Please tell me about Pilates

[UntidyAn0n]

I am 4stone overweight and I have a weak pelvis and lower back area.

Will it help? Or yoga? Or body balance?

Should i start with a beginner course?

What do I wear?

[ifyoulikepinacolada]

Yes, it will help strengthen your pelvis and lower back. Enormously.

Yep, you should find a beginners' course and do make sure you understand the basics before you go up a level! It can take a while to really 'get' some things but worth persevering with as it sets you up with good habits for life.

Wear exercise clothes. Leggings and a not too baggy top are useful if you could bear it because the teacher will be better able to see your posture and muscles working then and correct you if there's anything going a bit skewiff.

[FinallyHere]

If you already know you have weaknesses, I would really, really encourage you to have some private lessons, alongside, not instead of the weekly lessons. Pilates , yoga, well anything done well will be very good for you, its very easy, though, while you are learning, to do it wrong. You know the next day, because your muscles don't hurt and perhaps your back does.

Many teachers will say they are looking out for the class and won,t let you do things incorrectly. Its not so easy, though, to see what is happening inside. There is no way to say in advance how many privates you will need. Im ashamed to say it took me a year, and lots of other things falling into place, before i stopped hurting my back and started doing the exercises correctly. Once you feel it, its easy enough to notice when you do it incorrectly and gradually it will become second nature.

Teachers tend to prefer group lessons ( ten (or more) people ten pounds each compared to a single person paying, they will always get paid better for groups. Any teacher who is interested in doing it correctly may well be prepared to do some privates. All the best, it was quite magical once i got the hang of doing it correctly. Back never hurts now, so long as i keep up the exercise.

[ifyoulikepinacolada]

finally i'm afraid that's not quite true - depending on where the group classes are run, a teacher may very well only be getting a flat rate. I teach yoga and pilates in london and often in a room full of 15 people who have paid £10-20 each I'll see £20-40 of that. Most of us are very happy to do privates - even if we're running the class ourselves, as that takes a huge amount of admin time and overheads swallow a certain amount of the profit!

[FinallyHere]

From my point of view, ifyoulike thats better and better. Any teacher happy to do privates is a win in my book. Regardless of the business model, what mix of private and group lessons would you recommend for a beginner?

Since I've never trained as a teacher, I can't imagine how you manage to keep an eye on everyone and how you deal with the situation if you spot someone doing the move 'wrong'. As i said, it took me a long time to realise what i was doing wrong. Even then. It took a while to get out of bad habits, but knowing the problem was definitively the first, most important step.

[ifyoulikepinacolada]

Glad to hear it finally!

There's plenty you can gain from a group class with an experienced teacher; we get very good at scanning the room constantly and honing in on someone doing something counterproductive. It takes practice but that's all!

Of course you'll get less 1:1 time in a group, but sometimes it's handy to be able to see other people doing things/be carried along by the group energy.

Wrt the perfect group/private balance, how long is a piece of string?! If you can afford them, they're an amazing way to really make sure you grasp the concepts and 3-4, taught well, should be fine. I have one private every six weeks or so in yoga or pilates and practice one or the other in a group situation six days a week... It's just enough to keep me on the right track and nip any issues in the bud! If you're body literate, maybe one every few months? If not, maybe every month? If they're out of the question financially, group classes are totally fine - I would caution against online stuff until you've had your form checked in person by a teacher though.

[UntidyAn0n]

Thank you for the replies
Glad you said about wearing fitted clothing to see the form, I would have gone with a baggy top!

[ifyoulikepinacolada]

untidy haha it's helpful! Not essential, and not necessarily skintight, but makes our life much easier and then we can teach you better. Try a few different teachers, too. Let me know how you get on with it!

[UntidyAn0n]

I went to a beginners class tonight. The instructor seemed knowledgeable and nice. She said we were doing trigger point work. Used a foam roller, small spikey balls, the big long band and a medium blow up ball. I really enjoyed the class, felt very relaxed after.