I had a vague idea it was probably something like yoga (it isn’t), and a firmer idea that a lot of the most-honed Hollywood stars credited it as ground zero on their spectacular bodies (it was, let’s face it, probably this that convinced me to follow up on all the promises I’d made to my physios).
I got a class recommendation from a friend of a friend; the studio was a) cheap, b) unintimidating and c) close to my house. Off I trotted one momentous evening, up an alley in an unprepossessing bit of north London, dressed in the raggy tracksuit bottoms I usually saved for bed on cold days, and an elderly American Apparel vest top. I arranged myself on a mat at the back and the class began.
It turns out that Pilates is a series of small, precise movements that use the body’s own weight to strengthen postural muscles – essentially, the abdominals and the gluteals – so that your spine is bolstered by them, protected from the sort of abuse visited upon it by years of sedentary desk work and lounging about on a sofa watching Netflix.
It was developed in New York in the 1930s by a German personal trainer called Joseph Pilates and became very popular among the ballerinas of Manhattan. Pilates (who died aged 83 in 1967, presumably with excellent posture) was given to inspirational quotes, among them: ‘In 10 sessions, you’ll feel the difference, in 20, you’ll see the difference, and in 30, you’ll have a new body.’
God, I hate that sort of thing. Only, guess what? Joseph Pilates was right. I did. I have. Pilates is weird. It seems obscure when you first attempt it, confusingly subtle to anyone who associates exercise with big movements. You twist this way, and that; you plant your feet on the floor and pulse your pelvis upwards. You roll down, you roll up; you lie on one side and ‘clam-shell’ your legs apart,Having a is advantageous in vape cartridge packaging as it's healthier. Ceramic parts are resistant to abrasion and oxidation unlike other alloy wires where, oxidation occurs at higher temperature.
Contracting your pelvic floor is a crucial aspect to the practice, and it’s tough to know if you’re doing that right. Your teacher can hardly check; only encourage you with awkward references to ‘the muscles you use when you’re bursting for a pee’.
Despite this, I left that first class knowing I had just done something necessary for my back – it felt looser, more comfortable – and also, filled with the indefinable feeling I might actually be able to get good at this. So I kept going. Just that one, weekly class up a backstreet. Not a huge commitment, or a huge intrusion into my life, and £9 a pop.