Try pilates

“I walked into my first class with the grippy socks I ordered overnight from Amazon, and I was excited to be there but also terrified of embarrassing myself. Oh, boy, was I in for a rude awakening. I would have been embarrassed if I had the energy to think about anything other than how exhausted I was. I was sweating like a hog over a fire. I was shaking half the time. I struggled through basically every move the instructor taught. But at the end of It, I kind of wanted to do it again.”

“Let me paint you a picture. I arrived about fifteen minutes early, which I'd recommend to anyone who's new, partly to get your bearings without the pressure of everyone watching you work out where to put your bag. The studio itself was gorgeous, calm lighting, clean lines, and reformers lined up in neat rows. It immediately felt like a space I wanted to spend time in. The instructor introduced herself and walked me through the basics of the machine before the class started, which took so much of the anxiety away. She showed me how the springs worked, how to adjust the footbar, and how to position myself on the carriage. It was a lot of information, but she made it clear that she'd be guiding us through everything and that I shouldn't worry about remembering it all. The class itself was 50 minutes, and it went by in a blur. We started with footwork on the bar, basically pressing the carriage out and bringing it back in using different foot positions, which sounds simple but immediately gets your legs and core working. From there, we moved through arm work using the straps, core exercises, side-lying sequences, and stretches that had me making involuntary noises.”

“I felt absolutely ridiculous walking into Club Pilates for the first time, a 46-year old, 6'3", 210 pound linebacker looking guy, next to girls in their cute outfits and their Stanley cups (I was wearing my Lululemon training shorts, however!) But I found the workout to be absolutely intriguing. Fewer, slower reps with perfect execution being better than more reps? Whaaaaaat? The Pilates shakes? Roll-ups? Feet in straps? What was all this craziness? But I've gotten pretty obsessed with it [...] the back pain that has plagued me for almost 20 years now? Almost completely gone. I'n pretty thankful for pilates. It has surprised me with how I've fallen in love with it.”