PILATES REFORMER

updated March 5, 2015 

If you are serious to get in shape and fortunate to belong to a gym or have access to a Pilates reformer, do it! If you cannot get to a gym, invest in a yoga mat and get stretching! 

RIGHT NOW try to cut back in areas such as i) your finances that could subsidize access to a gym, ii) your nutrition to help your gym investment work better for you, and iii) work on simplifying and de-cluttering your life: ALL to help yourself now and for a long time to come.

I have been working on the reformer machine in group training, with an instructor, and after four months I have seen such a difference in my core and spinal column stability. A personal huge feat for me, and I still have a long way to go, as a weak middle and back have been a nemesis for me for way too long. Plus, a few less meals and more focused nutrition intake has helped me sharpen my mind and keep the purse lean as well.

My weight is 2 pounds less, and my actual form has become more balanced and strong. I definitely need more work, however, but finally a good start will pay later dividends. So much of this is sticking with it. A nice addition to this ongoing transformation is my tennis serve~ it is stronger and I now have the physical capability to win more points and hopefully games for my partners and team players.  These are tough women I am up against, so any edge has great value.

Pilates can be done as mat exercises, or on a reformer machine, which by now you know is my personal preference.

Herebelow is an informative, realistic article from Daily Mail UK, take heed that without proper instruction, injuries can occur.

courtesy Getty images

Some history~

Pilates is actually the surname of Joseph H. Pilates, born 1883 in Monchengladbach, Germany, and lived to the age of 83.  Already a public figure as a professional boxer, he was nonetheless incarcerated in WW I in England, and vowed his inmates would emerge stronger than when they entered, through implementation of his Contrology method. Not a one suffered the ravages of the 1918 flu pandemic, suggesting that the Pilates method has true merit. Personally, I have not been sick this winter, usually getting something here and there. Pilates eventually came to America, married Clara whom he met on the ship's voyage to The Promised Land, and opened an exercise studio in New York City, where he spent his lifetime professing his love and craft for physical fitness. 

Joseph Pilates at the age of 57 and 82

One of his students was the famous dancer and instructor Martha Graham, 11th in descent from American Puritan Myles Standish, and Presidential Medal of Freedom Honoree.

Martha Graham

So much is in the b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g.  Take a breathe, a deep breathe. And expel the used up oxygen slowly. Yoga is like this too, but Pilates is more body building focused.

Reformer is awkward at first, but you will adjust!

I am sure some of the red carpet beauties partake in this exercise. I have read Gwyneth Paltrow does, and after having had two children and at the age of 38 in this shot, she looks marvelous!

March 2015 update: Gwyneth is now partnering with Juice Beauty!  Look for new, exciting promotions, all organic, of course! Keeping in shape inside and out!

at the  Oscars