The J-TAC

Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Maelyn Mocniak TOP: A full body warm-up gets your body ready for a vigorous, Pilates workout and helps prevent injury. BOTTOM: The exercise ball is important in Pilates, it can be used to strengthen your midsection or work on your stability.

Finding a workout that suits you and that also keeps you on track can be difficult. There are usual workouts like running and weight lifting, but those can typically get boring. I felt this way and wanted to find something that fits me so I could work out and get in shape.

About three years ago, I joined a gym in my hometown of Fort Worth, called Fitness 2000. Much like other work out facilities, they offer weekly classes that you may attend. I took a chance and went to try every class they offered at least once. In about two weeks I knew the basics of Cardio Kickboxing, Zumba, Yoga, Pilates and Hip Hop. Of all, Pilates was my favorite.

Pilates, to me, was giving me the cardio work out I wanted and the stretch and relaxation of Yoga that my body needed. These classes provided the mat, exercise ball and weights that we used each class.

After attending a couple of classes in a row, I found myself enjoying Pilates and planned to go regularly.

In a typical Pilates class, you start by stretching out your body. It is important to warm-up the body to prevent any injuries during the work out and to get into the right frame of mind so that you can concentrate on yourself for the hour. I was fortunate to get such an amazing instructor who explained in detail how you should feel, how you should be breathing and what we would be doing next. She would also remind us to take breaks or get water, if needed. Her focus was to make sure every one of us got the same Pilates experience. She got us involved and gave us compliments on our improvement.

After stretching, we went into working the whole body; there was floor work as well as standing up. We used the exercise ball multiple times for abs, legs and arms. We used the weights to do arm workouts while standing, as well as incorporating lunges.

My favorite part of her work outs was the abs section we did almost every class and the stretch we did after abs. The stretch consists of lying on our backs over the exercise ball and doing a back bend.

In all, Pilates is rigorous but is not hard on your body. If you're like me and have had multiple injuries from participating in sports and cheerleading, I needed something that would hit all angles without worsening the pain and Pilates does that.

I am no expert but I recommend Pilates to anyone who is looking for a hard class to make you sweat but is not exhausting.

For more information, visit www.pilates.com or find out if any local gyms are offering Pilates as a class.

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