Pilates Pains - Help!

[LeightonCourtDiscoQueen]

I have been doing a Pilates class for about 6 weeks now and I am in agony doing some exercises where you have to balance on your hips on the floor

I have got a big frame although I am quite slim and when I lie on my back my hip bones protrude a lot. Even lying on two mats, all I can feel is my bones digging into the wooden floor (I even wore two pairs of bottoms today!)

Has anyone else had this problem, or am I just doing something wrong?

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Have you told the instructor?

As a back pain sufferer for the last 15 years, I must admit I get crabby if an exercise hurts unreasonably; I wouldn't let them away with it.

Eek, I start pilates tomorrow - scared now.

I'd be inclined to avoid an excercise which really hurts; what has your instructor said?

Perhaps there's an alternative excercise you can do while the others do the really poainful one, one which will tone the same area?

I got this a bit when I started but my instructor corrected my position (sort of made me tilt my hips) and then it was OK

ib, maybe that's my problem. I keep wriggling round to get comfy, but certain moves still make my hip-bones dig badly into the floor through the mats. I am always near the instructor, so I would have thought she would tell me?

Also when you do that one sitting on your tail-bone and then curling your back down to be on the floor, does it feel like you've gone over a hump as you come off your tail-bone?

I would probably be comfy on a proper gym mat, but you're not supposed to use them!

Maybe I should try a 1:1 session somewhere?

What sort of mats are you using then?

Those really thin ones that you can roll up.

I want one like the kind the children use at school for gymnastics - forward rolls, etc. nice and thick and padded

Sounds like you may be arching your back a little bit rather than curving it by tilting your pelvis forward (that would explain the not-so-gradual rolling off the tailbone).

I would really recommend a few one-on-one sessions when starting out with pilates, it makes such a difference if you get the exercises just right.

You should not be in agony. Sounds like you should ask the instructor rather than assume she would spot it?

The moves in pilates can be quite refined so a small change can make a massive difference. Like ib I definitely recommend some 1:1s to check you are doing it right. Then I put a towel or a little block like a float under my body for some exercises, but only as recommended by the instructor.