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Why I do Pilates and maybe you should to

August 20, 2018

I’m Marilyn, one of the Pilates Instructors at Hatt’s and I’d like to share with you the journey I took to find Pilates and how it has benefited me. I was always the sporty kid at school; an all-rounder that liked to get involved in most sports.

I wasn’t very competitive but loved all things sport which is what led me into a career in fitness. I spent most of my late teens and twenties teaching pretty much every fitness fad under the sun, I was very fit…. Or so I thought!

True that I could power through teaching 4 spin classes in a day and up to 25, Boxercise, aerobics, circuits or any other type of exercise class in a week, but by the age of 26, I was starting to wonder ‘Why is my back aching and what is this shoulder and neck pain all about?’

I then realised that if I was going to continue to stay active, not least make a living out of it, I needed to understand in more depth, the importance of using better technique when exercising and how to do so.

That way, I could find a way of keeping fit that worked with my body instead of working against it. This is when I started to develop an interest in Pilates.

As a movement practice, Pilates is about gaining and developing an understanding of how to control your body and movements. It’s about developing motor control and improving your joint stability, core stability and posture.

Because of Pilates, I was able to avoid what could have been a nasty shoulder problem in my late 20s and have spent the best part of the last decade refining and understanding how my body moves through Pilates and subsequently feel like if I wanted to I could take up any activity with confidence.

Think about your day-to-day movements, either in sports like golf or cycling or your daily routine around the house, in the garden or the car. Although these activities have many benefits, they all have repetitive movement patterns which can put stress on certain body parts. If you repeat these movements daily, the muscles around your joints can become imbalanced which over enough time can contribute to injury.

However, if the foundation of your body is strong, stable and mobile then not only will you reduce your risk of injury, but you’ll be able to excel at any activity you choose to do and feel much stronger doing it Pilates is a great way to achieve this.

What is it you would love to take up or feel more physically capable of?

Maybe it’s time to give Pilates a go so that you too can enjoy all the benefits of Pilates like I do.