Winsor Pilates.

[helga]

This past summer i ordered the winsor pilates dvd and was doing the program 3 days a week for 20 minutes a day. i did this for a week or two and hurt my back. I have a weak back and neck, so this did not surprise me. i stopped for a few weeks till i felt better, and then I started again. After a couple of weeks, the same thing happened. Being the glutton(sp?) for punishment that I am, I recently tried again. However, I followed the the girl who was doing the modified program for people with weak backs, arthritis, etc. This did not work for me either, so I am giving up.
Has anyone else had this problem? I wonder if I was doing the movements incorrectly. Any suggestions as to how I can make it work? I, too, would like to have a body like Daisy Fuentas.

[Merrida]

That's the primary reason I have issues with people resorting to video tapes and books as a first line of defense. Make the investment to take classes with a certified personal trainer, someone who is qualified to teach Pilates (preferably beyond just Mat certification). Take the classes, private or group. A teacher could critique your movements and form and personally customize the modifications.

She could give you feedback.

A video won't do that. A video won't point out what you're doing right or wrong at that particular time. It's open entirely to your subjective interpretation of what you're seeing, or reading or hearing....and we all perceive things differently.

This is my favorite part of teaching, - demonstrating how two or three exercises which "look" identical to the outside observer watching them performed, slight changes in how you think, recruit your muscles, move, think, etc., can turn what appears to be "the same" exercise into vastly, vastly different exercises. They LOOK the same, but they do not feel the same when doing them. You cannot get that understanding without personal feedback.

[helga]

I agree with you 100% now that I know better. Who knew?

[SpinQueen]

Thankyou, Merrida! You couldn't have said it better. Nothing, NOTHING substitutes a good fitness intructor. There are way to many contraindicated moves out there, way too many ways to hurt yourself. You need to be under the supervision of an experienced fitness professional.

[Bett1e]

I just wanted to add that, whenever I do exercises on a videotape that cause me problems, I leave them out. For instance, when I do Windsor Pilates back roll, my upper shoulder would kill me for days. I just leave the back rolls out.

[Aw-De-Oh]

I've found the second half of the workout, concentrating on the leg movements, has prettymuch solved my sciatica problem (sciatica is a pinching of the sciatic nerve in the lower back for those who don't know, causes ALOT of pain). I've dropped the Chiropractor I was with, and the Pilates makes the lower back feel like a million bucks. :thumbup: