Squeezu Personalised Pilates with Tina Gilbert!

Those amongst us who are not all-gym-everything, super-cardio-bunnies will understand that Hong Kong can be a scary place. As a child who grew up in the school choir rather than on the athletics team, it only took me a few days of being in HK and seeing people clad in their designer gym wear in the streets, to realise the fitness scene is thriving here. It scared the living daylights out of me.

But everybody has to start somewhere and I lucked out and got kick started with Squeezu Pilates. A Pilates virgin, I naively thought I might just be getting off lightly and that even I could breeze through a couple of hours of class on a Monday night. How wrong I was, and how glad I was wrong! The wonderful thing about Squeezu is that the classes are private – no scary gyms or studios, just nice groups of no more than 15 or so. This also means that there’s no room for cheaters, and if you aren’t squeezing your glutes together, then instructor Tina Gilbert is going to be onto you in a flash! I was thanking her for it the next day when I woke up feeling toned and energised.

Image sourced via Pinterest

The first hour was Bar Pilates, which uses a lot of ballet. It felt great to learn how to control my posture whilst toning up my abs. Tina really knows her stuff and has taught Pilates for over 15 years all over the world, from Australia to Hong Kong. Her energy is infectious and you can tell her clients feel really comfortable in her safe hands. She is also trained in orthopaedics, so if your pelvis isn’t in the right place while you’re doing those squats, she will spot it a mile off. Tina’s attention to detail is meticulous and she explains everything as you’re doing it.

It was good to understand not only how to control my breathing when I work out, but why I was doing it and how it can benefit my daily life. It is a real luxury to have such personal attention, and Tina manages to coordinate the class so that everyone is able to work to their own level. In other words, it was totally ok for me to be puffing away at level one while others were doing work outs on their tiptoes!

It felt great to be working towards my bikini body but even better to be understanding my body and how important it is to develop breathing skills. Tina is an expert in her field and Squeezu pilates stands out from the crowd!

Squeezu, Tina teaches at several locations around Hong Kong, 6778 3289; www.squeezu.hk

Top image sourced via Shutterstock