What is Pilates for?

When I was young, most sportspeople just practised their particular sport. Unless they were cricketers, in which case even that was optional. For footballers in those days, training mostly involved kicking a ball around for a while before going for a few pints of Watney's Red Barrel and a packet of Capstan Full Strength.

Nowadays, it would be hard to find a top-level athlete or sportsperson who doesn't do a variety of strength and endurance exercises (and, yes, often Pilates) to supplement their sport. The modern concept of "cross training" is that incorporating a variety of exercise types into your routine allows you to develop a more versatile and balanced range of physical abilities that your body can draw on when required.

So how does that apply to the rest of us non-sportspeople? Well, great though Pilates is, I would hazard a guess that most people don't do it just to get better at doing Pilates exercises.

Many people come to Pilates because they have an injury or condition they want to deal with. Others might have things they enjoy (swimming, golf, netball and so on) and use Pilates to get the most from those activities, as well as helping to prevent injuries. Also, I suspect that quite a few of us have things in our lives that we don't especially enjoy (sitting at a desk all day springs to mind) and want something to offset the physical side effects.

The point is that Pilates is a broad church and welcomes people from a variety of backgrounds, who come for many different reasons, with a wide array of aims. If you love Pilates, great - come and join us. If you don't, come anyway so that you can better enjoy what you do love.

This Sunday, I will be away doing something that I love: playing tennis with friends. My Pilates experience won't guarantee victory but it's the taking part that counts (or so I tell myself). The only downside is that I won't be able to teach my usual Sunday morning class this week but, if you book in the normal way, you will receive a specially pre-recorded version of the class.

The link to the recording will arrive in advance, so you could even do the class at the usual time on Sunday if you wish. The recording will be available for the following seven days.

Wish me luck on Sunday!

For more details and to book a class, click here to go to the online classes page of my website.

#crosstraining #sports #pilates #onlinepilates #zoompilates