The High Cost of the Shortcut (And Why I Stopped Taking It)
I want to get you to love “the basics” 5% more than you did before you started reading this post.
The best part about having a Pilates practice is that the variations stack on top of the foundation. Advancing isn’t necessarily abandoning what we’re best at. When it comes to practice, advancing is more like incorporating confidence in doing one thing well and reaching out, rooted in that certainty. It’s focusing on building your foundation faster and maintaining it for longer.
It’s focusing on building your foundation faster and maintaining it for longer.
Repetition is an antidote to anxiety. With intentional repetition, one can safely enter and exit an exercise, improve performance, and avoid further pain or injury. Personally, I try to self-correct without being too harsh.
My coaching philosophy is distinguishable, criticising the “shapes” we make and how we make them, not the person. A stable foundation starts with action and gets fortified with mindfulness and patience. Typically, a stable foundation leads to greater muscle recruitment of the necessary pairs to accomplish a function in the body.
A lot of times, I feel tempted to bypass the care and attention to engage my transverse abdominals or release the over-gripping in my hip. But the long-term benefit is worth it. No matter what the ego says. I’d rather have a plump, functioning seat than a stiff, painful one. So stillness, focus, and intentional pace it is.
Some popular Pilates positions that I think everyone can build a better foundation are:
forward flexion, like ab curls and standing roll downs
upper back extension and shoulder stability
table stop stability and cat/cow
abdominal and glute contractions
Wherever you take your next class (see my group glass schedule), I would encourage you to really take a beat to understand the guidance your trainer is giving you and the group class participants. Pay attention to one exercise or body position for the next five Pilates sessions. Notice what the trainers repeat about “how” to do the basic parts of the exercise.
ACTION: Pay attention to one type of exercise or body position for your next five Pilates sessions.
Before you know it, you can be a Pilates snot, too!* Nailing the foundation together with quality focus and movement equals feeling good as you reframe what’s possible for your mind and body.
*A Pilates snot about your OWN body and practice. Leave everybody else out of it.
✌🏾,
Melissa, founder and Pilates coach, Take Good Care Pilates
GET IN YOUR BODY
