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I can’t do Pilates. I don’t have time!

Did you ever tell yourself you couldn’t do something, only to find out it wasn’t true? I remember one time, my Mom gave me a handful of dresses she’d received from her friend. “Here,” she said, “These are for you.” I told her they wouldn’t fit me. They looked too small. When I went to try them on, I was surprised at how they actually fit me! It’s often like this with Pilates. People often tell me that they can’t do Pilates because of what they think about their own abilities or because of what they’ve seen online.

I’m here to say that everyone can do Pilates. It might not be the same Pilates that someone in a different situation will do, but it will be Pilates. As a classical Pilates teacher, my training has prepared me for different situations and made sure that I can adapt how I teach within the Pilates system. There are over 500 exercises in the Pilates method, of which 34 are the original mat exercises created by Joseph Pilates.

Progress and Consistency

That sounds like a lot of exercises! Have you ever tried to boil an entire ocean? It’s simply not possible. The same goes for Pilates exercises. Progress happens little by little, like when you learn a language or musical instrument. The learning curve is another story, though. You might hit your stride in the third session and suddenly the learning curve is steep. But that all happened because you showed up one workout at a time.

How do you do Pilates little by little? The best way is to build consistency. Choose a day and time and stick with it. The ideal number of lessons or classes is three per week. The best-case scenario is every day, as I discovered this past summer. If you have been doing Pilates on a weekly basis for a year, you might remember the order and the exercises you do in class or lessons. I recommend you pick one or two to practice every day.

What happens when you do a little bit every day?

I’m not knocking your three sessions, if that’s what you are doing. But what about the other four days? Booking a session involves leaving your house and getting to the studio. But your daily practice can be as short as ten minutes and you don’t have to make it a full Pilates session. Plus, you can do this at home!

You will be surprised at the efficacy of this small hack. It helps overcome the resistance of starting a workout, because a few minutes are so easy to fit in your day. Over time, those few minutes that you do every day will add up to extra hours at the end of the month.

My daily practice, for instance, consists of Footwork and The Hundred. This past August, I challenged myself to do these two exercises every day on my reformer. The results surprised me! First of all, I really felt it the following month, when I thought I was done with my challenge. I really felt it when I missed a day. When I did Footwork and The Hundred every day, my hips and knees felt stronger, and my core was more stable. The two exercises I’d chosen often turned into full workout sessions. I was surprised at how effective just those exercises were! The inner musician in me benefitted from regular practice and I was able to dig deeper into these seemingly simple exercises.

Footwork Tells A Teacher Everything

I’d often heard it said that you can tell how the whole session will go by how Footwork goes. As a new teacher, I had no idea how this was possible. Now, with a bit more experience, I totally understand. Pilates is all about connections: Footwork and The Hundred are all about connecting your breath to your movement, the springs to your powerhouse and finding your full-body connection throughout these exercises.

Feel The Difference

I really believe that if you do a few exercises correctly, you can accomplish what you need with Pilates in just a few minutes. But that’s the hard part, because getting there requires concentration and precision. Because parts of the Pilates method have become separate entities, or completely altered, the concept of precision is seen as antiquated, obsolete or non-functional. But if that were true, everyone would get the same benefits from all types of Pilates. And yet, when people are taught with precision, a whole new experience awaits. Exercises become layered experiences instead of mere choreography with endless repetitions. The Pilates session is an ever-evolving practice that unfolds from beginning to end in one cohesive sequence, one that follows your movement patterns and gives you support where you need it, at the same time that it challenges you. “I feel like I came back into my body,” a client once told me. Or: “I thought I was doing Pilates before. This is very different. It feels real.”

Work With Control And Precision

So yes, I agree. I can’t do Pilates either, unless I look at what Joseph Pilates accomplished through his method and remember how it has benefitted me throughout the years. I don’t have time either, so I can’t afford not to do Pilates. I might not be able to age backwards, but keeping up with PIlates can almost get me to that point! I’ve been reassured by teachers who have been doing Pilates for over four decades that “Things stay the same. Just do your Pilates.” These are teachers who studied with Romana Kryzanowska, so when they say Pilates, they mean classical Pilates. Working with precision, control and concentration. Connecting to the breath and to the authentic Pilates experience handed down from the man himself to Romana.

Are you ready for your daily Pilates challenge? Do you want to feel stronger and more coordinated? Then try a daily dose of Pilates this month. There’s no better time to start than today.

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