FITNESS

Hong Kong has no shortage of people calling themselves personal trainers. The range of qualification behind that title runs from internationally certified movement specialists with fifteen years of client experience to people who completed an online course over a weekend and have been training clients for three months. The client has no reliable way of

The posture of the average Hong Kong office professional follows a pattern that is almost completely predictable. Forward head position that adds kilograms of effective load to the cervical spine with every centimetre of anterior migration. Rounded shoulders from years of forward arm reach at a keyboard. Flattened lumbar curve from sustained sitting. Shortened hip

The idea that Pilates is predominantly or exclusively a female practice is historically inaccurate, culturally persistent and physically counterproductive for the men who take it seriously. Joseph Pilates was himself a man who developed the method specifically for the physical conditioning of boxers, gymnasts and military personnel. Many of the most consistent practitioners in the

Hong Kong has more Pilates studios per square kilometre than almost any other city in Asia. From boutique single-instructor spaces in Sheung Wan to large multi-disciplinary studios in Central and Wan Chai, the range of options available to someone looking for a Pilates class in Hong Kong has never been wider. That is mostly good

The perception that Pilates is primarily a recovery or wellness practice, suitable for new mothers and people with back pain but not relevant to serious athletic performance, is one that has been comprehensively dismantled by the sports science community over the past two decades. Professional athletes across swimming, tennis, golf, rugby, gymnastics, martial arts and

Spend enough time talking to people who work in Hong Kong’s financial, legal and corporate sectors and a pattern emerges in the physical complaints they share. Chronic lower back tightness that arrives somewhere in their late twenties and becomes progressively more noticeable through their thirties. Shoulder and neck tension that accumulates through the week and