Joseph Pilates
I paid my money yesterday, all $450 of it, to begin a session of 10 private Pilates lessons.
I know.
That's a lot of JCrew clothes. :)
But...like many of my other ideas, I have this lingering idea (perhaps fantasy) that if I take private Pilates lessons, I'll get into the best shape of my life.
I also have a secret desire to teach Pilates, which makes no sense, as I've never actually taken classes. My experience with Pilates is based on a few DVDs I own and, frankly, celebrities who rave about how Pilates transformed their bodies (and, by proxy, their lives). Oh, and my horse trainer in NC began taking private lessons after her back gave out and we had to dead-lift her across the bed and finally cart her off the ER via ambulance. She raves, as well, and says that Pilates has helped her riding immensely.
I also like the Pilates look. I don't like a muscular-looking frame on a woman. I know....it's simply a matter of personal preference. To be honest, I don't like that muscular look on a man either, unless he's some kind of badass Special Forces operator who might actually use that muscular frame to do his badass military work, but those are few and far between. Mostly, I just don't like the look of people who seem to spend a lot of time in the gym. Tan. Buff. Stocky.
They don't look graceful or fluid, and I like graceful and fluid.
For several years now, I have managed to keep a healthy weight and pretty toned body doing online workouts and walking/riding horses. The online workouts are a combination of Pilates, yoga and ballet (Barre 3), and they're just the loveliest exercises I've ever done. I would keep going with them, as they've yielded good results and only cost me $15/month, but I put the Pilates lessons on the list, and I'm committed to the list.
Plus, I want to see what personal training will really do. Will it erase my stubborn saddle-bags? Will my core be a bastion of strength and tightness? Will I walk taller and have better posture? Will I simply glide through life?
Yes, I'm aware that I put a lot of hope and expectation into these things. That is one of the reasons I've committed to this list: to see if all that hope and expectation pans out. So far, it has in some cases, and it hasn't in others. That, in and of itself, has been worth engaging in this whole list at all. I've been shocked to discover disappointment in some experiences and unexpected excitement and passion in others.
I have no idea where I'll land with Pilates.
How is it going so far? Well, I've had two lessons. My first was a try-it-out, starter lesson, which was free. I met Mark, the Pilates instructor, in his studio in the back of a confusing gym set-up. Few people. A few machines. A random employee or two. I have no idea what's going on there. Mark is in a corner in the back, with a set-up including all sorts of machines and a set of free weights.
I'm not going to lie: I expected white-washed wood floors, minimalist art and maybe some scented candles burning while Enya or Dar Williams played in the background. Isn't that what Gwyneth Paltrow would workout in?
But, Mark's set-up is kind of surfer-dude decides to settle down in his hometown and make a go of it teaching women how to tighten their core.
Either way, Mark is the only option in my town, and I liked him right away, so I figured I wouldn't push it with expectations of Parisian candles.
The first lesson was good. It wasn't difficult. I wasn't huffing and puffing. I didn't feel pushed to the max. But I also don't feel that with Barre 3, and I've seen consistent results, so I'm beginning to discover that exercise need not be torture to be useful. I left the session with a slight glow and the feeling that I could definitely do 10 lessons, no problem.
My second session was yesterday. I suppose because I was actually paying for it, and because he had seen what I was capable of doing, he got down to brass tacks. We started with the 100, and when he counted up to 99 I thought to myself: if he goes any further, I'm out.
It was hard. He took me through exercise after exercise for the next hour, amping up the intensity when he saw what was easy for me. He asked, toward the end: is there any part of your body you feel we haven't work?
I said: my butt.
He looked surprised. But truthfully, my butt felt like it had been sitting out the entire time. My quads were on fire. My core was engaged. My knees were kind of achy. I worked my lats and shoulders. But my butt seemed like it was simply benched. If I'd like to 'work on' one area of my body, it's the butt, which is getting closer to my knees than my belly button. I'd like to reverse that action and also, while we're at it, whittle down those outer thighs. So far, in all my exercise experience, nothing has done this. So, I have pretty big hopes for Pilates.
We did a few more workouts, to target my butt, and I said I felt it was working, but it wasn't. I never felt my butt engage like I do when I do the Barre 3 videos. Ever.
And, this morning, I'm not sore. At all. Now, I don't think being sore is the end-all-be-all of exercise. In fact, I don't believe in over-training. But to not be sore after a hardcore hour workout with a private instructor? That is a red flag to me. Particularly when I am often sore after doing Barre 3 workouts, and they're typically only 30 minutes long.
What gives?
I have no idea. Maybe Pilates isn't a sore kind of workout? Maybe I'll be sore tomorrow? Maybe I just need to stick with it, and it will click one day?
I will be very interested to see if having a private instructor will yield significantly better results than my own workouts. If it does, I may stick with it. I'm not riding horses this year, so I can afford to fill that space (my husband would argue otherwise). If it isn't significantly better, I'll go back to daily Barre 3 workouts and accept the fact that a few inches on my thighs is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
I'll report back after 10 sessions. To keep this interesting, I'm going to measure my waist and thighs. I don't care about my calves and biceps or my neck. I can't get that detailed.
I'm also going to eat clean, because eating has been dodgy (at best) since we moved. I felt healthier and had more energy in NC, eating well and riding horses.
That is my long-winded SITREP.
I'll report back. Also, I have other plans. I'm starting a new life-series. I know. What is a life-series? Oh...just you wait.
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