What To Expect From Your First Pilates Session
We'll begin your first session with a physical assessment. It's important for your Pilates teacher to know your health history, and your fitness level, so that we can identify any exercises that might be contraindicated, as well as establishing the correct intensity level of your workouts.
We'll spend a few minutes discussing your personal health and fitness goals, and how we can achieve them through the Pilates Method.
If you're not familiar with the origin and history of this wholistic workout, we'll give you a quick overview, so that you can appreciate how profoundly different the Pilates Method is from traditional gym workouts.
We'll begin the actual lesson by going over the fundamentals of:
• alignment,
• quality of movement,
• range of motion,
• the Pilates breath, and
• articulation of the spine.
We'll also quickly cover the importance of practicing good transitions; how to maintain a neutral spine as you sit, rise from sitting, lie down, get up from lying down, or picking something up. These are the movements we do throughout our day, and can cause wear and tear on our bodies if performed incorrectly.
All of the above will take less than 10 minutes, and then we will mount the Universal Reformer (exercise machine designed by Joe Pilates) with the proper transition, and begin the workout.
You'll find that it is necessary to move slowly and mindfully in order to maintain good control of your movements, focusing on alignment, quality of movement, and integrating the breath.
Your first session is more of a lesson than a workout, and gives the new student a glimpse into the structure and methodology of Classical Pilates.
