Pilates has an unfortunate stigma about it that it's only for women. Some of the thoughts I've come across in my research of it are as follows: Men shouldn't be caught dead doing it or even attempting to because it's just impossible for the moves to be pulled off. It takes something that men don't have. It's not a true workout.
Let me flat out say, all of that is false. It's embarrassing to do, I won't deny that, but not because of the moves being "girly" but rather because I'm so inflexible. Tense. Rigid.
I just got done with my first Pilates workout. It hurt. I was struggling to focus on all the things I needed to do ... between practicing proper breathing (inhale through nose, exhale through mouth, suck in belly button) and maintaining proper form (lower back must be on the floor) I was already multitasking more than any other workout I have attempted previously. Pull-ups don't require that. Running doesn't require that.
Pilates does. It requires a level of focus I found to be demanding. Not that it's superbly difficult (once I got past the first five minutes, it started becoming more natural) but because it's so different.
Let me break down how things went in this 28 minute video.
In the first five minutes, I learned how to do the table top position and was surprised to realize that my core muscles absolutely hate me. The initial breathing exercises, to help make sure I was doing it right (which I was thankfully) already hurt me because the instructor in the video made sure I was really, really sucking it in. I have very rarely, if ever, sucked in my abs that hard before.
Table top position was trying enough, then I had to stretch my legs up, bring them back down into table top position, all while continuing to maintain proper breathing and form. Difficult. I felt the burn there at that point and the burn spread progressively throughout my body as the video went on.
We next moved to pulling the individual knees, then legs, in towards our chest and switching them up. These Pull-Pull-Switch exercises beat me. I was too slow and too inflexible to really do it correctly I feel. My form broke down here, not unexpected, but disappointing.
We next worked exclusively on the core by trying to raise ourselves off the ground, with no assistance from our hands, arms, or legs. I was with the core alone. I failed at this. My core barely exists as it is and it had no strength to get me off the ground, none. I was sitting there, arms in the air, red in the face as I tried, and tried, and tried to get my back off the ground and sit up on my own.
Nothing. I had to place my hands on my legs and use them, combined with shoulder action, to get up. It was allowed if I was having trouble ... I admit defeat there. I was in major trouble.
By this point we're fifteen minutes into the video and we spent the next seven or so doing various leg exercises, all of which made my legs scream in agony. The first go around was rough but the second go around (one exercise regiment per leg) was rougher. I suffered a major cramp in the leg I just got done with and had to break for five minutes to deal with that (painful, much).
The rest of the video was spent working on more core muscles and back muscles by going into the Cobra stance. I did not master the Cobra stance. It mastered me. I don't know how she gets her body to bend as she does but I could not, for the life of me, bend as she did. When I got one thing right two other things were wrong. I tried my best to replicate what she was doing but I couldn't.
The last few minutes of the video were spent doing some Mermaid exercises. More core stretching, this time working the side muscles, also quite difficult for me to pull off as I couldn't get nearly the bend she did.
When it was finally over, I was wiped. I still am wiped. Legs hurt, back hurts, core hurts. I expect to be majorly sore in the morning.
This was a hell of a challenging workout. I can understand why many men don't do it.
It's a downright humbling experience. Most guys know that we can step into field of play (football, Frisbee, basketball) or a gym and at least look somewhat decent. We won't look like complete noobs most of the time.
Pilates will own you. It will own your soul (figuratively speaking).
Throughout the video, the instructor was perky (annoyingly so) and constantly encouraging (doubly annoyingly so). I sat there and debated with her about how well I really was doing, which is to say I wasn't doing well at all in my mind. I was struggling to keep up by the halfway point of the video.
My pride took a serious hit. I was doing this on the floor of my room, headphones in my ears, so as not to really draw attention to it (but that backfired as the Pilates kicked my tail, caused me pain, and generally did things I found impossible). Some of the movements in the video display such a show of flexibility I don't think it's possible for me to replicate.
But I'm gonna try my best to do so. Just in my room.
I don't think I'm quite brave enough to do this in public. Or in a class. Or around most people. I feel like such a fool doing most of these movements and the fact that it HURTS makes it worse, because if it hurts then I'm sure others will be able to see how hard I'm straining.
I think that's probably the biggest turnoff as far as Pilates for men go, the fact that it shows we're struggling while the women around us (whom we wish to impress and look awesome for) are not.
It sucks to be a noob, plain and simple. It sucks worse around attractive women which most Pilates classes have.
But I'm really impressed with how much a workout this was.
Some of you may ask why I'm doing this. After all, I did lose 133 pounds, dropped down into clothes sizes previously unimaginable for me, and have definitely increased my strength. I'm not cut or ripped, but I'm leanish.
Pilates doesn't address strength building in the arms or legs, which is where my workouts have concentrated over the last two years. I can run pretty far now. I can lift quite a bit now.
Pilates addresses other issues that traditional workouts have not solved. My lack of core strength, my poor posture, and the general feeling of "same old, same old" I have with my usual workouts. Running and pull-ups used to mean something ... now they're just old hat. They weren't a challenge anymore as I've achieved what I wanted out of them.
This is also a play for the likely unobtainable but still on my mind goal of getting rid of the loose skin from my previous 273+ self. I see it every day. I'm tired of it.
But that goal is way down on the list of things I want to get out of this. I want better posture and a stronger core. I'd like to be able to sit up without using my arms or legs and not struggle as badly as I did today.
I have my new challenge and with such a challenge, a new blog is called for. Accountability is always a good thing.
So, Day One of Pilates is over. I am beat. I don't expect to see progress for at least two weeks. This is tough for me ... the lack of flexibility and my years of poor posture makes proper form difficult to maintain, but I expect once my body begins to get used to this things will get easier.
Thanks for reading. See you for Day Two.
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