You shouldn’t be. When you are first starting to workout, attempt a new exercise or learn to work “deeper,” you may be using muscles you are not used to using, or be using them in a different way than you have before. It is normal to feel a little muscle soreness a day or two after a workout like this. However, this is the exception. After a Pilates workout your body should just feel lighter, taller and stronger. In Pilates we do not work any muscle group to the point of “feeling the burn.” Working in this way actually tears muscle fibers. Other types of exercise that have a goal of “bulking up” do this intentionally to build muscle. Pilates creates long lean muscles if done correctly, so we want to avoid those muscle tears. The order of the Pilates exercises is designed to work a muscle group, then stretch that muscle group to prevent stiffness, soreness, and create a long muscle. The number of repetitions of each exercise is specific and minimum. Less really is more. The majority of exercises are done only 3-5x. A very few are done 10x at MAX. (Such as the Hundred which is done 10x to get the body warmed up.) If executed correctly, that is all that is needed. The body will benefit more from one properly executed repetition, than from 20 done poorly. Studies have shown that the first and second time your body does an exercise it is trying to figure out what it needs to do, the third and fourth repetition is usually the most correct, and after the fifth the quality starts to go downhill. Muscles have “memory” so we quit while we’re ahead. As practice does not make perfect…it makes permanent. Occasionally we will have a client that comes to the studio because they have tried Pilates somewhere else before and loved it because they “were so sore they could barely move” after class. We are always happy to meet someone that is as excited about Pilates as we are, but this person most likely will be disappointed when they walk out of our studio pain free. Pilates is exercise. You should work as hard and as deeply as you possibly can on that day and you should sweat. You should not be sore. If you leave a Pilates class feeling extremely sore or feel very sore muscles a day or two after your Pilates workout please notify your instructor. We never support the motto “No Pain, No Gain” … in Pilates it is always “No pain, no pain!”
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 07:45:44 +0000