Pilates 101

I have recognized my need for increased physical activity for some time now. At one point, I had a personal trainer. Ok, I did loose weight, inches and gain strength, BUT, it wasn't fun and that was also before I discovered The Pioneer Woman. So, I thought surely I could get toned and maintain my goal weight in a more enjoyable way. Then one day, my friend told me about a neighborhood pilates class. Hmmm....



And then there was this mental picture of what I would look like...



I signed up anyway and now with eight weeks of classes behind me I'm feelin' good. So today, we all arrived at class knowing that we were going to do some ball work... you know, like this:



Minus the lush backdrop and sand and well, ok the smile might have been missing too. ( I was working out for goodness sake!)

But, apparently my equilibrium was somewhat off this morning, so as we were rolling all the way back and then up again, I felt strange, a feeling I have felt before, but usually paired with pregnancy or small boats in big oceans. It was getting worse, but I continued because even though my birthday is just around the corner, the number of candles on a cake aren't always an indicator of strength or stamina, right? I am certainly capable of an elementary ball exercise. An then, enough was enough. Finally, I sat up just as my instructor noticed my yo-yo eyed look. She quickly recommended that I continue the rest of the exercises on the floor. She said when you begin incorporating a ball into your workout, some people take some time to get acclimated to the motion and apparently I am one of those people. Wimp was all I heard, but we finished the class, I drove home and yes I do feel much better. All in all, I would say that even though I had some non age-related reaction to rolling on a ball, I do think that this workout adventure is good and I would recommend it. Maybe next time though, I will bring one extra piece of equipment...



Roll on pilates!!!