I’ve been doing pilates at Club Pilates for a year exactly! There are so many things that I love about doing pilates, and I literally can’t believe it has been a full year of me sticking with it!
Growing up my mom always took me to her physical therapy, and they would let me do workouts with her at a young age – and it all happened to be pilates. Pilates is so good for injury recovery, but also it is just a great base of workout to add to your routine. I started at 4 classes a month, and I currently am going unlimited! They’re doing summer specials every year where it is $99 to do unlimited as students, and I am going to be SO SAD when that promo ends!
Anyways, back to how long I’ve been familiar with pilates! So I played soccer growing up, and still when I hit high school, I was going with my mom to her physical therapy/ pilates sessions. I started having issues with my hip flexors, as well as my knees. My muscles all pulled externally which is so common in girls who play soccer, but I started going to get dry needling, and taped up before games. Anyways, these pt sessions were also filled with pilates movements to try and help me to fire other muscles, and to get me out of my hip flexors and IT bands. Had a fun trendy studio like Club Pilates existed, I think I would’ve stuck with these things more LOL.
But flash forward to me moving home last year, and I fell back in love with the movements, and low impact of pilates. My knees still bother me when I run, and I will have bursitis forever, but low impact workouts where my knees don’t swell are hard to find! Another one I love is barre – which I’ll probably try next! But here’s the rundown with Club Pilates!
When you first join, do an intro class. Every pilates studio is different, and they show you how to use their reformers, TRX, and other equipment in the studio. From here, they usually give you some goodies! FUN STUFF. You can then decide how much you want to go, but I started with the lowest of 4 a month. Obviously pricing has a huge impact, especially if you’re a college gal on a budget like me, so I stayed at this level for the longest time. 8 a month is a step up, but if you’re loving it I say go for it! As I said before, the $99 unlimited is only in the summer time sadly, so that is something to look out for!
After doing an intro, there are different types of classes, and you should find which one you like! Personally, jump classes are harder, more cardio based, which i do outside of pilates, so I was looking for the “FLOW” classes! Flow 1 is where you start, depending on how motivated I am feeling I’ll also go to 1.5 classes. Definitely start with 1 to get comfortable! The other classes I love are center and balance (I need a lot of that in my life lol) and the RESTORE. Restore is basically an hour of rolling on a trigger ball (myofascial release) and stretching. This class is the BEST at the end of a long week, and it’s basically like a deep tissue massage you give yourself! If you take this, make sure you’re HYDRATED, because you will be releasing a ton of toxins that were built up in your body!
The one thing that is hard at my studio, is there aren’t a ton of young kids, but I also took that risk living in the suburbs I grew up in! I am sure if you are downtown the studios may have more of your crowd, but I just drag my friends with me and make them do drop ins! $25 is for a drop in, but seriously the college deal has got me so excited and telling all my friends to join me!
The only other thing I can think about telling you, is that you dress different for pilates! If you where your hair in a pony tail, put it HIGH. When you lay on the reformer you can’t tell if you are positioned correctly. Also, you don’t have to have toe sox, they just need to have grips. The studios have the CUTEST socks, but have a few cheaper ones, in case you forget a pair in your car, or in your purse. I have some from Zella, and a few other off brands too! They have to have the grips for safety reasons! Finally, your leggings. I prefer high waisted because I like to feel hugged in. Some movements are similar to yoga in the fact that you might drown in a baggy shirt, so where loose materials, that also fit more snug if that makes sense? I could go into exactly what I wear, but I will keep it short and sweet<3
Let me know if you all have any other questions, but yeah! One whole year of pilates, and I am actually so happy I stuck with it! Thx for the best year ever CP <3
