I’m a huge fan of doing online pilates. After I had to give up tennis for awhile, I needed to fill a big void. Pilates was the one workout that brought more joy and strength to my life, instead of sweat and stress.
There’re so many reasons why an online pilates program is the easiest thing. There are way less excuses involved. I can do it in my pajamas, don’t have to get to a gym, and can skip my cold basement where my Peloton lives. (I would ride the bike more often if it wasn’t so cold and dark in the gym.)
I’ve found pilates to be the sweet spot when it comes to a workout routine. I found a pilates program that’s flexible for a busy mom like me. My schedule is different every.single.day. I make time for a class right after I send the kids to school, and yes, I’m often still in my pajamas. (I’ve given the lawn guys a show a couple of times.)
Making Pilates part of my Morning Routine
I few months ago I wrote about my morning routine. It may be different than others you’ve read as I’m not a huge fan of forcing yourself to get up at 5:00am to start “hustling.” No. For me, my morning routine has become a way of starting my day from a place of strength and serenity, nourishing myself, tending to my kids, and then finishing the routine AFTER I get them off to school.
Pilates fits into this either just after the kids go to school, or before 7am if the dog decides to wake me up early. You just never know with kids and a puppy in the house what your wake up time will be, right?
How Pilates fixed my Sciatica
This fall, I noticed a strange pain down my leg every time I walked. We had just brought our new puppy home so I was walking a lot more throughout the day. Not strenuous by any means, but I realized I needed to deal with the pain. I finally went to see a sports medicine doctor and she quickly recognized the symptoms as sciatica.
I’ve had it before, but this time it was a lot worse. Due to a mix of really long car rides (ahem, lacrosse tournaments out of state didn’t help) and a lack of strength in my core, the pain was getting tough to bear.
I had taken a long break from Pilates after traveling to Paris and getting the new puppy. When the pain started I didn’t want to do anything to aggravate it. Turns out, what I really needed to solve my sciatica was getting back to a consistent pilates program.
After getting “back on the mat” so to speak, my sciatica resolved within one week. TWO WEEKS. That was enough to stretch things out that needed it, and get my core back in shape. Everyone will react different as we come to the mat from different places. But I do believe it’s a great starting point for healing after an injury, or use it during a recovery period.
How I Found Pilates Online
We are so lucky we can test out different instructors via YouTube for pilates and a whole host of other classes. When I looked for free pilates online, there were lots of choices. But you have to find the style that matches what you are looking for.
I think it was another blogger who first recommended Robin’s classes online. After doing one of the 5 day challenges, I was hooked.
These are legitimate workouts where I’m sore the next day. And that’s just a 15 minute workout! There’s long workouts and short workouts. I’m telling you, this is the easiest thing to fit into the margins of your day. If I can do it with my puppy jumping all over me, you can do it too.
The Balanced Life Sisterhood
After doing the challenge series of pilates classes online, I decided to test out The Sisterhood program with The Balanced Life. It includes the following:
- a huge library of online pilates classes
- recipe ideas
- community support
- tracking your workouts/calendar view of what to do each day
I know I’m better with my exercise goals when I have it scheduled in advance. Now I just log in and check the calendar for the workout of the day. If it’s too long for the time I have, I save it for the weekend. (where no classes are slotted in so we can all play catch up!)
The Sisterhood is now open to new members for a limited time. Learn more at The Balanced Life Sisterhood, and I also got a code for $20 off your annual membership! Use code: emily20
