It’s always a pleasure to return to my home town, and I smiled as I passed The White Horse pub on Parsons Green as I walked to Heathmans Road. It’s a bit of a dark alley and Absolute Pilates is right at the other end so I was relieved when I found someone else looking for the studio. We peered at the door buttons and pressed the buzzer. It served as a good aerobic warm up as we walked up to the third floor.
We entered a warm, open loft space with a calm air despite the quiet dance music playing in the background. I liked the low level sofas, the small area of merchandise (mats, Pilates socks etc), the tasteful Vogue and Audrey Hepburn pictures on the walls and the smiling welcome of the receptionist.
She took us on a tour of the facilities – changing rooms and showers, a massage room, a spinning room (seven bikes) and asked us to sign the health/insurance disclaimers.
Whilst waiting for my 8pm class I looked at the information provided – there are eight Pilates instructors (both reformer and mat) and these are all well qualified albeit from various disciplines – physiotherapists, sports scientists, sports injury rehabilitators, personal trainers and physical education teachers. Interesting that there were also specialists in ante and post natal Pilates. There are also three spinning instructors.
Then we met Hollie who spent a few minutes chatting to the three newbies in the class while the other four (three girls and a bloke) warmed up. We were invited to take a towel and made our way up the metal spiral staircase into the main studio. It’s a great space – a proper airy rooftop studio with mirrored walls, wooden floors with a clean and calm feel.
Whilst I have done many, many Pilates classes over the years I’ve only ever tackled a reformer (a table containing pulleys and bars and a moving platform) once before and I didn’t like it. In fact, I’d left that class after 30 minutes as I felt too unfit alongside the super-slim and uber-fit classmates. So my heart sunk a bit when I saw the nine reformers.
But Hollie spent five minutes talking us through the equipment, reassuring us all the time that she would explain equipment changes and exercises in detail during the class. And off we went to our places.
After a short warm up and practice of Pilates breathing (in through the nose, out through the mouth - noisily) we were on those tables stretching our legs, working those gluts, pumpimg those calves, using hand weights for arm and chest toning, pressing a resistance ring for a variety of tabletop crunches and sliding up and down as we exercised each of the major muscle groups.
Hollie was patient but quietly insistent and gently encouraging about our alignment or flexibility. When one of my class mates mentioned that she couldn’t feel the exercise working, Hollie spent time adjusting her position and the exercise until she was happy.
Whilst I could feel each exercise working, and did feel that I was stretching myself as well as my muscles, I didn’t feel any discomfort and I certainly felt sufficiently absorbed that I wasn’t clock watching as I sometimes do if an exercise class isn’t engrossing enough.
And whilst most people know that Pilates is good for people with bad backs, using the reformer was easy on my grumpy shoulder and dodgy knees.
I could hardly believe it when she said we were on the final exercise. A whole hour had passed and I hadn’t crashed out. I felt immensely proud of myself. I also felt somewhat tighter and taller as I walked back to the tube station.
I’m a great fan of Pilates but I know that many people “don’t get it” as being in the correct position and making the right movements can be tricky at first. And whilst before I wasn’t keen on reformers, I certainly felt the benefit in this class – perhaps more so than when doing purely mat work. So I would recommend that Pilates newbies give reformers a chance. Maybe my conversion to the reformer is because I tried it a second time or maybe it’s down to the excellent guidance provided by Hollie but I’ll now be seeking a reformer class a bit closer to home.
Further details: http://www.absolutepilatesplus.com/
