More Pilates

I recently wrote a post about Pilates for Runners. Immediately after I published the post, I met my mom at the gym for a fitness pilates class. As I was setting up for class, she surprised me, by telling me she just signed us up for semi-private reformer classes with our favorite instructor, Emily! I was beyond excited! Usually when I refer to a pilates class, I mean a mat class, meaning, no equipment, just your body and your mat. I enjoy mat work because you use your core to stabilize every movement.

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Reformer classes at my gym are extra because of the equipment needed, basically this crazy machine:


Also, only 5 or 6 reformer machines fit in the Life Studio (pilates room) and any more, would be too difficult for an instructor to get around to everybody.

My mom and I went to our first session on Tuesday and it was amazing! There are so many props and other types of equipment to use! You don't use your core as much as in a mat class because the machine stabilizes you, however, with the machine, you are able to add resistance and therefore, train progressively.

Exercise Progression: The key to strength development is progressive resistance. As the muscles adapt to a given exercise resistance, it must be gradually increased to stimulate further strength gains. Of course, the increase in resistance is usually accompanied by a temporary decrease in the number of repetitions performed with the heavier weight load.
(According to the ACE personal training manual)

Our session was so great. Emily (the instructor) knows I am a runner and tailored many of the activities toward that. She also explained my pilates is so beneficial to runners better than I did (or ever could). I will attempt to explain it here.

Running (and sitting, walking, even standing) compresses the spine. When the spine is compressed, fluid that protects the discs is pushed out, many times causing back pain. Compressing the spine also makes us shorter (think about it: the discs get pushed together, shortening the spine, thus shortening our overall height). We are taller in the morning because laying down (sleeping) over night relaxes the spine so that "the decompression from gravity has been neutralized" (source). Pilates elongates the spine, and actually has the ability to make us 1-3 inches taller. Spine stretching exercises focus on training your spine to resist the pull of gravity by helping the spine to relax and to "restore the natural fluidity within those spinal column gaps between the discs." The roll-up, a very common exercise in pilates, explained here, is a good example of an easy way to stretch, and therefore elongate the spine.

We also used a foam roller, which is a post in itself (I am purchasing one soon, so post to follow!) Many runners use foam rollers to soothe tight muscles and I did not know they were also associated with pilates! You can read about using the foam roller for runners here and here.
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I am looking forward to improving my pilates practice with these extra sessions and it is so nice that my mom and I can do this together! This week I also convinced one of my friends to join the gym I go to, which is nice because I have another person to go with AND I get $50 to spend inside the gym (hmm more pilates?)