Tag: Pilates

Mat Pilates for Women Over 50

December 3, 2024 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

Mat Pilates for Women over 50? In our talk with Coach Adina O’Neill, Adina mentioned the value of doing Pilates as a cross training exercise. That motivated me to return to the Mat Pilates class at my gym. The first class I attended this time was a real eye opener. I could tell I was working my abs. I also really felt my hips moving in ways that I don’t do much anymore. Nothing really hurt but I was sore afterwards. Not injured but I could sure tell I’d used my body in a different way.

Mat Pilates offers a way to improve strength, flexibility, and balance without the need for equipment other than a Mat. At Becoming Elli, we’re all about empowering strong women, and Mat Pilates fits right in with our thoughts on staying strong, healthy, and active.

What Is Mat Pilates?

Mat Pilates is a low-impact exercise system developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century. It focuses on controlled movements, core strength, and mindful breathing—all performed on a Mat. Unlike traditional Pilates that uses machines like the Reformer, Mat Pilates relies solely on your body weight for resistance.

Why Mat Pilates Is Perfect for Women Over 50

Strengthens the Core: Core strength is essential for maintaining good posture, reducing back pain, and enhancing overall stability. Mat Pilates targets deep abdominal muscles, helping you feel stronger from the inside out.
Enhances Flexibility: Aging often leads to reduced flexibility, but regular Pilates practice can improve your range of motion, making everyday activities easier and more comfortable. I definitely felt that range of motion with some of the hip exercises.
Boosts Balance and Stability: Mat Pilates emphasizes balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falls and increasing your confidence in movement. We talk frequently about keeping active to avoid falling.
Low-Impact and Joint-Friendly: Unlike high-impact exercises that can stress the joints, Mat Pilates is gentle on the body, making it ideal for those with arthritis or joint sensitivities.
Improves Mind-Body Connection: Pilates requires focus and precise movements, fostering a stronger connection between your mind and body. This mindfulness can enhance your mental well-being, reduce stress, and improve overall quality of life. The instructor in my Mat Pilates class is always reminding us to inhale and exhale. The breathing is a bit different in focus than in yoga but it seems like the same general idea.

Getting Started with Mat Pilates

The beauty of Mat Pilates is its accessibility. All you need is a Mat and a bit of space. Here are some tips to get started:

Find a Class: Look for local classes. Many community centers and gyms offer Mat Pilates classes. Many places offer Mat Pilates even if they don’t offer Reformer Pilates classes.
Online Resources: If you prefer working out at home, there are plenty of online videos and tutorials designed for all fitness levels.

Essential Mat Pilates Moves for Beginners

The Hundred: Great for warming up and engaging your core. Every Pilates class I’ve ever taken has included the Hundred in the first part of the class.
Roll-Up: Improves spinal flexibility and strengthens abdominal muscles.
Leg Circles: Enhances hip mobility and strengthens your core. This is where I felt my hips saying, “hey, I haven’t moved this way in a while!”
Plank: Builds overall strength and stability. Regardless of the kind of workout you’re doing, planks seem to fit right in.

Why Mat Pilates Is More Than Just Exercise

Beyond physical benefits, Mat Pilates nurtures your mental and emotional well-being. It encourages you to slow down, breathe deeply, and focus on the present moment—an invaluable practice in our fast-paced world.

Conclusion

Adding Mat Pilates into your fitness routine can help you stay strong, balanced, and energized. Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey or looking for a new way to maintain your health, Mat Pilates is a great option.

Oh yes, here’s the disclaimer: as with any new exercise routine, consult with your healthcare provider before starting.

Have you tried Mat Pilates? We’d love to hear about your experiences! Share your thoughts in the comments below or join our Becoming Elli community for more fitness inspiration.

Stay strong, stay active, and keep moving forward!

Sampling a Pilates Exercise Class

May 4, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I recently had a trial class here in my town, at a relatively new exercise studio called Club Pilates.

While over the years, I have taken a few Pilates classes at the health and fitness center where I’ve belonged almost continuously since 1994, it’s hard to pass up a free class to check out something new.

Regular readers may remember my CycleBar experience and Jill’s workout at this Pilates studio when it had just opened.

Sample Class
I got a ticket to a sample class during one of the community expo/showcases held locally. The Club Pilates runs a special 30 minute sample class for a group of people who have expressed interest. There were 8 people in the class, including me.

Facility Set Up
The facility location is in shopping plaza. The exercise room is set behind the front desk and has a wall with curtains to separate the waiting area from the work out area. You put your personal items in open faced wooden cubbies that are located up in the front. Because a curtain separates the front from the workout area, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on them, so I ended up keeping my phone and keys with me in the work out room.

Each personalized station is set up for one person. And I believe that there were 12 stations in the club.

Instructor
Our instructor was a former ballet dancer, who was in terrific shape. Unlike many group exercise instructors, he had us do the exercises very slowly so he could monitor and correct our form.

He explained what the benefits to the body Pilates provided and discussed ways to modify the exercises to be more or less difficult depending on each of our fitness level and experience with Pilates type exercises. Because it was only a sample class, he was going easy on us.

Equipment
There was lots of very new equipment in top condition. If I wasn’t familiar with it, I might have been intimidated. Among the items at each station was a Pilates reformer machine, bosu, TRX straps with several places to hook them, circle, a small stability ball and a Pilates chair.
The only piece that was new to me was the Pilates chair which looks a bit like a padded bench with springs. They had the bosus sitting on top of the chairs and I didn’t get a great photo of them, but click through on this link to see what they look like and how they work.

They insisted you wear socks with non-skid treads or they would let you buy some from them. I noticed two people wearing some Sky Zone trampoline park socks. I had looked for some of those in the bottom of my sock drawer, but couldn’t find my pair from the time I tried Sky Zone.

Exercises
While the majority of the exercises involved putting your foot in a strap and manipulating the spring under the equipment, many of the exercises were similar to ones that I’ve done in my gym.

Plank – with elbows on the bosu
One foot on the bosu, knee up, balance by touching the wall
Bridge – lying on my back with arms at the sides
Sit on the padded Pilates stool, bend sideways at the hips and press down the spring loaded bar with my hand
The ballet move where you stand and Plié slowly. It’s definitely NOT a squat.

Evidently ballet dancers have issues with squats and prefer the Plié where the dancer stands with the heels together and the toes pointing out, then and bends at the knees.

Individual Training Room
After the sample group class, we were ushered into the back to see the individual personal training area and equipment. There are sales person explained the different membership programs, pricing, requirements and time frames.

I remember she said that they gave a discount to veterans, those in the armed services and to first responders. I thought “Wow, very generous!”

Then one of the women in my class piped up and wanted to know about doctors and nurses as well, “Don’t forget about us!” I don’t know why, but that was a turn off to me. I guess you could make a case for a lot of other professions as well.

During the hour that we were there, that is the only thing that I can remember that any of the other people who didn’t work there actually said. It was a very quiet group.

The biggest positive is the equipment. It looks super brand new like it has never been touched. I believe that the facility opened in September 2018, so it still is very new.

The biggest negative to me is the lack of interaction between the other people. Even though it was a group class, during class it was obvious that there isn’t the joking around. It was very serious and not as much fun.

While I guess I shouldn’t judge the place on how the participants act. Maybe that is how you act during Pilates. However to me if working out isn’t something that I look forward to, I’m not going to do it.

Perhaps I’ll give Pilates another try sometime in the future. Right now it didn’t have the attraction to me compared to so many other types of exercise. How about you? Do you love Pilates? What do you love about it?

My Fitness Routine – Improving Strength, Flexibility, and Balance

March 7, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

Since I’ve been cleared to resume exercising, I’ve been struggling to come up with a fitness routine that works for me. I want to return to some of the things I’ve enjoyed doing but I also want to avoid injuring myself. I’ve decided I need to work on core strength, flexibility, balance, and variety.

I’m hoping that working variety into my fitness routine will help me avoid injury and any kind of repetitive stress problems.

I’ve come up with a fitness routine that is working for me right now. Of course, it’s still winter in Ohio so I’m not getting outside very often. This routine might change once spring and summer arrive.

I also find that if I assign certain days to certain exercises, I’m likely to get it all done.

Fitness Routine

Sunday

Sunday is now my upper body strength day. I asked my boyfriend to work with me on regaining my upper body strength so we now hit the gym on Sunday and use the dumb bells and equipment. It’s a challenging workout, that’s for sure. Last week, we did a lot of chest presses, flies, triceps dips, and some ab work. I felt it the next day, that’s for sure.

Monday

Monday is now my yoga day. I found a class I like at a rec center at a nearby town so I bought the non-resident passes and try to go every Monday evening.

If I can’t make it because of a scheduling conflict, I try to work some cardio in its place. That might be running or using a bike at the gym.

Tuesday

I’m now attending a Pilates class on Tuesday mornings. I’ve just started back into Pilates reformer classes and it was quickly apparent that this is a good thing for me to do.

The instructor commented on how tight my ham strings and calves are. I knew that of course but rteally haven’t found a solution. Hopefully, Pilates will help.

Wednesday

I meet my trainer on Wednesday late afternoon. She tends to give me a full-body workout that challenges me. She focuses on strength, balance, and cardio conditioning by elevating my heart rate.

Sometimes after my training session, I’ll add a brisk walk or a run or I go swimming.

Thursday

Thursday is my catch up day. I tend to do some kind of cardio. Since I want to swim at least once a week, this might be my swim day. If not, I’ll go for a run.

Friday

I see my trainer again on Friday morning. We do something that complements what we did on Wednesday.

Once in a great while, I treat myself to a orthopedic massage. An orthopedic massage is not necessarily the most pleasant massage. It’s not like a relaxation massage. Instead, it works on injury rehabilitation and improving range of motion. If I get a massage, I try to get it on Friday so I go into the weekend feeling better.

Saturday

I haven’t returned to my boot camp class yet, which is on Saturday morning. Instead, I’ve been riding a bike or running at the gym. I look at what my fitness routine has been this week and Saturday becomes the day that I try to fill in whatever I’ve been missing.

The one thing that I’m struggling with right now is that my daily steps have dropped. That’s due to a change in my living arrangements and I’m just not getting in as many steps as I used to in doing my daily activities. I need to figure that out because while having some physical activity is important, so is getting in those steps. That’s next on my list of things to figure out.

I’m happy to have worked out a fitness routine that works for me. Of course, this will change when I can begin to go outside. For example, my Sunday activities will probably change when the weather improves. When that happens, I’ll adjust what I’m doing and figure out how to keep the variety going.

Pilates Reformer: Checking Out an Old Favorite

October 18, 2018 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I spun the wheel at the Club Pilates booth at a local festival and won a free one-on-one lesson. After some back and forth, we got this session on the calendar and I went to check the new Pilates studio in town.

So, a quick review of the studio. Club Pilates is a chain that appears to be growing quickly. There are a number of new studios in my area and the one in my hometown just had its grand opening.

The new Club Pilates studio seems to be well equipped. There are lots of reformers in the class area. Each reformer also has a Bosu ball, TRX straps, and other equipment. The area is set up to handle multiple students in a class.

Because my session was an individual one, I had my session in the private area with a fancier reformer. I enjoyed the session a lot and it made me remember why I liked doing Pilates years ago. The staff was friendly and the instructor I had was very encouraging and great at explaining. I would definitely consider going again.

The only negatives that I could see was the pricing. It’s rather expensive and what stopped me from signing up was that the membership was by the month. So, you could buy four sessions a month on a recurring schedule but you couldn’t carry over any sessions. Since I tend to have to go out of town periodically, I don’t want to worry about not using Pilates sessions that I’ve paid for. I decided that if I want to return, I’ll just pay the drop-in fee.

Pilates is a workout that focuses on core strength. It is a whole body workout but the emphasis is on the core. I remember originally being told that Pilates is similar to yoga. Perhaps mat Pilates is similar in that you do some of the same poses. Pilates does have an emphasis on breath but it does not have the meditative side of yoga. In my individual session, we did do some balance work which is always a challenge to me. We did some planking on the Bosu ball too. According to the Club Pilates website,

Pilates creates a strong foundation of balance, strength, mobility and flexibility. The full-body, low-impact workouts offered at Club Pilates provide a high-impact challenge to the stabilizing muscles of the core.

I struggle with getting in core work so I think I might try to attend some Pilates Reformer classes again. I did leave there and call my gym to confirm that they still offer Pilates Reformer classes. They do and their price was lower so that’s probably my option.

If you’re wondering, a Pilates Reformer is a contraption that looks a bit like a bed frame with a sliding board and springs and pulleys. It’s intimidating to look at. Most Pilates instructors will help you figure out how to use a Reformer and once you get the hang of it, it’s not so scary.

Another option for Pilates is mat Pilates. This is more of a typical gym class where you do a great workout that really focuses on your core. This is obviously a less expensive way to do Pilates.

Let me know if you’re a Pilates pro or even a novice. This is an exercise that seems to go in and out of fashion but never completely goes away.