A Thursday lunch hour that helps me keep doing the things I love.
Thursday afternoon is Pilates time for me. I use my lunch hour to get a session in, then hustle to get changed so I can see patients the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes I’m still catching my breath when I start treating, but I always have a smile on my face.
I first tried Pilates more than 15 years ago, when I was working in Baltimore. I worked with a Pilates instructor and got a little exposure to it. I knew I wanted to explore it more, but I didn’t start doing it consistently until I began going to Ames Pilates at United Movement with Carla, almost three years ago.
WHY I STARTED
By then, I was in my forties. I’d stayed active through my twenties and thirties, but work, family, and community commitments started taking up more of my time. My fitness slid. I was gaining weight, and I could feel myself losing tone, flexibility, and mobility.
That bothered me because my job is physical, and most of what I enjoy outside work is physical too. I work on my historic house, build things, do yard work and gardening, and like hiking, biking, and running. I want to keep doing those things for a long time.
I could sense that some things were starting to limit me, even if I’d glossed over them during the first few decades of my life. I’ve had anterior hip pain and a labral tear in my right hip, lateral knee issues, and trouble with my right shoulder after a separation in high school. Pilates was one of the first things that helped me feel like I was building stability around my joints. It also gave me a way to work on how my whole body moves, instead of focusing on one sore spot at a time.
I remember learning about diastasis recti at a seminar, the separation of the abdominal muscles. Men can get it too, and I was starting to show signs. It got me thinking about whether I was doing enough to support my core. I knew a couple of ab exercises at home weren’t going to be enough. I wanted guidance and accountability, and I wanted to get better at controlling my body through movement.
A BASE FOR EVERYTHING ELSE
That’s what Pilates is for me: control, stability, and movement. It makes me pay attention to the smaller stabilizing muscles I might not focus on when I’m lifting weights. When I got back into exercising about three years ago, I did Pilates for six to eight months before I started lifting again. I felt like I needed that base first.
Pilates is its own thing, but it also complements so many other things I do. It supports the strength work, running, hiking, and everyday physical tasks I want to keep doing. For me, it helps me feel more prepared for those activities.
People sometimes think Pilates is just a trendy workout or something mainly for women. I think a lot of guys could get something out of it. You can have plenty of strength and still need control and stability. For me, Pilates has helped me feel more prepared to use my strength, and I think it’s helped me avoid some lifting and running injuries and setbacks as I’ve worked to add muscle in my forties.
THE VALUE OF GOOD COACHING
I’ve always done Pilates with a partner. For a while that was Megan, our head physical therapist, and now it’s our friend Matt. We’re not trying to compete. It’s just good to have someone working alongside you and giving you a little silent push. Carla has also been instrumental in slowly guiding me toward where I want my body to be.
Our newest instructor, Fausto, has been able to push me right to my limits, and I deeply appreciate that. They’ve also started pointing out some of the things I still need to work on. That kind of professional guidance matters to me. As a chiropractor, I value having someone who understands anatomy, physiology, and exercise help guide me through movement.
PLAYING THE LONG GAME
I think about the long game. Your body is going to cost you something at some point. You can put time into taking care of it along the way, or you can end up paying for it later and giving up things you love because your body can’t keep up. Pilates is one thing I can do now to help me keep doing the things I care about.
“I want to put the work in now so I can keep doing those things later.”
I’m in my forties, and I want to keep doing my job, hiking, biking, building things, and all the other things I enjoy. I want to be able to bend, twist, lift things off the ground, and reach overhead. That’s why I keep showing up on Thursday afternoons in the middle of my workday. I want to put the work in now so I can keep doing those things later. And if I’m hustling to change before my next patient with a little Pilates wobble in my legs, you can bet I’ll still have that smile on my face.
Dr. Chris Feil is a chiropractor at Team Chiropractic & Rehabilitation of Ames, part of United Movement.
Movement is medicine. Strength is resilience. Health is built—together
