No Shoes Required

I once did Pilates for Wimps or Pilates for Dummies but it felt awkward.

Still, I didn't ignore one of the most recent Discovery Health newsletters that arrived in my inbox, a Pilates 101 article. In addition, Diane over at Diane's Training Journal always has my curiosity piqued when she mentions Pilates. Recently, I took a proper look at 10 Minute Solution: Quick Sculpt Pilates.

I love props and I love a challenge. Guess what? I found both in Quick Sculpt which comes with a cute little pink ball.

I really enjoyed the Strength & Flexibility Pilates segment which concentrates on spinal flexibility. Placing the ball under your lower back supposedly mimics spine corrector apparatus. I don't know anything about the apparatus but my lower back was slightly tweaked and when I finished scissoring, helicoptering and frogging, my back was tweak-free.


The Core Conditioning segment wore me out and I don't ever think that I've had my abs worked over so intensely the way they were worked over in Core Conditioning with the exception of Jackie Warner's Personal Training Circuit (the 40 minute stint).

All of the routines took some getting used to. I had to concentrate on precisely flexing my feet and working with holding the ball between my ankles. Also, the breathing pattern took some getting used to but I also have breathing issues with yoga and, for that matter, with the front crawl.

I don't know the Pilates vocabulary either but I got the gist of what Andrea Leigh Rogers, who is so graceful by the way, was talking about when she kept saying articulate your spine.

While I was laying on my side doing the routine for Buns and Thigh Sculptor, I was thinking, Oh My God, I'm going to have to do this on the other side and it's going to hurt burn just as much. I liked doing the bridge with my feet on the ball but it was definitely an accident waiting to happen challenging to extend the bridge by moving your legs outward with your feet on the ball.


In Standing Pilates Sculpt, Prince's song Baby, I'm A Star kept going through my head because, at one point, you were supposed to have your body positioned in a star-like state.

I was so happy to release my arms at the end of this segment because they were on fire.

Here is me at the end of Core Conditioning. It was a TKO, y'all.

Oh yeah, the one thing that I really liked about Pilates is that shoes are not required. Really, I know it seems trivial but sometimes when I'm in the locker room trying to negotiate the gauntlet, I swear, every little thing that I need to do in order to be workout-ready seems tiresome. After I inserted the DVD, I was getting ready to put on my Nike shoes and, when I realized that I didn't need them, it made me happy.

What's something small that puts a smile on your face -- besides exercise? :)