A while back, the physician that has been caring for my lower back injury suggested I go do Pilate's to help strengthen and stretch the muscles that are stuck in a chronic spasm. Now, I've been teaching fitness for 18 years and have been exposed to almost every type of training and equipment under the sun. I'm embedded in it. Strangely though, Pilate's and Yoga are things that have never interested me. I understand the benefit to doing those things, and have recommended them to others. I've just never wanted to pursue them myself. I'm a fighter; literally. If you don't believe me click here. I like to move fast, go hard, sweat, grunt, and pant like a lunatic. I like to GO, GO, GO! The one time I took yoga, I wanted to slit my wrists. The few times I used the Pilate's Reformer, I thought it was interesting....but not anything I'd want to pursue.

So last week I show up at the Gainesville Health and Fitness Center, and the advanced Pilate's mat class was just about to start. Feeling guilty for not following up on my doctor's advice from months ago, I half-heartedly asked the perky front desk chic if there was any room in the class. Yep. There was. And she handed me a little butterfly thing with a number on it to hold my place.

I went upstairs to find a dozen ladies loafing around on the floor waiting for class to start and I just thought "Oh man". Lying on the ground rarely entices me. I like to move. But I got my mat, Body Bar, and ring thing. I told the instructor Christie that it was my first class, so she wouldn't be shocked that I was a doofus. Christie knows I'm also Suzie Fitness, so I didn't want her to be thrown off by my lack of skills. She gave me some quick tips and I took my place on my back amongst the other loafing ladies.

The long and short of it is that the class was pretty great. I didn't feel loafy at all, and my boo-boo areas were challenged appropriately. Christie gave great instructions, and even though we spent 100% of the time on the floor....I moved more than enough!

The two things that made me giggle were the music and the inappropriateness. The music was very Enya-ish and the whole dramatic effect of that just makes me giggle. I'm accustomed to a more aggressive style of "workout music". The la-la stuff was perfect for what we were doing though. The inappropriate part came on my part, which I apologize to Christie for. I was wearing regular short shorts. Poor thing had to look waaaaaay up my thighs for far too long. I tried to angle my hiney away from the stage, but I imagine it didn't help. Though I was wearing boy-short style undies which cover me fairly, I still think I may have hurt her eyes. Now I know why 'yoga pants' are so popular. I'll go get some.

Moral of this long story is that Pilate's doesn't suck. It wasn't too slow or lazy. It's not what I normally prefer, but it's going to make a super addition to my huffy, puffy, grunty endeavors. And....my abs were tight for days. Gotta love that!

Maybe you too can train outside your comfort zone. Mix it up and let me know when you do!