Individual attention with the enriched environment of a small group class
About Mindy
Dr Mindy (PhD), your trainer, has been a practicing Pilates devotee since 1998. She gained her qualifications as a Pilates Instructor and has been teaching Pilates since 2016.
Hailing originally from PNG, Mindy’s working life spans careers in Nursing, Industrial Advocacy, Academia, Qld Government WHS Inspector and Auditor, and finally Consultant and Auditor in WHS, Quality and Environment Compliance and Management. Her school years saw her working for her father at the Skyline Drive-in and, then later in Australia at KFC and a chicken farm collecting eggs and shovelling chook poo on alternate weekends. Mindy started her nursing career at age 18 yrs.
Back surgery at the age of 21 years, forced a change in career from nursing and Mindy went back to school and then University and while working full time, undertook her Bachelor of Business, then post graduate qualifications in Management, and in 2000 gained a PhD in Government with a study of organisational behaviour, all while lecturing and writing for undergraduate and post graduate courses for several Universities in NSW and Queensland.
An interview with Dr Mindy Thorpe
When I had my first Pilates assessment 22 years ago, I was active at the gym regularly doing circuits, weights and boxing with pads…. all the good stuff for fitness, and walking my fur family twice daily. I was very active growing up and had been involved in competition Judo since I was 8 years old. At the age of 20 years, I had a fight with a patient trolley and lost, rupturing 3 lumbar discs that resulted in surgery. Post-surgery, I was permitted to walk and swim – no other sports were allowed. For years I swam, and I had dogs so always walked as well. Then as study and work commitments changed, swimming was much harder to get to, but I was still walking and had started going to a gym. Overall, I felt pretty strong but had reoccurring lower back and hip pain that would flare up every month or so then settle with physiotherapy when it was really irritating me.
After one bout of pain and treatment, my Physiotherapist asked me to try out Pilates. During my Pilates assessment movements like squat and balance were tested and my performance was great. Then I was asked to do a side lying glute exercise. Well, it was not easy, within a few repetitions my right leg struggled to lift away from my body, it felt cramped and weak. The other leg was not much better – the problem – my glutes and my hips! I had been to my gym a few days earlier and didn’t have any problems at all with the exercises that included some heavy sparring with pads and the leg press and bike.
As the Pilates assessment and exercises progressed it became obvious my hips were struggling with small, controlled movements.
I started regularly doing Pilates 1-2 times a week and within a few classes I was totally hooked and feeling so much better, even the back and hip pain had receded. After a few months I noticed my posture was improving and I was standing taller and no longer needed to look at the ground in front of me when I was walking my dogs. My range of motion in my back improved and the constant niggling hip pain disappeared. I found that Pilates was the key ingredient for me to be pain free and active.
I recommend Pilates to everyone. It stands out as a unique tool for anyone of any age, including athletes and gym junkies; those looking to prevent injury; busy workers wanting to fix low back, neck or shoulder pain; or people with medical conditions or chronic injuries that makes regular gym training too difficult. And yes, it is great for Arthritis as well!
Three major reasons why I love Pilates:
- Pilates is key in activating the small stabilizer muscles. When I used to just go to the gym my hip weakness was not obvious, I could lift weight and was leg pressing 110Kgs easily, using the bigger muscles in my legs. But my hip rotators were weak which led to regular hip pain. Pilates highlighted this and my instructor gave me exercises specifically to build stability.
- Flexibility is defined as “the ability of a muscle or muscle groups to lengthen passively through a range of motion”, whereas mobility is the “ability of a joint to move actively through a range of motion. Pilates focuses on both mobility and flexibility. While many of us look at flexibility as a physical goal, mobility is your ability to control your body into end of range movement. Flexibility won’t contribute to athletic performance if you struggle to control the movement. Pilates works muscles to increase the range of motion and strengthens your body. This makes it ideal for people who feel stiff and tight after exercise, something that you do not feel after a session of Pilates!
- Pilates has a strong emphasis on core strength, a key factor in decreasing musculoskeletal pain and increasing pelvic floor function. In many sports, improved core strength helps generate more power, explosive force and prevent injury. I’ve noticed with regular Pilates my ability to hold my core while walking and doing other activities has greatly improved.
Pilates is an amazing gentle but very effective exercise; a means to get better at your sport; or even just to try something different. Regular Pilates activates those stabilizer muscles, improving your mobility and flexibility; and developing a strong core for improved posture; helping you to be involved in, well life!
I am humbled to get to see the positive impact of Pilates for my clients every day through teaching here at Barefoot Pilates Studio.
Fitness Qualifications
Personal Trainer (Cert IV)
Pilates Instructor (Studio Pilates International) – with recognised certifications in
- Advanced Diploma Pilates mat work
- Pilates with ball, band and circle
- Pilates with foam rollers
- Pilates for back pain
- Pilates for pregnancy
- Matwork programming and progressions
- Boxilates
Pilates exercises are performed slowly and concisely in a controlled manner where we learn to activate those “other muscles” that help us to perform daily functional activities without injury
