May 3, 2016

13 Full Months of Pilates + Tips for Getting Started

With the end of April came the end of 13 months of following a Pilates calendar.  Robin at The Balanced Life sends out a calendar at the beginning of each month and it has a workout for each day. I did the first two months of the program, February/March 2015, kind of half-heartedly, enjoying the workouts but not followed the prescribed order of things.

In April 2015, my upholder nature took over and I started keeping track. I highlighted workouts I did, drew arrows to move things around, and wrote in other workouts, like walking with a friend or running (once in awhile) or taking a class at the gym.

And then I couldn't bear to get rid of my Calendars of Accomplishment, so I hole-punched them and stuck them in a binder.

If that's not Upholder behavior, I don't know what is.



1. Start with 5-10 minutes a day. Just commit. Set a goal. Give yourself a reward at the end, like a new outfit or a pedicure. Write the goal down. Put it somewhere you can see it.

2. Start with the 28 Days of Pilates. Just bookmark Robin's Youtube channel and go for it. It's 28 days of 5-10 minute workouts. If you can see and feel a difference in your body after that, move onto the other free workouts.

3. Carve out a time. When I started, I did Pilates at night, on the bedroom floor, right before I climbed into bed, usually while watching T.V. That was in the winter of 2014.  Now I've made it such a habit that I do Pilates every day. At least three days a week, I do longer workouts (30-40 minutes) and the rest of the time I follow my handy Balanced Life Sisterhood calendar and do a 10-15 minute workout.

I recommend Pilates to everyone I know because workout-guilt is the worst kind of guilt. We should feel GOOD about what we're doing, we shouldn't dread it, and we should actually see results.

This post isn't so much about why you should do Pilates (but you SHOULD). It was supposed to be  about how crazily upholding and organized I am (when it comes to certain things). But really, you should try Pilates.

(Definitely not being paid to talk about this :)

8 comments:

  1. I have yet to get into Pilates, and I think it's because I am doing it alone, so I don't get to it. I just signed up for a month of Pure Barre and attended my first class last night...I feel more accountable to go when it's a class with a friend (and I had to pay for it) and it was INTENSE! I can see why you enjoy Pilates in general now

    ReplyDelete
  2. 5-10 minutes is nothing. I should do this on the days I'm not doing anything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have an app that has some pilates workouts on it. I've been doing them on the days I do strength training but I'm contemplating adding one of the 10 minute ones to my day every day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i really need to just set aside 5-10 minutes before bed.. all i do is sit on the couch so it's not like i am busy. you are right, workout guilt is the worst kind of guilt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I LOVE Pilates, and I love Robin! I joined the Sisterhood when she hosted the #30DayPilatesBody challenge in March, and I loved it. I slacked more than I would have liked in April because of some circumstances beyond my control, but I am ready to go again for May. If I can at least squeeze in the short workouts with the busy month I'm facing, I'll be very happy with that!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I keep having intentions to stick with this. One day I will! Maybe soon ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm so glad I finally started doing Pilates! It's super fun and easy. Though I'm having a harder time these days getting in a workout every day... but at least 3-4 times a week I get it in. I need to get back to it though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The mechanism of metabolism is stabilized during the process of yoga as most number of calories is burnt during the process. Internet

    ReplyDelete

Comments make my day!