Last week my barnmate was telling me about how she took up 1:1 Pilates lessons and how much it's helping her riding. She was demonstrating one of the exercises to me, and said "And this is when the instructor poked my abs and said 'This side of your abs is a lot smaller than the other side!'"
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| Barn aisle Pilates, and an old man QH that has no idea WTF his owner is doing down there, haha |
Oh, you mean like when Kate poked me in the stomach and said "You have no abs over here!"? Yeah, I need that in my life!
Two things finally convinced me to sign up: first, finding out how crooked I had made Connor, and second, I was doing handstand pushups in CrossFit recently and became conscious of the fact that when my hands were even, my torso felt crooked, and when my hands were crooked, my torso felt straight. Crooked is clearly normal to my brain, and it's going to take work outside the gym and saddle to fix it. I signed up for three 50 minute personal sessions per week for 10 weeks, an amount which, according to a famous Joseph Pilates quote, should 'give me a whole new body'. We'll see.
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| "But I like my body" - Hank |
I've never been much of a Yoga person - it's a little too 'woo woo' for my brain. I've always lumped Pilates in with Yoga mentally, although I'd never actually tried Pilates before. But it wasn't anything like I expected it to be, in a good way. This instructor does Reformer Pilates, aka Machine Pilates.
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| Not me, obvs, but this is a position I've found myself in a lot lately |
Reformer Pilates uses spring resistance, cables and a sliding pad with shoulder stops to work your core/shoulders and give you awareness of your body. I'm in the best shape of my life from a strength training perspective (two lifetime PRs in the last week, on power clean and front squat!) but I still find even the intro Pilates exercises challenging. And it's making my abs sore.
It's really a great complement to CrossFit, in that machine Pilates doesn't give you a choice but to work muscles that you can find ways to work around in the gym. Like the lower abs (hello MW). And being in the shoulder pads on the Reformer, you can't be crooked while you do these.
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| There's other equipment too, like the chair, which I found devilishly difficult. Especially when she told me to use my weak abs to move it and not my strong legs. |
Looking forward to see what this does for me over the next 2.5 months! Anyone else ever turned to Pilates to help them in the saddle?
Interesting! I always wanted to try the reformer classes.
ReplyDeleteI really liked it, it felt like a stretching/strength training combo workout. I'm not sure I would enjoy mat Pilates as much.
DeleteI've always want to try pilates, looking forward to your report on this!
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely update as I go along. I've done two classes so far and I'm really happy with it.
DeleteI love yoga (with certain instructors, I'm very picky). I hate mat Pilates, but I think I could probably get into a reformer class!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of yoga and lord knows I need more flexibility, but maybe I have just had the wrong instructors. I don't want to get in tune with the universe, I just want to get flexible!
DeleteOh, I totally agree. I am not there to get in tune with the universe either. I want to relax my brain and work on my flexibility and strength!
DeleteYears ago I took 1:1 Pilates instruction (using the reformer, chair, etc.) and I loved it! Sadly, we moved and I no longer had access to my amazing instructor. However, the work stayed with me and I still can isolate specific body parts/muscles when riding–even when I'm out of shape. I hope you find Pilates as helpful and fun as I did.
ReplyDeleteHere's another thought on crookedness: how do you use your computer mouse? I work from home and I spend a lot of time spent at my computer. I searched out the right keyboard layout for my particular work flow and I use a roller mouse which sits in front of my keyboard. This allows me to remain more symmetrical and I don't have to reach with my right arm or take my fingers off the keyboard to use the mouse. So when I am working my shoulders remain square (even) like they're supposed to when I'm riding. Positive reinforcement! Even when I travel with my laptop, I have the same keyboard and mouse packed in my computer bag.
I hope it stays with me too, I can't afford to do this much Pilates AND CrossFit AND riding lessons forever! I hope I can do one or two 10 week sessions at 3x a week and then go down 1x a week.
DeleteI actually do have my desk dialed in pretty well biomechanically. I also work from home and I have to take ergonomics training yearly for work. The first time I did it I realized there were all kinds of things wrong with my setup, so I built a custom desk and fixed it all. Now, does that mean I always sit perfectly at my biomechanically-correct desk, no, haha. But I try!
I do mat pilates, but haven't splurged for reformer classes yet. It is a great workout, and so difficult to do correctly!
ReplyDeleteI did Pilates year ago and loved it. I've really been thinking about doing it again to help with my riding. Machine Pilates is just so expensive.
ReplyDeleteThat looks intense. I’ve always done Zumba, which I love. Recently I starte Zumba Strong, which is a cross-fit class. It’s intense.
ReplyDeleteI take Pilates classes locally and do YouTube yoga videos in between :) I've found both super helpful for making me stronger and more aware of what my body is doing. The machine version looks awesome!
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