What if exercise didn’t make you sore?

I started a new Beginner Pilates Mat series this week, and at the beginning of class I found myself saying something to this group of new Pilates students that I felt like more people should hear.  I told them that they probably wouldn’t be sore after their first class and that’s OK and it’s actually a good thing. I told them they may feel some muscles they haven’t used in awhile and have what I like to call “muscle awareness” but really the last thing I wanted was for me to check in with them in a few days and find out they were so sore it almost hurt move!  I could just feel a sense of relief spread through the room when I said this.  My guess is that many of my participants who had finally gotten the courage to try Pilates, were already dreading how sore they might be after their first class.

I think in today’s society we have this perception that if you are not miserably sore after you exercise- it isn’t effective.  I asked them to get rid of this belief when they started their Pilates journey.  I asked them to start looking at movement and exercise from a different perspective.  Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying you should never have sore muscles from your Pilates practice- you will.  What I’m saying is that it is actually better and more effective for your body to gradually progress through exercises feeling mild soreness from the strengthening process, versus trying to do too much too soon and overloading your muscles to the place where you are likely to injure yourself.  I’m also saying that it’s OK if you are not sore from a Pilates/movement session!

The belief that you have to be sore from movement for it to be effective is really a little ridiculous if you think about it.  For instance, I walk on a daily basis to make sure I get my plenty of cardiovascular movement time in and to strengthen my body as a whole.  I would never think to myself, ” Wow, I’m never sore from walking so it must not be doing me any good!”  We all know that regular cardiovascular exercise like walking is great for your cardiovascular health, your muscles and even your bone strength!

Is the dread of post exercise soreness keeping you from trying Pilates?  I encourage you to rethink some of those old movement beliefs and come in and try out a complimentary introductory private session with one of our instructors.  Let us help you change your mind about how exercise should feel!