Winsor Pilates DVD Review: Pilates for Beginners Kit (2003) Review

I am new to Pilates exercise and this kit looked just the thing when I picked it up at a sports store the other week.It has a beginners' video, one of those stretchy bands, two shaped pillows and a foam block - mine were all done in a nice designer shade of lavender.It does not have the mat as the picture implies on the cover.

Now although I had never tried Pilates before I did have some body conditioning due to aerobic exercises.I had no trouble performing the pilates moves once I knew what I was doing, but on the video there is an assistant instructor who is performing easier versions of them if the viewer finds them to be too difficult for their fitness level.One hint:if you are in very weak physical condition, you will need the pillows, but others may not (I only used the neck pillow briefly during one exercise).On the other hand, I found that the instructor, Jillian Hessel, went a little quickly for me to both learn how to position myself correctly and complete the set of exercises the first time around; I did get lost several times, but after following along for a few workouts I was able to keep up.My advice to other beginners is to be persistent -- expect to have to practice several times before you "get it" completely.

When the first workout was over I felt disappointed, as if I didn't get a very thorough working out in the 35 minutes I spent on the mat.This workout certainly didn't elevate my heart rate or cause me to break a sweat.Then as I moved around during the day performing house and garden chores that required a lot of bending, reaching, and general body movements I realized that I felt physically "looser" and energized.It must have been doing something right.The next day I noticed the telltale soreness in my abdominals that told me they had been worked harder than I'd known.No other muscle groups seemed to have been worked out very well, however.So although this is a good introduction to the fundamentals of Pilates exercises, I can't recommend it for a total body workout, at least not to people who have some small level of physical conditioning already.BUT....it may be just the thing for people starting out from "rock bottom".
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

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