Does pilates really work,,,?

[talulatreefrog]

If I was to do pilates would I lose my "mummy tummy"? Am particularly unhappy about the bit above my tummy button that used to be firm but now just hangs over the top of my trousers. Has anyone who has had a saggy top tummy managed to lose it? Inspiration required please. Or shall I just commit to getting older and saggier and chill out about it?

I'll be watching this with interest. I'd also like info from anyone who has done it for back or hip pain. For or against is good - I'd hate to spend all that money for nothing

I think it's fab. I had SDP with dd2, and from then on had problems with my lower back, especially aggravated by doing the mummy things like hefting toddlers around, bending double holding hands while they learn to walk etc.

Chiropractor helped a lot, but told me my back muscles were v atrophied, and suggested pilates. It's certainly not a quick fix by any means, and especially if you have to take it slowly because of back problems.....but, now I am much stronger in my core muscles, and can muck out every day, and lift bales of hay without having to take pain killers.

Still got the muffin top, but that's 'cause I eat for England, and underneath I have killer abs. I can feel them! I just need to get the aerobic work done to move the surface flab. - Pilates seems to work from the inside to the outside if you see what I mean.

It works, i lost 4 stone after dd2 but still had that tummy pooch, I did pilates for about 6 weeks and it was virtually gone.
Try ir it's great.

It works as long as you work hard at it.

Before I had kids I had a bad back and pilates was the one and only thing that sorted that. In fact it got my core muscles so toned that they protected my back through a broken leg, 6 months on crutches, pregnancy and labour.

After I had DD I used pilates to get back into shape. I lost all my pregnancy weight, plus a further stone, and I am in all the clothes I wore in me early twenties.

Its also great for strengthening your pelvic floor .

It does really work, my abs are rock-hard now - and I have those long, triangley-shaped muscles in my thighs.
(They are rather covered by a layer of blubber at the mo, but they are there! Note to self - you do need to eat less as well as weekly pilates!_)

Do you all do classes, and what's the student/teacher ratio?

How long do you have to go to classes for? Can you practice alone, or do you need someone telling you if it's correct?

(Basically, how much has it cost you, roughly?)

How many hours of pilates a week do you have to do to make it work?

I go to a class once a week, also do ten minutes on my own when I feel that way inclined (not as often as I should). You need to go to a class for the basics to make sure positions are correct but can do it alone once you get the hang of it.
I really must go back soon.

Mine are about £4 a time at the local sports centre. I do that for one hour a week and then try and do 15mins every day. If you can get a teacher that is trained in the Body Control Pilates as there are a lot of folk out there who teach their own version of pilates, which can do you more harm than good.

I'd say you need to do it for a couple of years to get a good grounding and then you could buy a dvd (anything by lynne robinson) and do it on your own at home.

I've had a bad back for 10 years and it's the only thing that's worked at reducing the pain. I'm sure its pilates which protected my back through pregnancy and i've no pelvic floor issues.

Re: tummy, not sure if it'll reduce a saggy tummy but my pilates teacher's had 5 children and you'd never have known - she has a great figure!

It's also good to help you relax :-)

I had one-on-one tuition for one hour a week for six weeks. This allowed me to get the basics right (which is v important). After that I joined a once weekly class at my gym and I am so glad I did the individual classes first as the teacher in the group did not have time to check us all properly and it is really important you do the exercises right.

I still got to the class for an hour a week and I try to do 2x 30mins each week at home.

i pay £3.50 an hour, been going weekly for almost 2 years. There are usually only about 8 in the class but this is the advanced group; there are about 16 in the basic class.

You really do need to get some tuition, at least to begin with.

Classes i've been in range from 10 to about 30 people. Some teachers will also take a group of four for about £25-£30, which is better as they can get right down with you and alter your movement by a couple of centimetres to get you into the right position for an exercise. So if you could get a couple of mates together that's a good way to really get a more thorough grounding.

at £4.00 per hour - dh and I pay £8 for hour and 20 mins, inluding nice relaxation session with Body Control Teacher.

Been going for a couple of years, and could probably get on with just a dvd now, but like the group where we all encourage each other, and teacher has just got her reformer teaching "badge", so will be looking forward to the odd - once a term - session on the mad contraption!

Hi Slouchy - where are you going? Anywhere close to city centre?

I also do yoga once a week, both really helped my back.
I am a member of local gym so don't actually pay for classes.

My physio recommended the Lynn Robinson DVDs - I got one, and like it quite a bit. I find it works, too, if I bother doing it. (I've been doing running and biking lately instead, and although that makes the pounds go away, it doesn't help with back pain, or really flatten my tummy.)

Just out of interest does anyone think doing pilates or yoga think it helped them with childbirth?

I read somewhere that doing yoga shortened the second stage of labour.

yes, it has been great for my tum my rectus abdominus (as in what most people consider to be the abs) is knackered really and has a big separation, but Pilates has made a huge difference by strenghthening the transverse abdominal muscles (the ones that go round you like a girdle) - I have a properly flat tummy now, and that's after only starting Pilates in early January. I do two classes a week - a traditional Pilates class, and a power Pilates one. It's great exercise.

I currently pay £6 per hour for the classes I go to. Theres probably between 6-12 of us each week.

I should do some at home too but never get round to it.

Itsthawooluff -hello there!

Where do you do your "mad contraption" sessions? Is that in the city? I've always fancied a go on one of those

Nope wooluff, Its over by me in a village hall. (near skidder). Hi to you and betty!

I pay a fecking fortune - £8ph for normal Pilates, £6ph for power Pilates, but then she has brought out a supposedly very popular DVD

I have just joined a gym though which offers Pilates classes included in the membership fee, so shall move to those.

Red Admiral: are you going to give it a try?

Well it's either that or spend a small fortune on pairs of spanx knickers

You can't really get better recommendations than above, so, yes, I think I will give it a go. How about you?

Yes I think so - it sounds fab doesn't it. I think maybe if I spend the money I usually spend on biccies I'll be able to afford it.. I had intended to have a go by myself as I had lessons years and years ago - when i didn't really need it. But I think classes might make me actually do it.

I didn't realise what a "muffin top" was until tonight! Definately need to sort it out!

Hi Betty,

No my teacher has converted a room in her house (Evesham) to a studio and set up a reformer. It does look like she is running a place for people with exotic sexual tastes - all the straps and slidey bed bit, but when I've done a session on it I find I can really isolate the muscles I'm supposed to be working much more easily than trying to "switch off the front of the thighs" in matwork