Pilates as part of your overall fitness routine

As a Pilates instructor I love Pilates, yoga, trapeze, Ribbons and the list goes on. My body is strong, flexible and I have a sense of consciousness and control when I move. These fitness traits have been developed over the years as I have practiced these skills.

Good for me right? I must be proud of myself for being so fit and health right? Well yes and no. I am guilty of being what I like to call “selectively fit”. Being above average for one sort of fitness and ignoring other valuable training methods that compliment and in fact are necessary o for being overall fit.

What is selective fitness? We see it in men a lot, the heavy weight lifter. Muscle bound without a cm of flexibility. Marathon runners, stamina heaven without upper body strength and Pilates and yoga instructors without a heartbeat of cardio. Pilates is amazing and should be Pilates as part of your overall fitness routine not Pilates and similar activities as your fitness routine.

So this year I decided to break free and signed up to Spartan https://www.spartan.com/ an obstacle race aimed to challenge my cardio fitness and explosive capabilities. Out of my comfort zone and into what seemed like hell.

Training included, Cross fit, various explosive activities to be completed in a set time period. A competition against oneself. HIIT training, a set of exercises performed over a period of time in a stop – start fashion. For example; 1 minute of exercising and a minute of rest. Finally, old fashioned running, I opted for a 6k hill run, 3 k up and 3k down combined with a 7k flat, well a 5 to 7k depending on my poor lungs that day!

In June, after 4 months of dragging myself on runs, into Crossfit centers I completed the race with 1 hour and 40 minutes. Happy to have dragged myself out of my normal fitness routine and into a new fitness routine where I will keep up the occasional run and a weekly Crossfit class. I notice my cardio capacity has changed and feel great for it! Next race October!

As a fitness specialist it is important to challenge yourselves and get all round fit. Pilates as part of your fitness routine will help you keep your fitness routine well balanced, but will also help you steer away from injury.

Come and join us for a Pilate’s class and round up your fitness routine. For more information about Pilates as part of your overall fitness routine and our Pilates studio smack in the center of Barcelona click here