Practice What You Teach: Squats are fun??

Every Saturday morning I get the chance to teach a very inspiring group of spunky women who take their Pilates practice pretty seriously.  And by seriously I mean they are dedicated to make their Pilates practice part of their lives.  It’s rare that they miss a weekly class, but more than that it’s that they truly incorporate movement into their lives and they love sharing it with others.  When it comes to their Pilates practice…they all are beautiful movers who come to class each week and give it their all.  It reminds me of one of my favorite Joe quotes,” Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.”  These women live that quote and I’m extremely honored that I get to be part of their journey watching them grow in their movement practices and learning from them every time I teach them. Now that I’m done bragging about my rock star clients, let me get to today’s blog…  

My Pilates practice last week got kick started by my Saturday morning Return to Life Pilates Mat Class crew.  Our class focus last week was flow and transitions.  If you practice Pilates you know this is code word for “no rest between exercises” and “Pilates just became a cardio workout”!  The class started standing, transitioned to the mat and nobody quit moving until they finished standing after their last Pilates push up.  I can tell you that this type of class leaves you feeling taller, stronger, fully mobile in your spine and kind of ready to collapse and take a nap! It’s the kind of class that takes every ounce of your determination and will power to stay focused so that you can give it your all and finish the whole thing with as much control and fluidity as when you started.

So when we finished just a couple of minutes before class end time I was a little surprised at what happened next.  Once of the women said,”Hey, we’re here anyway let’s finish it out with some squats.  How about 50?”  In my head I was thinking,”Really… you just did this amazingly hard, super intense workout and you want to throw in some extra squats??” But when I looked at everyone else and asked “Who’s in?” EVERYONE said “let’s do it!”  So we did 50 squats and I joined in (because if they could do 50 squats after the workout they just did, surely I could do them after a morning of teaching!).

I’m not going to lie…I was sore.  I was sore that day and for probably 3 days after!  All I could think was clearly I need to be doing more squats in my life!  I also kept thinking,”How cool is it that I have such an amazing job where I not only get to do something I love on a daily basis but I also get to be inspired by amazing clients on a daily basis!!”  In case you’re wondering…I’ve been doing more squats throughout my days and it must be helping as when this Saturday rolled around and we decided to do those 50 squats again at the end of class they were a little easier!

And to complete the story, we decided this week to include the other Saturday morning classes and clients who were at the studio in our squat fun.  So this week we grabbed the other class that had just finished and those coming in to attend the class after and we did our 50 squats.  My Return to Life crew was calling out the count as we went(apparently they don’t trust my counting!) and by the time we got to the last ten everyone in the room was counting down, smiling and finishing up their 50 squats!  Afterwards there was lots of positive chatter…”great job, way to go, glad you joined us, etc.!”

I don’t know about you, but I rarely take it upon myself to do 50 squats(even though I know how great they can be for your body..).  It’s not that I mind them so much, I just don’t think of it or find the time. I’m so grateful for all of our amazing supportive clients at the studio that help create an atmosphere of comaraderie, health, and inspiration that has me happily doing 50 squats on a Saturday morning…just for fun!  And if you’re coming to class next Saturday…I hope you’ll join us!