MILEY SKULL-DRESS! Miley Cyrus shows off her legs in a short skull design dress as she goes to Pilates class. The Disney starlet showed off her dark side in the macabre dress, dark boots, and round sunglasses. (Pacific Coast News)more pics Miley Cyrus (Pacific Coast News) Miley Cyrus often refers to herself as clumsy and accident-prone, and she lived up to that reputation Monday evening.After her regular Pilates work-out, Cyrus returned to her Toluca Lake home for an intimate dinner with her mom, grandma, and boyfriend Liam Hemsworth.

Unfortunately, the mellow evening was interrupted when a knife found its way into Miley's finger. Hemsworth drove his lady love to the E.R., and she was taken care of promptly. Miley left the hospital bandaged and still bleeding, but 'tis just a flesh wound. She'll recover quickly. She just needs to let someone else do the chopping in the future.

As for her earler work-out, Miley exited her Pilates studio in a rock 'n' roll style romper with a skull print and utilitarian black boots.

Check out Miley's latest Pilates outfit:

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Miley Cyrus Does Pilates, Slices Finger

As the world's greatest golfers competed last week at the Masters, Larry Novik just wanted to improve his game. He took up golf three years ago, at the relatively late age of 37, and became frustrated with his inability to play at a consistent level.

Novik, who lives in Saratoga Springs, isn't trying to become Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. He said he usually can get his score under 100, but not much lower. (Most pros can shoot in the 60s on much longer and more difficult courses.) "I was struggling as I was learning," Novik said. "Every once in a while you'd hit a flush, crisp shot and say, `I want to be able to do that again.' Mostly what my teacher was saying was my posture was slipping, for whatever reason.

"I got to talking to people about it, and they said, `You've got to get more flexible. You've got to get more core strength. You didn't grow up playing golf. Now that you're getting serious about it at this age, you've got to exercise.'?" His quest took him down a path not traveled by many golfers. Novik turned to Pilates, a body-conditioning system that helps build flexibility and posture by working core muscles.

Unlike many types of exercise that use only the big muscle groups, Pilates works the entire body. The foundation, which Pilates instructors call the "powerhouse," includes the abdomen, lower and upper back, hips, buttocks and inner thighs.

Novik is in week eight of a 10-week program at Reform, a Romana's Pilates studio that stays authentic to the Joseph Pilates method.

"We're trying to give him the flexibility and strength so he can play golf better," said Cindy Potoker, one of Novik's instructors at Reform.

"He was very tight in the upper back through his hip area, so we've been trying to strengthen that and loosen it up." Meghan Del Prete, the studio owner, said she has never played golf, but she was able to detect what Novik needed to do to reach his goals.

"I had him show me some video, and he showed me his swing," she said. "He showed me an ideal swing and how the shoulders separate from the back. He said, `If you look at my swing, you can see they don't separate as much as they should.' " Novik goes through three one-hour sessions weekly with an individual instructor. He will do numerous exercises on each piece of apparatus.

Much like a football coach, the instructor has a plan of an exercise routine for the student but may alter that in the middle of a session.

Del Prete said, "We have to really think on our feet: `The body needs this,' or `That didn't really get what I was trying to have them get out of that exercise. What is another way I can get the same result?'

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Pilates helps give golfers flexibility, strength

What do Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and many seven-foot-tall professional basketball players have in common? They all do Pilates. If you have no clue what Pilates is, or need a reminder, check out my article "What Is Pilates?"

Although I'm a fan of anything that helps you live an active, healthy lifestyle, there are plenty of myths and misconceptions floating around about Pilates, kind of like with yoga. Here are the five most popular Pilates myths:

Myth 1: Pilates Is a Good Way to Lose Weight

In the article "Does Yoga Burn Calories," you learn about several studies that have shown yoga to be relatively ineffective in directly burning calories or causing significant weight loss. While Pilates has definite benefits, its strongest suit is certainly not weight loss. A 2006 study found that body weight and body fat was not significantly affected in adult females using a regular Pilates routine, and a 2004 study found that Pilates does help improve flexibility, but does not significantly affect body composition, even after six months of training. So when it comes to pure calorie burning and fat loss, running on a treadmill, riding a bike or lifting weights will be more effective than Pilates.

But because Pilates does such a good job strengthening your core, reducing risk of injury and improving your flexibility, it will help keep you from getting sidelined with an injury -- which means you can work out more consistently. You may also be more likely to exercise in other ways, since you often find yourself visiting a gym or a health club to take Pilates class.

Myth 2: Pilates Is Only for Women

Because it does a good job strengthening lower abdominal and pelvic muscles that are important for a woman's childbearing, reproductive and urinary function, or because it doesn't involve heavy steel, grunting or large amounts of weight, Pilates is often perceived as a "women's only" activity.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Firstly, Pilates was invented by a man (Joseph Pilates). Secondly, plenty of male athletes (including yours truly) use Pilates moves as a perfect complement to weight training and cardio. Want more proof? How about Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Hugh Grant and many other male athletes and celebrities? They use Pilates to maintain core strength, flexibility and function.

Myth 3: You Need Special Machines for Pilates

It's true that one type of Pilates workout requires the use of special machines -- those strange-looking contraptions with unusual names like the Reformer, the Cadillac and the Wunda chair. These collections of springs, bars, pulleys and straps can give you a productive workout, but they're not completely necessary, because there is another type of Pilates that is done on a simple mat.

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Ben Greenfield: 5 Pilates Myths

Resolve to be Healthy party in support of Dodson House, presented by Connect Fitness, Thursday, April 5 at 7: 30 p.m. at Milestones at Park Royal Shopping Centre, West Vancouver. Admission: Free. Guests encouraged to order off the menu. Raffle tickets: $10. RSVP: chrissy@connectfitness.com. Info: http://www.connectfitness.com.

CHRISSY Ramstead knows a thing or two about healthy living.

The personal trainer and pilates instructor is the founder of Connect Fitness, a mobile fitness company offering personal and group training, and pilates classes to primarily female clients on the North Shore, Burnaby and Vancouver.

In January, the company launched an initiative entitled 12 Weeks of 2012: Resolve to be Healthy.

"We encouraged our clientele to make healthy choices in their life for 12 weeks," says Ramstead, a North Vancouver resident.

Each week, Connect posted a YouTube video and sent out its link to clients, presenting a different health tip, from using measurements rather than the scale to monitor weight loss, to cleaning out your kitchen.

The initiative was well-received and to celebrate its success, as well as the positive changes made by those who followed along, Ramstead and her fellow Connect Fitness trainers are inviting community members to a Resolve to be Healthy party April 5 at 7: 30 p.m. at Milestones in West Vancouver.

"We want to just invite the entire community, anybody who just loves health or wants to be healthy, we just want to invite them to join us in a celebration," she says. "It's totally just an open, happy, healthy celebration."

Proceeds from the event will support members of C3Church Vancouver with their visits to Dodson House in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The congregation prepares a monthly healthy meal for residents. "I have a real heart for the city and just seeing people be healthy and happy, so to join with them, for me, is to go to that place in the city where people's health has been neglected way too long," says Ramstead.

The fundraiser is an opportunity for people on the North Shore, who are "quite able to make choices and spend money on living healthfully to actually give to that community that could use a little bit of health," she adds.

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Pilates party

With some fitness regimens, that first trip to the gym can nearly kill you.

Pilates, with its emphasis on core training and an abundance of moves, works the other way.

The first time is almost the easiest, says Alycea Ungaro, author of Pilates: Body in Motion.

It gets harder after that. Once you know what to do, the bar gets higher, the demand gets harder. You see things you're doing wrong and you fix them. You work harder.

Ungaro, who has been teaching Pilates for almost 20 years, says Pilates is one of the most adaptable forms of exercise.

We have exercises for people through every decade of their life or their condition, whether they're triathletes prepping for an event or people recovering from injury or postpartum, she says. It's a very malleable means of training. You can make it as hard or as easy as you wish.

Ungaro says that the classic Pilates mat routine is known for being effective in changing one's body. But many people find the complex choreography and multiple position changes too difficult to keep up with, she says. She suggests Pilates as a circuit.

By using just a handful of key moves and reducing them to their most intense positions, Pilates can be both simple and effective.

This six-minute circuit can be repeated three times for a thoroughly challenging 20-minute routine, she says. Take a 30-second rest between each full set.

Stand tall with your legs together tightly. Keep your heels together and toes slightly apart by squeezing your glutes and hold your arms genie' style forearms crossed at chest height. Begin quickly lifting one knee up at a time, replacing them just as fast and lightly as possible. Continue for 60 seconds. Hold body still as the legs work quickly and push off the floor with each lift bending the knee sharply into the body.

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Pilates: Tough, but adaptable to the core

AVON The Athletic Club at The Westin hosts a pilates joint replacement workshop with pilates master instructor Elizabeth Larkam on April 1.

Catering to clients who have had knee and hip replacements, this workshop will feature instruction in both classical and contemporary Pilates mat sequences, followed by a demonstration and supervised practice of studio sequences on the reformer, chair with split petal, trapeze table and barrels. It will also include a mat pilates class open to all joint replacement clients, pilates instructors and the general public.

The schedule for April 1 is as follows:

8 to 9 a.m. Mat pilates class open to everyone.

9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Sequences for knee replacement patients.

1:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Sequences for hip replacement patients.

Larkam is internationally recognized as an innovator of mind-body movement techniques for therapeutic, performing arts and fitness settings. A Stanford educated gold certified pilates method alliance teacher, she has studied with many first generation pilates teachers, including Ron Fletcher, Eve Gentry, Carola Trier and Alan Herdman. Larkam is a guild-certified Feldenkrais practitioner, certified Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis instructor, Franklin Method teacher and OM Yoga instructor. She is completing a Masters of Intuitive Medicine at the Academy of Intuitive Medicine and has worked with many sports medicine patients, professional dancers, clinical and fitness professionals and soldiers at rehabilitation center worldwide.

The cost of the workshop is $250 before March 1 or $290 from March 1 through April 1. The pilates mat class is an additional $20 for attendees or $30 for the public. Workshop attendees can spend the night at The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain for a special discounted rate of $199 per night.

To register for the Pilates Joint Replacement Workshop, call 970-790-2051.

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Pilates joint replacement workshop set for April 1 in Avon

With bathing suit season already here, most people are trying to find the health regime that is going to get them looking good for the season. Tatiana Habanova, owner of The Pilates Wellness Center, is helping guide her clients to the body they always wanted with her newest venture, Barre Studio Wellington, in the Wellness Center.

Booty Barre is an energetic 55-minute class that combines the toning benefits of yoga, Pilates and dance to strengthen and stretch the body, Habanova said. The method was designed by Tracey Mallet to provide a great dance workout for people who are not dancers.

"Don't be intimated by the word 'booty,'" Habanova said. "This is a technique-orientated class; this means we use the same choreography for each class allowing participants to not only strengthen their bodies but improve their technique over time."

Habanova opened the Barre Studio last November after being certified in the Booty Barre Method.

"I saw that barre classes were quickly becoming a fitness craze in California and New York, she said. "I wanted to bring something new to Wellington and thought this would be a great fit."

"The class really takes Pilates vertical," she said. "It is a great low impact workout that produces results."

Each class has a maximum of 10 participants who line the barre, which follows the length of the room.

"We use fun pop music so the mood in the room is high energy while putting into use the core principals of Pilates and yoga. Habanova said.

Charlotte Weiness, a seasonal equestrian who travels from Stuart to work with Habanova, said she loves the barre class because the group energy is different from a one-on-one session.

"Feeding off the group's energy makes you work a lot harder," Weiness said. "I like applying what I have learned about how my body works in the one-on-one session to the workout in the class. When I do something right I feel a great sense of accomplishment."

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Wellness Center raises the 'barre' on fitness classes

Build a bridge ... concentrate on key Pilates moves for a fast workout. Photo: Jim Rice

With some fitness regimens, that first trip to the gym can nearly kill you.

Pilates, with its emphasis on core training and an abundance of moves, works the other way.

"The first time is almost the easiest," says Alycea Ungaro, owner of Real Pilates in New York and author of Pilates: Body in Motion.

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"It gets harder after that. Once you know what to do, the bar gets higher, the demand gets harder. You see things you're doing wrong and you fix them. You work harder."

Ungaro, who has been teaching Pilates for almost 20 years and opened her first studio in 1996, says Pilates is one of the most adaptable forms of exercise.

"We have exercises for people through every decade of their life or their condition, whether they're triathletes prepping for an event or people recovering from injury or postpartum," she says.

"It's a very malleable means of training. You can make it as hard or as easy as you wish."

Ungaro says that the classic Pilates mat routine is known for being effective in changing one's body. But many people find the complex choreography and multiple position changes too difficult to keep up with, she says. So she suggests trying Pilates as a circuit.

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Pilates made easy

My wife recently announced we were going on a wellness plan.

"Does that mean no more Nutty Bars for lunch?" I said.

No. It means we have started taking Pilates classes. Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century with an emphasis on melding mind and body. After doing Pilates for about a month, we've learned about melding muscles we never knew we had.

We are taking classes one night a week at NuFit For You, owned by the amazing Angie Asmann. Angie won the Dancing With The Local Stars competition a year ago, so not only is she smart as a whip and totally in shape, she's also graceful and moves like a cat. So does NuFit instructor Emily Lopez, who can stretch her legs to the ceiling and make the various positions look easy.

Pilates is based around stretching your "core" -- mainly the muscles that attach to your spine.

"The nice thing about Pilates is that it's for any fitness level. You don't have to be in super great shape to start," Angie points out. "It's about making your muscles longer and stronger."

Angie trained the Quincy University men's volleyball team in Pilates last year, and the team didn't have a single injury all season.

The lessons involve different movements of arms, legs, back, stomach and neck. They are done either flat on your back, stomach or on your side.

You are supposed to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, or is that the other way around? Anyway, it ends up being gasping through the nose and mouth after trying to do a Pilates pushup.

There might not be anything more chilling than Emily starting the class by saying, "I learned some new techniques over the weekend." This usually involves something diabolical like "The Clam," which makes the muscles in your thigh quiver like jelly and may mean you will have trouble sitting, standing, living and breathing for the next few days.

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Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, SportsHART: Pilates is great for your core, once you stop gasping for ...

CHICAGOWith some fitness regimens, that first trip to the gym can nearly kill you.

Pilates, with its emphasis on core training and an abundance of moves, works the other way.

"The first time is almost the easiest," says Alycea Ungaro, owner of Real Pilates in New York (real pilatesnyc.com) and author of "Pilates: Body in Motion" (DK Publishing). "It gets harder after that. Once you know what to do, the bar gets higher, the demand gets harder. You see things you're doing wrong and you fix them. You work harder."

Ungaro, who has been teaching Pilates for almost 20 years and opened her first studio in 1996, says Pilates is one of the most adaptable forms of exercise.

"We have exercises for people through every decade of their life or their condition,whether they're triathletes prepping for an event or people recovering from injury or postpartum," she says. "It's a very malleable means of training. You can make it as hard or as easy as you wish."

Ungaro says that the classic Pilates mat routine is known for being effective in changing one's body. But many people find the complex choreography and multiple position changes too difficult to keep up with, she says. So she suggests trying Pilates as a circuit.

"By using just a handful of key moves and reducing them to their most intense positions, Pilates can be both simple and effective."

This six-minute circuit can be repeated three times for a thoroughly challenging 20-minute routine, she says. Take a 30-second rest after each full set.

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Unlike training forms, Pilates progresses from easy to hard