Pilates Training with Faith Levine

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“As a Medical Massage Practitioner I believe in incorporating stability, mobility, & targeted muscle activation into your everyday life. Pilates is an amazing way to do this and Faith’s passion and knowledge of Pilates is astounding. Her gentle and graceful personality is intoxicating. Her professionalism and attention to detail keeps me loyal. Pilates is already Physical Therapy in motion and her dance background brings and fresh and needed perspective to the field. She’s seriously the best!”

-Ainslee W.

SKIP TO BOOKING/REGISTRATION

Hi, I’m Faith Levine.
faith levine
I love sharing my passion for health and physicality with every body. 
Movement has always been woven into my life; I was running around the West Virginia farm where I was born, trying to keep up with my big sisters, as soon as I could walk. I started my formal dance training at 6 years old and started teaching dance at 18.
 I began working as a personal trainer and group exercise instructor in 2005 after graduating from the University of Utah with a B.F.A in Modern Dance.
Over the years I have taught Modern Dance technique, yoga, running, strength training, HIIT/interval training, Mat and Equipment Pilates, and Dance Conditioning and incorporate any or all of those movement styles into my classes and sessions today, depending on what YOU need. I have taught in corporate gyms, independent gyms, community centers, community colleges, universities, boutique fitness studios, yoga studios, and am now operating independently, teaching virtually and in-person in Charlottesville, VA.
Through decades of personal study and working with amazing mentors and clients I have seen time and time again that exercising with a keen awareness of form is paramount to deriving absolute benefits from the work.
I incorporate dance and yoga principles, aspects of traditional strength training, and my knowledge of Interval/HIIT training into sessions that are primarily a Contemporary Pilates practice. My classes and training sessions emphasize working through correct posture and alignment and are individually tailored to suit participants needs.

I strive to be a “teaching assistant” along the path to you becoming the ultimate authority on your body. 

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BOOK PILATES EQUIPMENT PRIVATES HERE

THRIVE IN 15 REGISTRATION

BOOK VIRTUAL PRIVATES HERE

“I am so happy that I found Faith at the beginning of my Pilates practice! Faith is deeply knowledgeable about Pilates and other forms of movement and is a warm and encouraging teacher. More than that, she’s able to effectively apply her knowledge to an individual’s needs with a keen eye, perceptive cueing, and a holistic outlook on fitness. I’ve learned a ton about anatomy and the way bodies work just from taking her classes! Also, as someone who is more interested in functional improvement rather than changing the way my body looks, I *deeply* appreciate that I have not once heard talk of “beach bodies this” or “slimming that” in her group classes or in our private sessions. I’ve worked with Faith for just under a year and have made remarkable progress in my strength and movement patterns, and have experienced total abatement of my chronic back pain. This is particularly impressive because the majority of our time together has been virtual. You really can’t go wrong with Faith’s guidance!”

-Christine S.

Check out Gracefulfitness on YouTube for examples of my teaching style

gracefulfitness@live.com

28 Days of Planks

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Planks are an almost perfect exercise.

In fact, when you throw in some variations, they can be an absolutely perfect exercise.

“Perfect” in this context means adaptible to different abilities, promotes strength AND mobility, turn it into a Mountain Climber or Plank Jack and you even get bone-building impact work and heart strengthening cardio.

I have created a simple (but not easy!) 28 Day Plank Plan that I want to share with you.

This Plank Plan is Intermediate; it assumes that your wrists and shoulders are fine with weight-bearing, it assumes that you have a familarity with plank form, it assumes that you don’t have diastasis recti (abdominal separation), it assumes that you are free from acute or chronic low back issues that could be exacerbated by regularly loading more than your used to.

Check out this quick tutorial on Deep Abdominal Engagement for form tips.

Are you interested in a Beginner plan with options that don’t include being on your wrists/shoulders, shorter holds, more discussion on form? Let me know, I’ll happily make one!

Are you looking for a more Advanced Plank Workout? Check out this quick and hard one from my YouTube Channel.

28 Day Plank Plan

  • Plank everyday for 28 days.
  • A different plank variation for each day of the week (7 total).
  • Three sets each day-feel free to break up the sets throughout the day, especially as the time increases.
  • Increase the amount of time you do the plank each week; 20 seconds each set for week one, 30 seconds for week two, 45 seconds during week three, and finally 60 seconds for the final week.
  • Focus on form. Form over the timer. If your form starts to fail you, rest.

Day 1, do Plank #1, Day 2/Plank #2, and so on for the first 7 days. Week two, start back at Plank #1 but with longer sets.

Week One

3 sets of plank

Each set is 20 seconds (either holding or moving side to side, depending on the variation)

Week Two

3 sets of plank

Each set is 30 seconds (same as week one: hold or side-to-side)

Week Three

3 sets of plank

Each set is 45 seconds (same as week one: hold or side-to-side)

Week Four

3 sets of plank

Each set is 60 seconds (same as week one: hold or side-to-side)

Have fun with this! Recruit “accountability buddies” to plank with you, take pictures of your daily plank, share, and tag #gracefulfitness so I can give you public props!

THRIVE in 15; Pilates for YOU

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I fell in love with yoga curtesy of a well worn Kathy Smith VHS in 1997.

To this day, I can quote the cheesiest yet true Baron Baptiste and Bryan Kest moments from their late-’90s Power Yoga videos.

There was a brief time around 19 when I was magnetized to belly dancing. Living in rural West Virginia made my in-person class options rather slim but the “Belly Dancing for Beginners” video my aunt gave me for my birthday quenched my thirst.

When I lived in Peru for a year and couldn’t afford a gym membership or internet, I begged visiting friends to bring me Pilates DVD’s and “spent time” with my favorite celebrity instructors on the regular during one of the loneliest and least healthy times of my life.

My introduction to kettlebells was the instructional video that came with my pink, plastic, sand filled first ‘bell.

Throughout my 20+ year history with ‘workout videos’, I’ve always gravitated towards the shorter ones.

Even though I would often complete several “10 Minute Solutions” (a great series by the way) at one time, I like the pace and the mental undertaking of shorter workouts.

Let’s be real; getting started is the hardest part and on the other end, not seeing a workout through to the end doesn’t have the same sense of completion and satisfaction.

In the Spring of 2021 I created my own short-format Pilates video series and call it THRIVE in 15.

THRIVE in 15 is a program of fifteen Mat Pilates workouts that are geared to improve mobility, strength, posture, and form all within 15-20 minutes.

Pilates is amazing cross training for life. Pilates exercises supports you and improves your physical capacity in everything from active/athletic endeavors to functional necessities in life like carrying groceries to sitting all day.

In my humble opinion, it is the “miracle cure” it sounds like. However, to derive the benefits, you have to do it. 😉

THRIVE in 15 AD

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?

Each Monday in November participants will receive that weeks workouts delivered via email. Once you have access to the workouts, you are free to repeat as many times as you’d like during the program. The links will expire December 6th, giving you 5 weeks to complete the 15 short workouts at least once.

WHAT PROPS DO I NEED?

All you need in a little bit of time, a little bit of floor space, and a mat or large towel or blanket plus a device/internet to access the recording.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Two dollars a workout. The THRIVE in 15 program is $30 per household, I encourage you to get other members of your household to join with you because a workout buddy is fun and encourages us to achieve our goals!

WHAT LEVEL ARE THE WORKOUTS?

This program is appropriate for anyone free of chronic or acute major illness or injury. Not every single exercise or every single repetition will be right for every participant but it is designed with a range of humans in mind.

Please feel free to ask if you have any specific questions about whether it is appropriate for you.

-Katrine Sophie, busy working mom, Vienna Austria

I am intentionally choosing to offer this program for the second time during the month of November, where things are majorly shifting in the Northern Hemisphere. As our days are getting shorter and colder & the holidays are rapidly approaching, it can be challenging to focus on our physical well being and carve out the time/energy for exercise. I want you to THRIVE during this next month, as we approach the end of another weird year for the record books.

THRIVE1-1

THRIVE in 15

15 workouts delivered via email during the month of November

$30.00

SIGN UP TODAY TO GET STARTED THIS MONDAY AND THRIVE THIS FALL!