Reformer Pilates – the gift that keeps on giving
If you’re looking for a meaningful gift for someone you love – or for yourself! – Reformer Pilates lessons could be just the thing. There are many benefits of doing Reformer Pilates, all of which will improve your health and fitness and make you feel good! These include increased core strength and stability, greater flexibility, improved mobility and good posture, all of which are essential for your overall health. It is a great low-impact exercise that is suitable for people of all ages and will benefit everyone regardless of how fit, or otherwise, they currently are.
The Pilates Reformer bed – often referred to as the Pilates machine – is what makes a Pilates Reformer workout so good. The bed is designed to give your body support during your workouts, and different combinations of springs provide different levels of resistance – and you pick the level you want to work at. The support from the bed is also beneficial for injury prevention, as well as making Reformer Pilates an ideal exercise for people recovering from injury.
Pilates Reformer exercises are based on the exercises you’d do in mat Pilates, but with the support of the bed, you’d be surprised what you can do! Knowing that you’re supported enables you to push yourself a bit more, increasing the resistance or getting that extra stretch. The support is also extremely useful with regard to injury prevention as it stops you from overstretching or losing your balance. This makes Reformer Pilates an extremely effective form of exercise that is suitable for everyone regardless of current fitness levels. Professional sports players and dancers use it as a way of improving their flexibility, minimising the risks of injury and recovering from injury.
The rest of us find it useful for aiding weight loss and preventing or treating back pain as the result of sitting at a desk all day. Reformer Pilates is also great for women who have recently had a baby, anyone over the age of 60, anyone under the age of 60!, and those who are completely new to exercise.
A Pilates Reformer class is a full-body workout. Individual exercises will work on different muscle groups, but the end result is to strengthen your core muscles, upper body, legs and thighs.
Our Reformer Pilates classes are small, with a maximum of 10 people per session in the majority of our studios. This means the instructor is available to give more attention to people who are new to the exercise.
The exercises are a series of one-minute controlled movements grouped together to work on specific body areas and muscles. The instructor will demonstrate the exercises they want you to do, giving you instructions on the different combinations of spring resistance that will be most beneficial for you. They will also give alternative exercises to do if you think the exercise will be too difficult, or if you have an injury that affects the area being worked on.
Throughout each 60-second move, you’ll be told how to increase the difficulty – it is up to you whether or not you do it. There is never any pressure to do anything you’re not comfortable with, which means you’ll always be able to go at your own pace.
As you do more classes, you’ll really start to notice the difference. You’ll become more flexible, and stronger, and everyday movements will become a lot easier.
Surely the gift of fitness and health is one of the best birthday or Christmas presents you could ever give someone. You can buy ‘packs’ of 10 or 20 classes of reformer workouts that will give the recipient long enough to really feel the benefits of the exercise. And if you’re a traditionalist who simply has to buy someone a pair of socks at Christmas, we’ve got that sorted too – visit our shop where we sell grippy socks that are perfect for Pilates!
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