Z-Health!

Pilates at the Plaza is not only a studio for movement coaching and Pilates training. An essential component of our work at Pilates at the Plaza is Z-Health.

 

Z-Health is an exercise system created by Dr. Eric Cobb for training the nervous system. It offers you an effective approach to optimize your health and your movement performance, and to live pain free.

 

The Z-Health focus on the nervous system is so successful because the nervous system is the governing system of our bodies along with being the fastest system. It is also the most stable and as we now know can learn and adapt at any age.

 

What this means is we can make changes quickly and efficiently that are long lasting. These can be changes in range of motion (ROM), strength, coordination, speed, agility, accessible activity, concentration, and decrease levels of pain.

 

The nervous system controls muscles, heart and lungs, and can give you your most graceful athletics and enjoyable movement ever, regardless of age or previous experience. By communicating directly with your brain and central nervous system, Z-Health opens the way to moving with energy and vitality.

 

Z-Health engages the nervous system through joint ROM exercises called Joint Mobility Drills. These movements are a specific pathway to your brain that encourage better movement choices.

 

Joints are surrounded by dense populations of nerve endings. These nerve endings tell your body where it is in the environment and how fast is it moving, and what movement is safe to perform. You enliven these nerve endings by moving specifically at the joints to improve feedback to your brain about where your bones and joints are in relation to each other.  These concepts may seem simple but they are revolutionary.  The shift of focus to what is happening at your joints will transform your movement experiences, athleticism and pure enjoyment of kinetics.

 

The better the information provided to your brain, the more optimal movement choices it will make. You improve your form, your function, your potential, your enjoyment, and you get out of pain.

 

Z-Health can look like many different movement disciplines because the training is based on the totality of the nervous system and how it moves the body. Some of the movements will look familiar. Some will seem odd because we target some very important joints that are often overlooked.

 

The movements do require consistent repetition and focused attention when performing them. The rewards are multiple physically and mentally.

 

Each person and their unique body and nervous system is the foundation of Z-Health. It is your body that determines and teaches us what it needs the most at any given time.

 

As most of you know, my basic promise as your trainer is that we form a partnership – you bring your experience and what you are feeling. I bring my training and skills and experience, but your body is the teacher.  My motto is: “Everyone is an artist.”  I see you as graceful, comfortable, skilled and efficient moving beings.  You creatively develop an active relationship with your body.

 

Dr. Cobb’s motto is: “Everyone is an athlete.”  The emphasis is on you and your athletic performance, not on arbitrary or standardized goals. This is why I feel this system is compatible with what we do at Pilates at the Plaza. It is a system of the body that holistically encompasses the entire body: its inner workings and its outer manifestations of movement.  As a benefit your workouts go with you outside the studio to your daily life.

 

I have completed the four levels of certification for Z-Health. These are listed below along with the skills.

 

R-Phase (Re-education, Restoration, Rehabilitation)

 

R-Phase certification is the foundational six-day Z-Health program. It trains the core of Z-Health:

 

• Functional Anatomy
• The Neurology that Governs Human Movement
• The R-Phase Dynamic Joint Mobility Series
• The Ultra-Efficient Dynamic Assessment Process

 

I-Phase (Integration)

 

This certification, designed to be the continuation of R-Phase, beings a shift from joint isolation and range-of-motion training to integrated full-body movement patterns. In addition, I-Phase trains the other major controlling factors of movement and posture: the visual, vestibular (inner ear), and myofascial systems.

 

I-Phase skills include:

 

• Advanced Joint Mobility Drills
• Mirror Image Movement Training and Assessment
• Visual Training and Assessment
• Vestibular Training and Assessment
• Neuro-Myfascial Training and Assessment

 

S-Phase (Sports Performance)

 

The Z-Health motto is, “Everyone is an athlete!” This course covers in intense detail the training drills, program design, coaching techniques, and assessment skills for the seven core athletic attributes:

 

• Visual Perceptual Skills
• Linear Speed Development
• Lateral Movement / Speed Development
• Power Generation
• Z-Based Plyometrics
• Position-Specific Z-Health Dynamic Joint Mobility
• Athletic Assessment Skills

 

The dramatic changes in performance from S-Phase training are so powerful that the theme of this course is: “Giving Athletes The Unfair Advantage!”

 

T-Phase (Therapy)

 

T-Phase blends theory, assessment, and functional neurology concepts with specific myofascial mobility drills to impact multiple body systems. T-Phase skills include:

 

• Pressure Checking
• Neuromechanic Drills
• Respiration
• Scar Assessment
• Cranial Mobility
• Chronic vs. Acute Pain
• Palpation Skills

 

Fellow Pilates at the Plaza Trainers Lisa Yang and Mary Reid have embarked on their journey through Z-Health Certification as well. So you see, we’re hard at work learning this revolutionary way of addressing the body as a whole, and you as an athlete.

 

Come take advantage of all the wonderful things Z-Health has in store for you through your partners at Pilates at the Plaza. You will be amazed at how instantaneously your body responds to the trainings!