FAQ

1) These movement plans are meant to give you a place to jump off from if you’re just getting started, not prescribe a strict schedule. Feel free to adjust how you use the catalog according to how your body feels and what other physical practices you’ve been doing in addition to HPS.

2) Gentle consistency>motivation any day of the year. Some days you won’t feel like getting on your mat, but maintaining a regular practice, even if you opt to do a shorter/more gentle class will set you up for long term progress. You can utilize the bespoke filter system to help you stay on schedule while listening to your body.

While pilates is technically low impact enough for many people to do everyday without overtraining, keeping your mind engaged is just as important as your core. For this reason, I suggest switching up which muscle group you’re focusing on each day, so you’re able to show up fresh to each workout both physically, and mentally.

Fitness culture encourages us to believe “more is more”, but in reality that’s only not true (no recovery time= no progress) but it can encourage you to develop a toxic relationship with wellness. Give yourself at least one full day a week to engage in some sort of movement that isn’t “fitness” like a long podcast walk or an impromptu kitchen dance party.

If you do a mix of HPS classes and content from other platforms/other IRL studios, your best bet is to pay attention to the anatomical focus of the class and swap it out 1:1.

For example, if you sign up for an in person Abs + Ass class at your local studio on a Tuesday, try not to choose a HPS Core or HPS Lower Body class on Wednesday. This gives your muscles time to recover before fatiguing them again so you can build muscle. It can be challenging to predict the programming of an in person class if it’s not given in the class description, so I usually assume it will be a full body focus in that case and aim to make the following day my rest day in that case.

Remember to think of this structure “as a tool, not a rule” and don’t beat yourself up if you end up working the same muscle group two days in a row, after all, you can’t control everything!

As a certified prenatal and postpartum corrective exercise specialist, I specifically created a collection with prenatal/postpartum recovery needs in mind. These classes are tagged in the Prenatal/Postpartum category. All prenatal friendly workouts are also appropriate for postpartum recovery.

If you are pregnant or recently postpartum, I do not recommend taking HPS classes that are not marked prenatal/postpartum friendly as they may include contraindicated exercises like forward crunching and planking that can exacerbate diastasis recti. However, everyone comes to class with a different amount of connection to their core, body awareness, and experience level, meaning one size is definitely not fit all.

If your doctor has cleared you for pilates but you’re still not sure if you have an abdominal separation or if you can move on to the general classes that involve curl ups or planks, shoot me an email at hi@helenphelanstudio.com and we can do a complimentary virtual DR assessment!