Youch! Guess what I did for the first time in ages today? Pilates!
I don’t know if it’s because the Big 4-0 is approaching next year or what, but my body feels even more old and creaky lately. If you were a follower of my old blog you know that I am one of the least flexible people ever. My body does not stretch. Touch my toes? Yeah, right. Touch my ankles? Nope, not a chance. Seriously. When I bend at the waist, legs hip width apart, and reach down, the best I can do is reach my fingers to mid-way down my calf. I’m that inflexible (unflexible?)! (And it hurts to do that far even!). I feel like when I was doing pilates regularly (I did it about 3 times a week for about 6 months, a couple years ago) my flexibility and strength improved noticeably. So I’m gonna attempt to do pilates regularly again and see if I get stronger and more flexible.
This morning I did the Mari Winsor Abs DVD and the Buns & Thighs DVD. Youch! I did the Abs first because I thought that would suck more, because I’ve also done virtually no core work this since April. Surprisingly, it was ok. Not great, but not horrible. Next I did the Buns & Thighs, figuring since my legs are strong from running, it wouldn’t be too bad. WRONG! It was hard. Way harder than it used to be when I did it. My buns and legs burned during most of the exercises. But in a good way.
It should be fairly easy to keep up with consistently doing pilates (goal is going to be 3 – 4 times a week) since the weather is turning icky and I don’t have a race on my schedule. I’ll report back periodically on whether my flexibility improves! Stay tuned.