Does your approach to fitness work?

So, you’ve decided you need to get fit. You’ve heard that Pilates will be good for you.

Your body has been through lots of changes when you were pregnant and through giving birth and now you hardly recognise yourself!

Your back aches from lifting heavy toddlers and pushing a ridiculously heavy buggy.

Your upper back, shoulders and neck ache from breastfeeding and carrying your baby in a sling on your front.

You are getting tight on your left side, where you hold your little one propped onto your left hip, and try to resume normal life one handed. 

You wear long loose t-shirts to hide your tummy that you no longer seem to have control over and grows disproportionality after just eating a banana. And as long as you don’t look in the mirror sideways, you can convince yourself you look ‘ok’.

So, you’ve finally decided you need to regain your fitness and Pilates is the exercise for you.

You find a class, and all be it slightly apprehensive of whether you’ll be able to do any of the exercises, you head off to your first Pilates class.

You do the class….and love it! You go religiously for 6 weeks and start to feel the benefits. Your back is aching less, you are regaining strength and control of your stomach and your mind feels clearer and quieter.

But then life gets in the way….one child is poorly one week, your husband has to work the next week and you couldn’t get childcare, the class is fully booked the following week and before you know it, you’re out of your routine and feeling it is harder than ever before to go back, because now you feel embarrassed because you’ve missed so many.

You know the only way you will get the benefits of Pilates is to do it on a regular basis. But how can you manage that when you have your children to look after, which whether you do paid or unpaid work as well, is a full time job? What can you do? You feel stuck in a body that no longer feels like yours and with a mind that just keeps telling you ‘that your children are more important and you’ll get fit once they’ve grown up’.

Bitesize Online Pilates for Busy Mums is your answer.

One of the best facts about Pilates exercise is that you do not have to do an hour’s workout to gain the benefits. If you focus on your technique, posture and using the correct muscles you can work intensely for a few minutes on an exercise and really feel it working. So little and often is best. 10 minutes x 6 days a week can be just as effective as an hour class, providing the 10 minutes you do are planned and progressive targeting specific and different muscles groups. 15 minutes twice a day would give you even quicker results. That’s only 2% of your day. That’s not much to ask of yourself.

You can do Pilates anywhere, anytime. You don’t need any specialist equipment, just enough space to lay down and something comfortable to lay on. The lounge carpet is fine! You can do it on holiday, in a hotel room, in the park, at home. Even as you’re pushing the buggy, or a shopping trolley and when playing with your children you can be mindful of your posture and engage your core muscles to help protect and strengthen your back.

You can get up 15 minutes before anyone else and do it first thing in the morning before your mind has had the chance to think of any excuses, when your baby is asleep during the day (they don’t always sleep at night do they?!) , do it with the children, hey I even do a bit whilst I’m standing in the shower! Doing something at any time of the day is better than not moving at all!

So, give it a try. Take action and do a little Pilates everyday. 

Discover more about CORE Pilates Online Membership for Busy Women: www.gilaarcherpilates.com/core-pilates-membership