Every time...

Almost all of the Pilates sessions I do myself or do with clients start with the same handful of exercises.  There are a few reasons for this.

Possibly the most obvious is that those exercises serve as a warm-up.  When I was younger, I was skeptical of the whole concept of warming up.  Reality has set in and I now understand that we don’t go zero to sixty instantly.  The later exercises really do go better when we take the time to ease into them properly.

I tend to put the straight core exercises in that early batch of exercises because then they definitely get done.  When they happen first, they don’t get forgotten.  Our balance and posture and healthy backs thank us when we ensure that the core work gets done.

A more subtle reason for the routine is that it becomes almost a ritual.  When we perform the same motions in the same order, it helps to get our mind in the right space for what comes next.  We get to arrive gradually, shedding the outside world and moving into the Pilates space as we progress down the familiar path.  Mind-body work requires both a mind and a body (no kidding!) and ritual helps both get to the right place.

Let’s do what we need to do to make our workouts go well!