02-09-17, 08:01 PM | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: I love that dirty water...
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Barre. I love it so much, I started a blog about it. (You can read my rather long-winded testimonial about results here.)
I think I started doing barre (initially Physique57) five years ago. Once I got serious about it (doing it regularly vs. just once in a while) I got great results. And by 'results' I mean functionality, feeling great, etc., which I detailed in the post above. Then two years ago, I tore my rotator cuff in three places and developed issues with my hip. I gained some weight and was really struggling. I eventually developed some self-care practices (including using MELT method rolling, which I swear by) and if I am faithful with those, I can do more challenging workouts again, including very hard barre classes (like Physique57 and Bar Method's Bar Move class.) I lost most of the weight I gained through intermittent fasting. I now take live barre classes, usually twice or three times a week, and do other workouts at home (sometimes barre videos or other stuff just to keep things interesting.) I would say barre is by far the most consistent type of workout I do. I still LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I got to Pure Barre, Bar Method and barre3 locally. I feel SO GOOD after a class. I have to park my car in the same place at each studio or I will be so blissed out after class that I can't remember where I parked. I just feel good living in my body. Usually, anyway. The only other type of workout I have stuck with as long as barre was classic Firms back in the day. I did (and still do) love those workouts, but part of the reason I was so faithful with them was that I didn't know anything else. Although I was young, cute and perky back then, I am in WAY better shape now. I go back and do one of those classic Firms and honestly, they're pretty easy for me now. Barre has clearly gotten me quite fit. I can't say I'm quite the barre bad@$$ I once was, but I'm still able to do a lot, and for that I am very thankful! My year of 1000 injuries has renewed my joy in exercise. I'm so thankful I can move my body in a healthy way. I will never take it for granted! |
02-09-17, 09:32 PM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Mar 2002
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I've been planning two more posts for a different thread, "Do you follow your bliss or do workouts you think you should do or need": my last planned post will talk about Pilates, and my Pilates results will be an indirect emphasis. I'm happy to post something in this thread with a little more emphasis on those results, since they might be the most "dramatic" in my exercise experience.
Many years ago, I'd heard about Pilates a few years before I ever tried it seriously. I'd first read about Pilates relatively early, but the site suggested that Pilates was no more than some alternative workout for women who wanted to avoid lifting weights. I wasn't in the target audience and remained uninterested during the next few years, during which I found VF. Eventually VFers mentioned Pilates and changes that actually appealed to me. I don't remember the specific benefits and don't wish to search right now, but they must've been related to fitness and function. After enough reading, I decided to experiment with Pilates to see if I'd see these changes. I don't remember exactly why I chose what I did, but I chose a mat routine from a library book. A popular recommendation at the time--maybe it still is--was to try Pilates three times a week for ten weeks. After I stopped having to consult the instructions and tips, I learned a convenient session that I could finish in under ten minutes without breaks. I was learning the form and faithfully continuing the experiment, but I felt no obvious changes for a while. I did decide to try the full ten weeks instead of stopping early. A few weeks before the ten weeks were to end, while walking around a party one evening, I suddenly had a pleasant feeling of being more "connected." I walked outside and around a bit to see if the feeling was lasting, not just fleeting. I'd been walking earlier that day, as you may guess , but I hadn't felt anything that'd prepared me for the change. Not even my reading had quite prepared me for it. This feeling alone, though, wouldn't be enough of a "result" to justify continuing Pilates for me. I felt more coordinated in other movements; I went swimming and felt that I was swimming more smoothly, even though I hadn't swum in maybe a year. My other forms of activity, including weight training and yoga, improved as well. (I didn't eliminate my other, varied exercise during my Pilates experiment, and I wouldn't have followed someone who told me to. ) I might've even avoided a few falls. I don't consider Pilates the single form of exercise that's benefited me the most, but it did help, and I like telling this story , in part because it showed me in my own life how VFers can make a difference. Did I have the "brand new body" that some sources promise after ten weeks of Pilates? I wouldn't say so, but these changes weren't a bad yield for less than half an hour per week. I never intentionally stopped Pilates, but I lost the regular habit in the midst of some schedule-related tumult. I hope to reintroduce regular Pilates as part of my reorganized schedule. (I've forgotten the exact order of that mat routine, but I shouldn't need much time to relearn it.) Yes, I still feel more coordinated than I did before, and I avoided my last fall (I stepped on something that wasn't what I expected) just a few months ago, but I don't expect this feeling to be permanent without work. I'm interested in some more variety, and when I'm comfortable with my final draft, I'll be posting a request for Pilates workouts that I'd like.
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"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." The Velveteen Rabbit |
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firm 90 day rotation, results, successful weight loss |
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