Happy New Year!
Our Pilates studio opened up again today after the festive season. It’s great to be back!
After any long break, it’s often a challenge to get back into routine, and I must admit it was difficult to get up bright and early this morning. I’m sure I hit the snooze button about 4 times! But no matter how much resistance you may put up initially, there’s nothing quite like a great workout first thing in the morning to get you energised for the day.
My first morning Pilates session was a Private class. This consists of a one-on-one Pilates session, focusing on the client’s specific needs – in this case, knee rehabilitation and overall core strengthening.
After this, I went on a 7km trail run.. Now that’s a story! I’ve only recently (and still quite reluctantly) taken up running. And by “taken up running”, I do mean a 13min run on the treadmill (13 is my lucky number. I split this as 2min walk, 4min run, 1min walk, 5min run, 1min walk).
Especially since I had taken full advantage of resting during the December break, I wasn’t too sure I was ready to put my body through a 7km trail run. Luckily I had a buddy on board, since a friend had invited me for this particular run. As she so perfectly put it, our attempt would be to “run/walk/die”! We varied the pace between running, brisk walking, and light walking, but made sure not to stop at all. I’m happy to report that, even in the sunny South African heatwave (Pretoria was 32 degrees today!), we survived our first run/walk for 2017.
Tuesdays are generally my busiest Pilates days, and after a short break to catch up on emails and to grab some lunch, I was back at the studio for the afternoon and evening Pilates sessions.
All of my Pilates classes for today were set at a beginners pace, not only to get all those muscles back in action after a well-deserved rest, but also to remind the bodies about correct technique and posture. It’s good to slow down sometimes, to take a step back to basics and really ensure that you are completing a movement effectively and maintaining control.
