offer. This year the flagship course will: ✅Meet for 4 6 week blocks with two week breaks between modules. We will skip the summer break we had last year with in means we avoid extending the course through the holiday craziness! Course dates are March 17th-Oct 10th. ✅Weekly opportunity to MOVE your body with a movement focused class connecting theory to practice. These are non mandatory but will be recorded and posted in the learning portal ✅ONE MANDATORY MEETING PER MODULE. This is a big change for the course structure but makes the course exponentially more accessible to more people. This means that there are only 4 total mandatory meetings over the course of the 24 week. BUT I’m still accessible on a daily basis through our community chat and on a weekly basis through movement classes and office hours. The high touch flagship course only enrolls once per year! This is your chance to ⚡️upskill your anatomy and biomechanics knowledge base ⚡️fight burnout by knowing you’re giving your clients programs that meet their goals while keeping them safe ⚡️become the go-to PILATES instructor for post rehab in your area and increase your revenue Want more info?? Comment FLAGSHIP to get in the mailing list!

When the glute med contracts during single leg stance it asks the flexed hip to lift a little so the glut med on the extended hip can shorten. This means that in single leg stance, push downs and lunges on the chair the flexed hip is going to be higher than the extended hip. When the hips are reaching way out to the side to lift the pedal (last clip) it’s not an alignment issue, it’s a load issue. The clients body is telling you it’s too difficult for them today and you need to add more support rather than correct alignment. PMID: 19910807

True story. When understanding anatomy and biomechanics and being able to explain them to your clients in an easy, digestible, and meaningful way can help them reduce pain and discomfort in an exercise, everyone wins. Has understanding anatomy helped you and your clients?

Is the glute bridge a “good” exercise for strengthening the glutes? The bridge is a great entry point for someone just starting to explore landing their glutes. But, is it objectively a good glute building exercise? Only if we use it as a starting point rather than an end point. Why? Muscles need LOAD through mechanical tension to build strength. The glute bridge generally doesn’t offer enough load to continue to build muscle strength for anyone other than the very beginner trainee. There are many ways we can progress a glute bridge (add external load like weights, take one foot away, change the angle of the knee) but we might think of better glute building exercises we could add right away, like the upright squat, which offers more mechanical tension and more muscle building potential in a very simple movement. In reality there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ l exercises, just ones that meet our clients goals more effectively than others. When we understand clients goals, anatomy, and biomechanics we can choose exercises that more closely align with our clients needs.

I am so excited to dive into the AOP flagship course for 2025! 2024 was a great year and we learned as much from our course graduates as they learned from us. Graduates expressed increased confidence and better knowledge base at the end of the course they were able to translate that into improved client outcomes with less burnout. Boom 💥 the 2024 cohort made magic happen. AOP also made a few changes to the 2025 course based on student feedback. This year the AOP flagship course will be more accessible than ever without sacrificing the high touch benefit of the VIP offer. This year the flagship course will: ✅Meet for 4 6 week blocks with two week breaks between modules. We will skip the summer break we had last year with in means we avoid extending the course through the holiday craziness! Course dates are March 17th-Oct 10th. ✅Weekly opportunity to MOVE your body with a movement focused class connecting theory to practice. These are non mandatory but will be recorded and posted in the learning portal ✅ONE MANDATORY MEETING PER MODULE. This is a big change for the course structure but makes the course exponentially more accessible to more people. This means that there are only 4 total mandatory meetings over the course of the 24 week. BUT I’m still accessible on a daily basis through our community chat and on a weekly basis through movement classes and office hours. The high touch flagship course only enrolls once per year! This is your chance to ⚡️upskill your anatomy and biomechanics knowledge base ⚡️fight burnout by knowing you’re giving your clients programs that meet their goals while keeping them safe ⚡️become the go-to PILATES instructor for post rehab in your area and increase your revenue Want more info?? Comment FLAGSHIP to get in the mailing list!

I had persistent intermittent SIJ pain for years. Nothing seemed to change the pain until I started squatting under load. So why did side overs irritate my SI but front squats didn’t? 2 things to think about here. 1. The SIJ is meant to bear and distribute load. As we compressively load the spine in a front what the SIJ is able to distribute the load throughout the pelvic girdle. In sideovers we’re asking in SI to bear lateral load, not compressive load, and the SIJ is not as good at distributing and withstanding lateral load. 2. The sacrum moves into nutation/flexion as the pelvis moves into a posterior tilt. Nutation is the closed pack position and is therefore able to bear more load. Thinking about a slight tuck of the pelvis in sideovers may help clients feel their SIJ less. This is not a prescription to cure SIJ pain, it’s a biomechanical explanation for why some people might not feel comfortable in something like sideovers or lunges but would benefit from higher loads in squatting.

How do different loads make the same movement work different muscles?? Position relative to load! When working in a body weight exercise the load is always gravity. Gravity is there on Saturday and it’s there on Sunday. It’s there when we’re lying down or standing up. Gravity in scissors makes our hip flexors flex the hip because gravity is the load we have to overcome. It’s the heaviest load in the picture. But, what if we change the load? What if the bigger load is coming from the springs? And our body is now in a whole different relationship to the heaviest load?? In the same movement we work the hip extensors instead of the flexors. Understand where the load is relative to the movement and you’ll understand what is happening in the body. Want to understand how to apply these types of concepts to your teaching? Comment FLAGSHIP to get info about the 2025 enrollment for the AOP flagship course!