Pilates Isn’t Just Exercise. It’s Practice for Life.
The real test of your movement isn’t what you can do in a Pilates class. It’s what you can do when you walk out the door.
I love Pilates for lots of reasons.
It can challenge your strength, mobility, balance, coordination and body awareness. It can teach you to pay attention to how you move and give you a better understanding of your body.
But one of my favourite things about Pilates is what happens outside the studio because life doesn’t happen on a Pilates mat.
Think about everything your body does in a day
- You get out of bed.
- You bend down to put your shoes on.
- You get in and out of a chair.
- You carry shopping bags.
- You climb stairs.
- You reach into a cupboard.
- You pick something up from the floor.
- You get down on your hands and knees to clean something.
- You garden.
- You walk the dog.
- You lift a grandchild.
- You travel.
- You play sport.
- You go bushwalking.
- You might spend eight hours sitting at a desk, or eight hours on your feet.
That’s where movement really matters.
Pilates helps you practice movement.
One of the things we work on in Pilates is control. Rather than simply moving from A to B, we pay attention to how we’re getting there.
- Can you maintain your balance?
- Can you move with control?
- Can you coordinate different parts of your body?
- Can you find strength where you need it?
- Can you move through a comfortable range?
These skills don’t disappear when you leave class. The aim is to build physical capacity that you can draw on in everyday life.
Your job can influence how your body moves
- A desk worker and a gardener don’t necessarily place the same demands on their bodies.
- Someone who spends their day sitting may need opportunities to move in different ways.
- Someone who spends hours on their feet may have different challenges.
- A tradie, nurse, cleaner, teacher, retail worker, parent or keen bushwalker all use their bodies differently.
That’s one reason I don’t believe in treating everyone as though they have the same movement needs.
Your life gives us clues about what your body needs.
Stronger for the things you actually want to do
This is particularly important as we get older.
I don’t want strength to be something you only measure by how much weight you can lift in a gym. I want you to be strong enough to live your life.
- Strong enough to carry the shopping.
- Strong enough to get up from the floor.
- Strong enough to climb the stairs.
- Strong enough to enjoy your garden.
- Strong enough to travel.
- Strong enough to play with your grandchildren.
- Strong enough to keep doing the activities you love.
That’s a much more meaningful measure of fitness to me.
And it’s not just about strength
Strength is important, but it’s only part of the picture.
We also need mobility, balance, coordination and confidence in how we move.
Think about getting up and down from the floor… it requires strength, mobility and balance.
And it requires a certain amount of confidence in your ability to do it. That’s why I love working with the whole movement picture rather than focusing on one muscle or one exercise.
Pilates can meet you where you are
You don’t have to be fit. You don’t have to be flexible. You don’t have to have done Pilates before. And you certainly don’t need to look like a Pilates instructor!
Exercises can be modified, progressed and adapted to suit the person doing them.
That’s particularly important when you’re returning to exercise, working around limitations or simply starting from somewhere you’ve never been before.
The goal isn’t perfect Pilates
I’ve been teaching movement for many years, and I’ve come to appreciate that the most important measure isn’t how beautifully someone performs an exercise… it’s what that movement allows them to do in their life.
- Maybe you’re stronger.
- Maybe getting up from the floor feels easier.
- Maybe you have more confidence walking, lifting or carrying.
- Maybe you’re returning to an activity you’ve missed.
- Or maybe you simply feel more comfortable in your body.
That’s the good stuff.
Pilates is the practice.
Life is where you get to use it.
