There are absolutely zillions of exercise videos out there and a whole lot of them are Pilates programs. In my recent focus on exercse, I acquired a few of these. After looking through a bunch, I settled down on working with Pick Your Spot: Pilates from the “Crunch” series.All available on amazon and other places.
There is a number of reasons why this program is working for me. First off, I like the instructor, Ellen Barrett. She’s pleasant and lively but not horribly teeny bopper. She’s not like Rees Witherspoon and friends in Legally Blonde, for example. I think what I’m trying to say is she’s not a bimbette. There.
Second, I like the fact that there’s not an awful amount of cheerleading through the program. She does of course say things like “beautiful” and “looking good” but luckily it’s not over the top. I wish they’d put a ban to this sort of stuff on exercise videos though. It’s been so done that it no longer has the motivating effect it’s supposed to. I keep thinking hey, you can’t see me so please let me be the judge of whether what I’m doing is a great job and lookin good or not, thank you. I just find it awfully condescending. Anyway, there’s an optimal amount of that on this video.
Then, I like the pace of the instruction and program. There’s a lot of reminders needed in Pilates and yoga so that you breathe right and keep checking on posture to make sure yo don’t hurt anything, specially the back. So I can understand that lots needs to be said. But some instructors have a way of shooting instructions rapidfire at you in such a way that it makes you hyperventilate. Thankfully, Ellen does nto make you gasp for breath.
Another thing that’s good about this video is that there are really not too many reps. I believe you don’t actually need very many reps for each exercise in Pilates anyway and that’s really good. So here too, you’ll find just a few with the exercise stopping well before it gets painful.
And finally, I like the program because it uses Pilates basics. It’s a good way to start. I do have Pilates for Dummies, for example and that’s very good too, but the pace is a little bit more demanding than on this video. So that’s another thing in Pick Your Spot’s favor.
What’s not in its favor is that it has no warm up and cool down. I believe every exercise and dance video should have at least a bit of warm up and cool down. In fact, they could put in a short routine and ask you to rewind and repeat it a few times. For the totally unexercised, warm up is critical.
Ellen Barrett leads you through four mat routines on this DVD. Abs, Butt, Thighs and Total Body. Each is ten minutes. The abs routine has The Hundred, Single Leg Stretch, Mermaid, Criss Cross, Can Can and a few more. No crunches. It’s actually quite easy and after a few days you’d need to step up to something more challenging. But for a start, it’s wonderfully painless.
The Butt and Thighs routines have kick backs, stretches, leg lifts etc, all of which are quite nice to do. I particularly like leg lifts and now that I’m preoccupied with exercise, feel like doing a lot of them. I enjoy the difference in range mof motion and flexibility and feel quite ballerina-like at that moment.
The Total Body routine is a little more challenging and strenuous and has roll downs, plans, push ups etc. Oh, and the tough reverse plank. But well, master the other routines first and it should happen more easily. In any case, there’s a difference from one day to the next once you get into these exercises.
On this and most other videos, there’s always someone witht he instructor who does a modified version of the exercise, just for beginners or someone who’s got back problems. There’s no compromise on that. So that’s another way for the unexercised to begin – just follow the modified version for the first few rounds. I, unfortunately, like to push myself too hard, so I refuse to even look at the modified ones!
On these videos, they always tell you that you can do just any one routine and ten minutes of exercise, but while I believe that’s better than nothing, I don’t think it’s anywhere near enough, except to begin with. If you plan to lsoe a lot of weight, I also don’t think that this alone will help – but it would combine beautifully with a cardio or intense dance workout to start makign a difference depending on how regularly you work with it.
So, this is a good program in more ways than one. If you stick with it, chances are it could kick-start your exercise routine. Soon though, you could outgrow it. I haven’t reached that stage yet because I’m still grappling with 4 or 5 exercises I find particularly tough, but I know it’ll happen soon.
Challenging exercises on this video:
The Rol Up in which your legs go straight up and behind you and then open and close. I find it tough on the lower back.
Reverse plank in which you sit with legs outstretched and lift
The Can Can which takes a little while to get into the right posture
The proper Push UP for which one must first spend a little time perfecting the high plank so that the back doesn’t cave in.