LET’S TALK ABOUT PILATES
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with pilates… Apologies. Another apology is for slacking in the “request a post” department. Although I read every blog post request that comes in, it’s been a while since I actually followed up with a request. I dig into the folder every now and again but one came in today that made me want to reply straight away.
I started Pilates about 7/8 months ago and my main reason was to strengthen my back. I’ve always suffered from a bad back and it held me back in sports at school and when I started working after University I really suffered from sitting at desks all day. It’s just always been a problem and I once slipped a disk opening the shutters at work! Every time I went to the physio he’d ask what exercises I’d been doing and recommended starting Pilates but I always put it off. My mum has been doing Pilates for six years and always did general exercise classes before that (for about 25 years!) so I joined her class on her recommendation. When Pilates became hugely popular a couple of years ago I was always put off but the idea of “trendy Pilates”, classes full of girls in expensive workout gear, drinking healthy smoothies and wearing a full face of makeup. That’s fine if you’re into it, but it’s not for me.
The class I do is local and small, there is usually a maximum of 5 of us in the class and we all turn up makeup free in whatever workout clothes we have. For me the most important thing is that I do the exercises correctly otherwise I will injure my back and there would be no point in doing it. Pilates involves such subtle movements that if you don’t do it right, it won’t benefit you in the slightest. I work really well in an intimate group where the teacher walks round and assesses each person individuality, making sure they’re doing it right and can easily have an overview of the class.
I never really got into Yoga, it’s the “be one with yourself” side of things I can’t quite handle. Pilates for me is great because it’s all about the exercising and building inner strength, it’s not really to do with the mind. You definitely get those extra benefits of feeling great and feeling healthy, but that’s a result of the strength. The better you get at Pilates, the harder the exercises feel because when you’re really using the right muscles, it hurts. It’s a bit like when kids try to do sit ups… they make it look so easy! But in Pilates, a sit up is so subtle and when you position your pelvis in the right place and hold in your stomach and bum, it’s like you’ve never really done a proper sit up in your life. All those years paying a gym membership wasted because you weren’t doing the exercises correctly.
I have the world’s tightest hamstrings, I can’t touch my toes, I can’t lift my leg up straight, I can’t even sit with my legs flat to the ground and my back up straight! When I started I was completely useless and even eight month’s later I still struggle a lot, but the improvement is definitely visible. I’m much stronger, my hamstrings are slowly getting there and I can now “roll like a ball” which I could never do before.
Pilates isn’t cheap, not if you want a good instructor and especially if you want to do reformer pilates (which uses a machine and is really good!). For me, it’s instead of a gym membership so I don’t mind paying for it once a week. The great thing about Pilates is that you can do it yourself at home in between classes (I really should start doing that!) but I would recommend if you’ve never done it before, do a few beginner classes to make sure you’re doing it right. There are tutorials online, but I personally worry that without an instructor assessing you, you won’t do it right. I often feel like I’m doing it right, but I’m not.
So that’s where I’m at with Pilates and I hope this was helpful to those of you thinking of starting. If you have any other questions, tweet me @lilypebbles and if you’d like to request a blog post yourself, send it in here.
Thanks Jenny Louise for requesting this post!
