Pilates

I have been a very athletic and active person for my entire life. I played soccer from the 4th grade through college. After college, I wanted to remain active so I kept going to the gym and lifting weights.

However, the problem became, I work at a Budget Analyst - meaning I sit at a desk for long hours. I started to develop seriously tightness and backpain from the combination of lifting weights and sitting at a desk all day. I think sitting at a desk all day alone probably makes most people stiff and sore.

The pain for me eventually got so intense that I knew I had to do something about it. I had heard about pilates before, but I really did not know much about it. I decided to give it a try.

I have now been doing pilates for about a year. Not just pilates on a mat, this is at a real pilates studio with reformers and towers (traditional pilates equipment). There has been nothing that has made me feel better than pilates.

Pilates targets the muscles in your core, shoulder gurdle, inner thighs, and other hard to target places. It strengthens muscles that you rarely use or do not use in the proper way. Pilates has helped me with relaxations, posture, back and neck pain, muscle tightness and strength. I would recommend pilates to anyone.

The great thing about pilates too is that there is a philosophy behind it that you can practice in your everyday life. It teaches you to be aware of your posture and everyday movements so that you feel better and prevent injury. There are people that throw out their backs just by bending over the wrong way. Pilates teaches you that just by simply staying aware of your body and the way in which you are sitting, walking, bending, standing and moving can prevent pain and injury in ways that you never realized.

Try pilates and let me know what you think. It's really not easy but believe me it is worth it! Every time I come out of the pilates studio I feel better. For the men out there I would compare it to golf. When I golf I cannot think of anything else because I am concentrating so hard on my game. Pilates is the same way. You cannot worry about your outside stresses from life while you are doing pilates, you are forced just to focus on you! And who doesn't need more time for themselves?!