Reformation

Does this look like a guillotine to you? At first sight, I thought it was reminiscent of the audio-guided tour of the Tower of London.

This isn't an instrument of torture, per se, but it is called The Reformer.

I used to be a stickler with my workout routine. I went to a personal trainer the summer after I graduated high school, who taught me a good balance of cardio and more importantly weight-training, which many women neglect. My roommates in college can attest to the fact that I went to the Rec center religiously. I would go to class in my work-out clothes most days and usually did one-hour work-outs four days a week.

I have kept exercise as a part of my schedule, but in a more sporadic "when I feel like it/have time" pattern. If you aren't out of college yet, I'll tell you something: you can make a million excuses for things when you have a full-time job. "Being busy" is an umbrella that can be used to cover not exercising, not eating well, eschewing your personal goals, not calling your parents back, etc.

Exercise doesn't have a natural place in my schedule right now, because I haven't made it a priority. Treadmill is low on the pecking order of my life. I'm changing that. My parents have a friend who has the greatest post-child Mom body I have ever seen. How does she do it? Pilates, of course! I asked and she recommended a trainer to me, Steph, and my mom and I decided to try it together. We had our first session last night, and I got to meet the woman I had been schedule-coordinating with for the past few weeks. She is tiny and cute; a winning endorsement for the exercise she prescribes. She consulted with us for a few minutes about goals and whatnot, genuinely told my mom that she doesn't look old enough to have a daughter who is 24 (she's right, and I think I was indirectly referred to as being old), and we got started.

Training sessions on The Reformer, while slow and controlled, take a lot of coordination. Your abs should be "engaged" at all times. It's not mindless revolutions on an Elliptical- there's always something to think about: breathing, flexing, holding, body alignment. Not to mention that she was using all of the Latin terminology for muscles and I got a few eye-brow raises from my mom when she was throwing around things like "contract your Latissimus Dorsi!" Aside from the vocabulary lesson, many of the elements are ballet-inspired, which I liked.

A day later, I have a dull soreness. Considering the most stretching I usually do in a day is my morning pandiculation, it feels great. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go harness my chi or something.

"When the body is weak, it takes over command. When strong, it obeys."
-Jean Jacques-Rousseau