Stuck and unstuck

One of the things I like about Pilates is that it shows me where things get stuck.  Different bodies get stuck in different places, but Pilates tends to find wherever those spots are.

Some of us can extend our spines with no problem (what non-Pilates people call “arching the back”) evenly from the lower back to the neck.  Others of us run into issues in the upper back, or have good reasons why working to extend the lumbar or cervical spine is a bad idea.

Or perhaps we find that when we bend forward to touch our toes, the toes are farther away than they used to be.  This can be about how tight our hamstrings are, how much mobility we have in our pelvis, or how much our spines are willing to bend.  Each different issue requires a nuanced approach.

The Pilates repertoire offers diagnostic and therapeutic tools (I am speaking metaphorically; actual diagnosis and therapy is beyond the scope of my practice; I use the exercises to see how people move and to help them move better.).  All of us can use a little more mobility and flexibility and grace.

Get one free...

When people want to hire me as a trainer or Pilates instructor, I give them a free session.  It is just the smart thing to do.  My usual sessions are 50 minutes, but I spend up to an hour and a half with new folks.

The first half hour is taken up with conversation and assessments.  I learn the things I need to know to keep people safe:  what medications they take, what injuries they have, what health issues they are facing.  I offer a bunch of measurements:  weight, blood pressure, body fat percentage, circumferences of body parts.  I test cardio fitness and flexibility.  Personal training clients show me how they do squats; Pilates clients have more exercises for me to look at.  We talk about food and work and kids and pets and goals and activities and time.  I learn a lot about the people who trust me with this time.  They learn about me, too.  They get a sense of what kind of person I am and whether they want to work with someone like me.  Before we even get to any equipment, my potential clients get a sense of whether I am the right trainer for them.

When we get to the actual workout, we’re ready for our first date, so to speak.  As we go through the exercises (weights or Pilates), we learn whether I am the right person to steer them through challenges.  I get more details on how their bodies work in more contexts.  I learn about how different people respond to different kinds of cues.

At the end of the workout, I have a pretty good idea whether a person is going to commit to working out with me or not.  I am not everyone’s trainer.  I have personality quirks and strengths and weaknesses.  They mesh better with some people than others.  I take my responsibility as a trainer seriously and if a client doesn’t feel rapport with me, we won’t be very successful together.

I don’t charge for the first workout and the assessment because I want people to make a decision that doesn’t involve a financial calculation.  If our first date doesn’t work, we’ve both invested a small amount of time and that’s all.  If it does work, we have begun our relationship on a good, fair footing.

Feeling sweeter without sweets...

I refuse to buy into moral judgments about food.  We are not good when we eat vegetables and bad when we eat ice cream.  However, it is useful to look at how what we eat affects us.

I am a sugar addict.  No, I’m probably not going to eat sugar out of the bag with a spoon or anything, but given an unlimited supply of soda, I would drink it.  All of it.  Until there was no more and I weighed in at over a thousand pounds.  That, obviously, would not be ideal.

Even before I reached half a ton, I would be feeling the effects.  We are all individual chemistry sets, so other people’s reactions might be different than mine, but what I would experience, most of all, is pain.  Sugar tends to be inflammatory.  “Inflammation” is one of those new buzz words; it gets blamed for pretty much everything.  However, when it comes to angry, stressed tissues, it deserves at least some of its reputation.  The issues I have in my hip and in my forearms become Much Worse as the amount of sugar in my diet increases.

The other big effect on me would be an increase in the hunger/irritability index.  (I just made up that term, but it sounds good, right?)  Sugar in the system causes the body to release insulin, which helps the sugar get into the cells to fuel them.  More sugar usually leads to more insulin, which causes blood sugar to drop, which stimulates hunger and fatigue.  When the body has to work a little harder to get to the sugars by breaking down complex carbohydrates and when there are proteins and fats to work on as well, we keep a steadier blood sugar level, feel less hungry, and, in my case at least, get less crabby.

Now, the process of getting the excess sugar out is not a fun one.   Bodies need time to adapt.  We may find ourselves tired, headachy, and irritable for a week or so.  We may have to read labels more carefully for a little while.  Sugar hides in a lot of places, like salad dressing and mayo.  I find that eating fewer processed foods in general is better anyway.

Some of us want to pay attention to glycemic index, some of us want to purge the fruit and other relatively simple carbohydrates.  I’m reluctant to give up all the nutrients that go along with those foods, so my morning smoothie still has a banana and berries in it.  Sugar is not bad, remember; it is just something that has less lovely effects on me than other foods when I have too much of it.

Experiement!