How Pilates changed my life: My story.

I have been slightly less hardcore on the gym over the weekend. Mostly because on Friday I lost the ability to walk. When I tried to swim on Saturday my pace was at least halved and I was barely keeping above water.

I made two mistakes today before entering the gym for Pilates today. 

1. Not washing Chinnerys* off my feet.

2. Not wearing trainer socks. 

*Chinnerys is Essex for Jesters

To celebrate my new lease of lower limb usage, I decided to walk to the gym. Surprisingly, this was not one of the mistakes I made today, although it lead to blisters which were caused by mistake number 2.

I have heard wonderful things about Pilates, but my knowledge spans as much as "It's kind of like yoga". I also don't know what Yoga is really. 

Most people, my adoring boyfriend included, would tell you I'm about as balanced and stable as Norman Bates. 

I would like to take a second to laugh in the faces of these Doubting Thomases (Thomaii?) and say

HA

I'm actually not that unbalanced.

The class was great. The other ladies looked as terrified as me and were really friendly. One lady had recently lost her mum and evidently hadn't been to the gym for a while, and four others gave her a hug and wished her well. How lovely. They weren't even her friends, as such, they just noticed she hadn't been to the gym for a while. 

The gym instructor was lush. He was bald and camp and adorable. He explained everything really well and came round to push everyone's tushes and left their pelvises to make sure everyone got the most out of he exercises. 

You basically have to take your shoes off (mistake number 1) and do stretches and bends and things using one of those big exercise balls. It was pretty cool to see how to use them properly, I definitely wouldn't have if I'd tried myself!

There were only a couple of exercises I really struggled with but the rest were okay (and only mildly painful). I think it'll be a good one to continue with because I can see it would have long term benefits. However the camp, bald instructor is leaving so I'm sure it could never be the same without him...

I felt so soft and springy and bouncy afterwards that I chose to walk home through the woods. I didn't even slightly get lost or chased by axe murderers. BOOM.

8/10. Will return.