Pilates?

[Justin]

Justin,

Pilates made my condition a little worse. But that was probably some of my fault as I tend to overdo. Be very careful.

Thanks Rob. :thumpup: I was going to try some very basic Pilates exercises when I am done with my initial rehabilitation just to keep my core strong. I'm avoiding the whole weight lifting scene--I have no need to "get big" anymore and I just want to exercise enough to keep my spine in good health.

I'll make sure to be careful and take things extremely slow once I'm cleared by my rehab doctor down the road.

[rosedee]

I Wanted to add something here, as I am a huge advocate of/for pilates. I started to doing it in about 1991 (before it became famous!) and think it is brilliant for people with all kinds of back prolems. It helped keep me functioning maximally for many years, including helping me avoid acute episodes when on the verge of them. Pilates is an extremely flexible exercise system, so that you can tailor your programme to what meets your needs best at different times/physical states. Exercises that were particularly helpful in the past for me I can no longer safely do, but there are other ones that are more useful now.

BUT how you do it is crucial and I really believe that to start to learn it properly you need 1 to 1 (ideally and particularly if you already have spine problems) or else no more than 3 or 4 in a class. After that a small class is fine. It is the precise positioning of the body and precise isolating of muscles/muscle groups that makes pilates perfect for you if you have spinal/other problems. I don't think that you can learn it from scratch effectively with just a video/book. It's just too easy to perform exercises badly and think you're doing them right.

It is also very important to have an experienced teacher - there are so many nowardays who set themselves up after a weekend course. It also makes a big difference learning from someone with experience and knowledge of spine problems.

That said, of course, you can make yourself worse if you do particular exercises that your body cannot manage or without using core support. But that's the particular exercise or poor technique, not pilates per se. And that's why an experienced teacher 1 to 1 is so important, particularly to start.

I've tried many different exercise systems over the years, but think Pilates is overall the best. I still do pilates/pilates based exercises as the basis of my exercise regime, even though I am very limited in what I can manage these days. Specific stretches that were really helpful to push myself with in the past are no good for me now.

I also love Wii Fit - as I can't go to a gym it is brilliant (together with Pilates, of course ). The feedback you get from your weight on the balance board is great - but it is possible to get apparently good feedback doing the exercise wrong, as I discovered the other day - I was getting top scoring, but "cheating"!

[Justin]

Thanks rosedee! It sounds like you were an original Pilates trailblazer.

I agree with you about performing exercises incorrectly and thinking you are doing them right. When I used to weight lift, I saw people using the worst "form" in my life...essentially, they were making things worse by throwing around a lot of weight without the correct posture, or form. It's amazing some of the things I used to see people doing--using machines with their arms that were actually intended to work out one's legs, etc. There were so many people with the good intention of working out to get healthy and fit, but they were actually causing more damage to their bodies doing things incorrectly or in dangerous ways--these people were probably better off staying home in the first place.

Thanks for the suggestion about starting one-on-one with a trainer. There is a place close to my house that has a Level 3 representative and teacher trainer for Romana's Pilates®--apparently that's a good thing. I'm just kidding...I read it is a distinction that only certain Pilates instructors are hand picked to receive.

The one-on-one is expensive, but I have so much hardware in my spine and my back is not even close to being normal that it is most definitely worth it to learn how to do things right.

Thanks for your help and have fun with the Wii!