This one hits very personally for me, so try and stick with me through this. We are entering territory where I feel very vulnerable, but I wanted to write this.
I get calls all the time from people asking me how long they would need to do Pilates to get a “Pilates body.”
And every time I hear that question, it opens up so many anxieties within me.
I have always been very insecure about my weight. Even in high school, when I was not heavy at all, I had a boy I liked tell me my thighs were too big. Now, keep in mind, I was in school during the heroin-chic era that was the ’90s, so anything that wasn’t pure bone was considered unattractive.
But that one statement, from a silly 17-year-old boy, made me see myself differently.
I naturally carry more weight in my bottom half. That is a nice way of saying that, yes, I have big thighs, and my backside isn’t exactly small.
Enter Peri-menopause. IYKYK.
Sometimes I don’t recognize myself anymore.
So, I’m sitting there with someone asking me about getting a Pilates body, and I’m looking down at myself.
I am not what you see on Instagram.
I don’t even like doing my own Instagram because I’m scared of what people will say. I won’t be on the covers of any Pilates accounts. I know some people have even said mean things behind my back, and while that hurts, I have come to realize something:
I do have a Pilates body.
I am strong.
And let me tell you, these thick thighs can do leg springs all day.
So, back to the question: How long does it take to get a Pilates body?
Joe famously said, “In 10 sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 sessions you will see the difference, and in 30 sessions you will have a whole new body.”
He was right. Imagine that.
But that “whole new body” isn’t necessarily the model in the matching set you see on Instagram.
It’s someone who is strong and capable.
It’s the grandmother who does Pilates so she can get up and down from the floor with her grandkids.
It’s the person with chronic neck pain who has found a way to move more freely through the system.
And it’s the 44-year-old woman in Peri-menopause who is finally letting pictures be taken because she is beginning to understand that her body doesn’t have to look a certain way to be worthy of being seen.
A Pilates body isn’t a body type.
It’s a body that practices Pilates.
And this is mine.
April