Pilates
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The new lady in my life is a Zumba/Pilates instructor. Anyway in a bit of downtime between binge watching Banshee over the Xmas break we had a chat.....<br><br>
'So, have you heard how good Pilates is for all over body conditioning?'<br><br>
'Yeah baby, I'd be awesome, I do weights as you know and can no doubt tell from my chest and arms and I'm pretty fit, did you know I can deadlift 230kg?'<br><br>
'Well let's run you through a few different movements then shall we?'<br><br>
'Cool, sounds good, I'll be great. I didn't hear you gasp in awe, just checking you heard the bit about my deadlift?'<br><br>
Hands on hips and a look of total contempt.....<br><br>
So we pop into the studio at the back of her house, dunno if any of you blokes have done Pilates but I'll do my best to explain. Warm ups were pretty straightforward, stretching while lying on my back, arm circles, leg circles.......<br><br>
Then the pain begun.<br><br>
What the evil woman ruthlessly exposed was my lack of lower body flexibility ( well it's ok...but there's room for improvement ) doing the moves in a slow controlled fashion had me shaking more than Michael J Fox and sweating more than Rey from Star Wars. Even in exercises where I thought I'd do well I got my fucken arse kicked, I watched as she did them smoothly and gracefully and I struggled and shook as my core ( which is integral in helping me deadlift 230kg ) gave out during the niggly exercises.....<br><br>
'We'll finish with some push ups'<br><br>
Aw thank fuck, I'm great at those......<br><br>
Turns out the push ups were elbows right by the side, slooooooooooooow descent and slooooooooooooow ascent.......<br><br>
Fuck me.....<br><br>
And I was so fucked by the end that the plank I had to do ( again usually one of my strengths ) was shaky and rather pathetic......<br><br>
She said I did pretty well for a beginner and shit, doing something completely different and foreign had me feeling strangely euphoric. Best part of it is that I get it all free and one on one !!!!<br><br>
Moral of the story? It's great to leave your ego at the door and try new shit. Will incorporate a session a week and keep you all up to date with my progress ( ie how much further I can stretch than last time ) -
<p>I did pilates for 10 years up until work got in the way two years ago.</p>
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<p>the gym sessions are usually just mat work and I prefer the equipment options, but it is great for flexibility, balance and core strength. Really helped with gym sessions as had a much greater awareness of technique and how fucking hard it is to do something slowly.</p>
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<p>then place I went to was really focussed on remedial work and had a lot of elite sports people through (and me).</p>
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<p>Guys like Terenzo Bozzone, Troy Flavell swear by it. Even saw Billy Bowden in there</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="dogmeat" data-cid="551108" data-time="1452122061"><p>I did pilates for 10 years up until work got in the way two years ago.<br>
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the gym sessions are usually just mat work and I prefer the equipment options, but it is great for flexibility, balance and core strength. Really helped with gym sessions as had a much greater awareness of technique and how fucking hard it is to do something slowly.<br>
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then place I went to was really focussed on remedial work and had a lot of elite sports people through (and me).<br>
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Guys like Terenzo Bozzone, Troy Flavell swear by it. Even saw Billy Bowden in there</p></blockquote>
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Slow and controlled, that's pretty much the key right there. Next session will be over the weekend sometime, I'm nervous already. -
I been using my box-jump box as a base for some stretching, by fuck one side is way tighter than the other, particularly my right hip flexor, glute area.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Cookie" data-cid="551500" data-time="1452281528"><p>Did a bit when I fooked my back a few years ago - I should do more, especially as my flexibility sucks. Problem is, most of the gym times for the classes suck even more.</p></blockquote>
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Yep, my flexibility was a bit of a wake up call. The onus is on me to make sure I pester her for at least one full on hard out session a week if she's not too tired from all her other stuff. <br><br>
We'll hopefully get some Pilates in too. -
<p>2nd session since the OP or 2nd session this week?</p>
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<p>Wouldnt have thought 2 sessions in 2 weeks would make any difference unless you didnt push as hard 2nd time round?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="553136" data-time="1453092670"><p>
2nd session since the OP or 2nd session this week?<br><br>
Wouldnt have thought 2 sessions in 2 weeks would make any difference unless you didnt push as hard 2nd time round?</p></blockquote>2nd overall. Will try and do at least one a week with her....<br><br>
Dude I'm an elite athlete, I'm gonna improve at a much faster rate than the likes of you would 😎😎😎😎