Pilates

"Pilates is a body conditioning routine that helps to not only build flexibility, but also strength, endurance, and coordination in the legs, abdominals, arms and back."

I took my first Pilates class at the gym last night as a substitute for Yoga since Yoga wasn't offered at a time I could go and I'm going to have to say I'm hooked!

I was pretty skeptical about the whole ordeal because I've never taken a class before and I was curious to see how it differed from yoga. I set up my mat and stretched out a bit since I was still pretty sore from Sports Conditioning the night before. The teacher came in and was annoyingly positive, pretty, and skinny with abs of pure steel.

Ok, she wasn't annoying, she was actually really sweet and knowledgeable and I was kind of jealous of her!

Anyway - the class started with 20 minutes of straight core work. I was already hurting from yesterday so this was not an easy task, but I managed to power through. We then worked through some side, back, and stomach stretches, which I won't lie, I felt a little silly doing even though they all felt really good. Everything we did seemed to work my abs (core) which is a big part of Pilates so I'm going to hope/assume I was doing the positions correctly.

Even though the class was only 45 minutes long and we barely moved from the floor I felt like I got just as good of an ab workout as I would have going to the abs class. I even felt as stretched out and limber as I did after a good yoga class.

I really enjoyed myself and the class last night and wouldn't be surprised if I started going on a regular basis! Yay Pilates!