Movement Spotlight: Know What You’re Training For
Movement Spotlight: Know What You’re Training For
I recently took a group fitness class in SF that left me thinking a lot about the difference between a workout being hard and a workout being effective. I love taking new classes on the road because it takes me out of my comfort zone, and exposes me to new things. However, this Pilates-adjacent Megaformer class I took reminded me that not all group fitness workouts are created equal, and neither are the instructors. My true love and passion for Pilates comes from teaching clients about their bodies, their anatomy and their body's cues, so they can learn their limits vs pushing through them.
In this particular class, I felt pushed in all the wrong ways. We were intentionally fatiguing the muscles responsible for stabilizing the body and then being asked to continue increasingly complicated movements under that fatigue. I found myself modifying quite a bit because I was hurting and got myself thinking: What exactly are we training for here? Are we training for core strength, overall strength, endurance? It wasn't clear. And I knew that if I was hurting, even with all my years of movement education, others were hurting, too. Maybe even dangerously so.
So here’s my hot take:
1. If you want to build core strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, build body awareness, and a better understanding of how your body moves, then do Pilates. You'll learn all these things and more.
2. If you want to increase muscle mass, build maximal strength, and progressively lift heavier loads, strength train. Ideally, do Pilates and strength train. They compliment each other incredibly well.
Where I personally struggle with some Megaformer-style programming is the attempt to live somewhere in between. Fatigue becomes the goal, while the quality of the movement can start to take a back seat. And when the muscles responsible for stabilizing a joint are exhausted, other muscles find a way to keep going, and that's where unhealthy compensation can creep in. This doesn't mean you should never feel tired in a workout, I just want you to fatigue the right muscles.
So how do you take care of yourself in ANY group fitness class? Try following these rules
Know that you are allowed to stop
Make your range of motion smaller
Choose the modification even when everyone around you is doing the progression.
Ask yourself where you feel the exercise and whether that matches where you're supposed to feel it
Don't assume it's you! If you're confused or you're hurting, speak up and ask for clarity. Sometimes it's hard for a teacher to predict everything that could come up in a class. Help the teacher help you!
