Pilates And Advice-Giving Monsters
The club where I play tennis and pickleball offers various exercise group classes which I’ve shunned for years. If I pause to analyze why, I might be tempted to say it’s because of lack of time, but the truth likely lies somewhere between ‘ I’m too lazy’ and ‘ I don’t want anyone barking moves at me’ . Recently though, I started taking a weekly Pilates (mat) class at the club. The last time I took group classes might have been in my twenties or thirties when I tried a few at the local community centre. But, taking a group class all these years later has been somewhat of an eye-opener, and I realize how aging softens you, in more ways than one. My Pilates experience : I lower my knees to the mat for a modified plank, even though the instructor and the women on either side of me are slanted on toes and hands in full plank mode. “Eight more” the instructor says and I grit my teeth, sinking further into my modified pose. Ten, twenty years ago, I would have pushed myself – up, up further...
