Common Misconceptions About Pilates

When I first heard about Pilates I was in high school. Track coach at the time recommended it to me as a way to help improve my running. I gave it a HARD pass because I didn’t think it was for me. Maybe it was because at the time I was in a full AP course load and playing club level soccer so I felt like I didn’t have time to add something else to my plate. Maybe it was because I thought it was something only girlie girls did since it was advertised as helping you get “long and lean”. Or maybe it was because most marketing pictures involved some crazy flexible move that I felt like I would never be able to get into. Either way, with what little I knew about it, I passed strong judgement on it NOT being something to help me get stronger without even trying it.

I spent the rest of my high school and college athlete years overcoming various injuries that led me to pursuing a career in Physical Therapy. It was here in a clinical setting that I encountered Pilates for the first time. The clinic that I was volunteering at had a Pilates reformer that they used in their rehabilitation protocol. It wasn’t Pilates in the traditional studio sense since only select exercise were done at a time but it was enough of an introduction for me to see what it entailed and curious to try it out for myself. I saw how it helped people rehabilitate quicker than what I had experienced with my own injuries and wanted to try it out in a class setting.

I went to a local studio and experienced a workout like no other. This coming from someone that was a CIF athlete and played on a collegiate rugby team that went to Nationals. I went in expecting there to be circuits like how I weight lifted or even how we prescribed exercises in the clinic but it was 55 minutes of continuous work. My mind was active and focused the entire time as if I was back on the field. My body felt like it was working from head to toe in every movement, even when we were supposed to be stretching. There was also limited to no rest.

Walking out of the class I finally had an understanding of why my high school track coach wanted me to incorporate Pilates. It was endurance training and strength training. It trained small muscle groups that I didn’t even know existed. It also showed me that as a lifelong athlete there was still so much that I had to learn about how my body moved (aka why I kept sustaining injuries) and so many ways that I could still improve as a mover.

Interested in giving Pilates a try? Request a sample workout here_____