Approximately 3 months ago I decided that I wanted to bring Pilates to Narromine. I had attended a lot of classes while I was in Perth and had always loved it but somehow had never remembered the amount of work I had put into a class. For the course, I had to do a fair bit of work at home. This included completing a Pilates DVD at least 20 times, some theory study on the body and getting to know the Pilates exercises.
With all of my prep work completed I headed to the airport early Friday morning for what I knew was going to be a physically challenging weekend.
What is Pilates? Pilates is an exercise system developed in the 1920's by German-born fitness guru Joseph Pilates. He devised a unique sequence of movements that worked the mind and muscle in harmony. He attracted a large following of dancers who took up Pilates for its ability to create long, lean muscles and a strong, streamlined physique.
Pilates is popular amongst top athletes and Hollywood stars. It has also become popular amongst Physiotherapists as a rehabilitation tool as more and more research concludes just how important core stability and strength is in injury management.
The principles of Pilates center on the participant. Concentration, centering, breathing, control, precision, flowing movement, isolation and routine. It isn't about how many you can do it's about how well you can do them. This type of exercise is low impact there is no running or jumping but the amount of effort that you put into a single repetition of an exercise will surprise you.
So how have I gone for the past 2 months preparing for the course? Teamed with a clean eating lifestyle of course I firstly noticed the pain. For someone who does so much regular exercise and high intensity it really shocked me as to how sore I felt, don't let this turn you away though because you know that you are completely using those muscles and activating them completely. Physically I have noticed that I have leaner legs, a smaller waistline and more definition throughout my whole body. My only exercise over this time was Pilates, Fighting Fit classes and the occasional run.
I would recommend Pilates for anyone but if you have back, neck or shoulder issues I would get them checked out by you GP or physiotherapist. My final note is that my poor body felt those past 3 days. It also felt fantastic and you won't regret it.
Kel xx
*Published in the Narromine News 21.11.12
