Pilates in the Pines

The holidays are just around the corner… and, as we all know, the holidays come with a very vocal focus in the media on your waistline. Oh yes, amid all the cookies, peppermints, turkeys, pumpkin pies, eggnog (are you salivating yet?), and other delectable goodies that will test your willpower at every turn, you will be bombarded with messages about how you can trim the fat, keep your shape, and navigate the holidays without having to loosen your belt…too much.

While these may all have very poignant messages, they tend to neglect one major factor in the effort to keep your waistline in check. Staying lean and healthy is a lifestyle, not simply a matter of not partaking in a few (dozen) cookies during the holidays.

Don’t get us wrong, diet is an essential part of obtaining and maintaining a healthy waistline, but a few splurges over the holidays aren’t going to be what makes or breaks you. The key factor in reaching your fitness goals and trimming the fat is adopting a healthy lifestyle that incorporates exercise and diet.

It is important to note that just as all foods are created equal, not all exercises will achieve the same goals. If you need evidence of this, you need look no further than body builders and distance runners. And if keeping your frame fit and lean is your primary goal, then Pilates is can be the key component you’ve been looking for to lean up and stay that way.

Since Pilates is a unique blend of stretching and strength training, it targets your muscles in a two-fold approach. The first is by improving your strength. To put it simply, Pilates poses engage muscles, causing them to contract. This causes micro-tears in the muscle fibers, which the body then rebuilds. The end result is you get stronger, and your muscles get harder and more compact. 

However, if all you do is contract, contract, contract, then your muscles will only get shorter, tighter, and more compact. This can reduce your range of motion and increase your risk of injury.

Fortunately, as we said, Pilates is a two-pronged approach, and in addition to contracting the muscles, it also focuses on elongating them through poses that improve flexibility. When you stretch a muscle, you are causing the muscle fibers to lengthen (think of it like rolling out dough). This means that throughout your Pilates workout you are strengthening and lengthening your muscles, sometimes through a single pose. Flexible muscles offer an array of benefits, not the least of which is that longer muscles appear leaner than shorter, compact ones.

In addition to appearance, flexible muscles allow for a greater range of motion, reduce the risk of injury, and can even decrease stress levels. The unique combination of strength training paired with an equal focus on flexibility makes Pilates an exceptional and sustainable practice for a healthy lifestyle. By focusing on the entire body and both expansion and contraction, Pilates is a practice that people can do for years on end without damaging their bodies.

So as we go blissfully into the holiday season, with a cookie in one hand and eggnog in the other, remember that you don’t have to pass up on all the sweet treats to keep your body looking lean and working well. The trick is to make sure that your holidays are part of your healthy lifestyle – pastries, gravy, and Pilates included.

Sign up today for classes at Pilates in the Pines and get a head start on a trimmer you for the New Year.