At first I was a little skeptical of this 'pilates.' I had done some yoga on my own in the past and really enjoyed the flexibility and pain-free lower-back it provided me, but pilates just sounded weird. I understand the whole hippie appeal that yoga targets; pilates on the other hand just sounds like some fugazish bs. I didn't want to waste my time trying to make fugazi hippie GAINZ that would simply never manifest. But at the behest of a dear pal and Nellie GAINZ, I decided it was time to give it a college try. I think the "don't judge a book by its cover" corollary applied.
Here are some other reasons why I decided to try pilates: (1) I really had no clue what it was and as a certified GAINZ-maker my creed mandates I try all 'GAINZ' at least once, (2) Nellie was REALLY excited about it since she had a good experience with 'active stretching' in the past, and (3) my pal also really recommended it after trying a couple of sessions for his lower-back rehab.
Once I overcame my fears of some smelly hippie practicing downward facing dog style on the mat next me, I picked out a particular Monday night (a bad MNF game that night) that worked for us and we made the journey to the gym.
I'm pretty sure I had a panic attack on the drive over.
I probably even tried to back out (smelly hippie practicing downward facing doggie style flashbacks).
We finally arrived and I was terrified. As we entered the group training room, I spotted Pal and his gf. I pretended not to be afraid.
And then class started. The instructor started us out with some type of wild arm flapping whilst sitting in a leant back position. The point of this movement was to keep the core tight and warm up the upper-body with the arm flapping while controlling breathing. It was pretty easy for most in class. Next, we did some one-legged poses while wiggling the free leg. These poses focused on balance and flexibility. Again, pretty easy….for me anyway.
As class went on, the exercises became a little more difficult as evidenced by the sweat on the soccer moms’ collective brow. Yours truly wasn’t phased. But it wasn’t because this was some kind of sissy workout. I wasn’t phased because, as time went on, I realized that I already incorporate each exercise, or some variation thereof, in my workouts. I’m really not trying to brag, but I was somewhat impressed that my workouts have become so diverse that they include pilates staples without me even knowing it.
We moved on to some ‘active bridging and planking’ which basically entails keeping our torsos tight and suspended by our various limbs while working and stretching whatever free limbs we had left. It was definitely a total body workout. We even did some ab crunches.
Class ended with one final plank hold for about a minute. Most students were melting at that point. I was still kewl, and so was Nellie (we’re legit). Pal was winded but hung in there…I can see why he needed the class: his core was not strong and contributed to his back issues. It’s great when one can recognize a weakness and attack it head on. That’s what cafeGAINZ is all about.
Here’s my final take on beginner pilates: If you don’t work out regularly, it is a GREAT way to ease yourself back into getting exercise because it’s not overly strenuous and develops the building blocks for GAINZ: flexibility, balance, and core strength. Also, even if you do get regular exercise, a beginner pilates class can be used as baseline to measure the GAINZ building blocks. Thus, if the class is too challenging, one would understand that their current GAINZplan is lacking. If the class is too easy, rest assured you are making well-rounded GAINZ. Obviously, Wesay found the latter to be the case. I hope all of you reach that milestone as well!
May your GAINZ be plentiful and diverse,
-Wesay GAINZ
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