It’s almost Christmas, and you know what that means – plans to shape loose weight. For those of us wanting to shape up, Pilates is a great way to show your body some love; not only does it keep you strong and toned but it also improves your posture, increases your body awareness and reduces stress levels.
It’s also a favourite of celebrities including Madonna, Mick Jagger, and Rory McIlroy to name but a few– but you don’t have to be rich or famous to do Pilates. More and more people are taking up this form of exercise that uses precise movements to balance muscle without adding bulk, as well as improving strength and posture. The rising demand is reflected at Reform Pilates in Blackrock, where there’s a steady stream of clients signing up for classes in their picturesque studios overlooking Dublin bay.
The business was established by Anna Frankland who set up the company in 2011. An enthusiastic sportswoman, Anna First discovered Pilates in Sydney when recovering from an injury sustained from triathlon training six years ago. “I often think that had I found Pilates sooner, It could have greatly helped to prevent the many injuries which resulted in me having to take time off from training.” Anna went on to do a year-long intensive training course with Polstar and then convinced her husband to move – lock, stock and barrel – from Sydney to Dublin with the dream of setting up her own Pilates studio.
“Pilates works from the inside out,” says Anna, helping me onto a flat leather bench which resembles some sort of mediaeval torture device. Picture a high-tech rowing machine without the oars. I’ve got straps and pulleys that allow me to slide back and forth on a movable seat with arms and legs stretched every way imaginable. Adjustable coiled springs will give me all the resistance I will need. This is the reformer and it’s one of the many high-tech pieces of equipment I’ll be trying during my one-hour session. I start to feel nervous. I’ve never been to a studio with such hsophisticated equipment and I’ll be the first to admit it looks a little intimidating
For a confirmed couch potato, such as myself, this is a rather different was to spend a Thursday morning but I’m determined to give it my best shot. My goal? To trim my ever-expanding torso. Perhaps it’s my deep affection for Pinot Grigio or the menopause but in the past year my waistline has been expanding at an alarming rate and I’m willing to try just about anything to reduce the size of my midriff but I’m not alone.
“So many woman come to me wanting to reduce their stomach,” Anna says, easing my leg up onto a leather-covered bar. “A lot of women who have had babies are coming to the studio; they might have had a bad relationship with their belly before but after they’ve had children it’s far worse,” she reveals. “We’ve also a huge amount of people coming to us with ‘desk body’ and that includes poor posture, discomfort and poor muscle tone. Sitting is the new smoking,” she adds, raising her hands up to heaven like a preacher.
Anna Frankland
To start with, she guides me through a range of simple stretching exercises, using resistance to help tighten and tone my midriff. As we work through a variety of different machines, she talks me through each movement showing me how to scoop in my stomach and engage deep core muscles with every stretch. She explains that with regular classes the abdominal muscles start to tighten and develop ‘like a corset’ which is probably one of the reasons this form of exercise has exploded in popularity.
I enthusiastically hook myself up to a variety of contraptions which used cables, pulleys, gliding benches, boxes and even trapeze-like gizmos to work arms, legs, and shoulders as well as the torso. Now I’m not saying it isn’t hard work, but there is something so relaxing in having my body pulled and stretched in a hundred different directions – that I actually quite enjoy the experience and discover that it’s a wonderful tension reliever.
After my hour class my posture feels better, my mind feels more alert and my stomach muscles feel as if they’ve been given a thorough work-out. Dare I say it; I have been converted. I don’t think I’ll the muscled eager-beaver gym devotee found pumping iron every morning – but I really enjoyed my session with Anna. There are hundreds of different Pilates exercises, and they can be performed with or without equipment. The exercises engage the mind and body, employing proper breathing and muscle awareness to stretch and flex the body’s “core” group of muscles — the stomach, buttocks, thighs and lower back.
The class was exhausting but exhilarating and if it can give me a flatter, stronger stomach it’s worth putting the effort in.
For more information go to: www.reformdublin.ie