I Dismissed Pilates For Twenty Four Years

At 25, I was juggling 88-pound kettlebells and hitting heavy bags six days a week.

A Pilates instructor offered to trade sessions. I tried it for two months.

Then I went back to what I knew. Boxing. Kettlebells. The stuff that felt like real training.

Twenty four years later, my body taught me what my ego couldn't accept.

The Gap Nobody Talks About

You're training for a triathlon. You lift three times a week. You run once. Maybe you bike on weekends.

Then you show up to Pilates once a week and wonder why it feels disconnected from everything else.

That's the gap I built Athlates to fill.

Traditional Pilates strengthens your smaller stabilizer muscles so your bigger muscles perform better. Increases range of motion. But a lot of studios treat this like a standalone practice instead of what this is. The foundation for everything else you do.

I mixed classical Pilates principles with strength training fundamentals, but kept the flow. For cross-trainers. For athletes in season who still want to push safely.

For anyone who wants results you feel.

Three Pillars

In the Marine Corps, your MOS (military occupational specialty) teaches you one thing. Repetition is how you master anything.

A lot of people think repetition creates plateaus.

But repetition works when you build on routine and sequence. All three work together.

Routine is your overall goal. What you're trying to achieve.

Sequence is how you get there. The path.

Repetition is walking the path until your body knows the movement without thinking.

This keeps you making gains instead of stagnating. You're always moving forward.

Movement First, Perfection Second

Most fitness programs get this backwards.

They demand perfect form from day one. Engage your core. Activate your glutes.

Pull your shoulders back.

If someone can't do a push-up, why are they doing a bench press?

When you allow movement first, people begin to understand their body. They work through the movement. They start to feel things.

Then comes the breakthrough. "Oh, I'm connecting to the spot."

The mind-muscle connection matters. Research shows focusing on target muscles increases muscle activity by up to 60% at moderate loads. Once you make the connection, you take the movement to the next level. Injury-free.

You Don't Need to Be an Athlete

I talk about triathletes and cross-trainers a lot. But Athlates works for someone who sits at a desk all day too.

Maybe you're sedentary. Maybe you've never worked out before. Maybe you're intimidated by gyms.

This gets you moving. Gets you aware of your body and your proprioception. Where you are in space. How your body moves.

Once you have awareness, you have choices. You want to get into more vigorous exercise? You have the foundation. You want to stay where you're at? You have the tools.

Either way, you're gauging your body. Learning what works. What needs attention.

The reformer supports you while you learn. You're lying down. No impact. No pressure on joints. Your body moves through space safely while you build strength and coordination.

Some people start here and move to running or lifting. Some people stay here for years. Both are fine. The goal is movement with awareness.

The Recovery Secret

Athletes notice three things when they leave my studio and go back to their primary sport.

They move better. They feel better. They recover better.

The last one matters most.

A lot of people think recovery means passive rest. Take a day off. Do nothing.

Active recovery maintains your peak power output while passive recovery drops seven times faster. You activate your body, increase blood flow, loosen tight spots.

You do circumduction, bridging, core work, supine arms. A full body workout while your body recovers. Low impact because you're lying down. No stress on your joints.

Your fascia loosens and you gain range of movement you didn't know you had.

Treating Pilates Like A Martial Art

Joseph Pilates created this system in an internment camp during World War I. He called it Contrology.

His first students were boxers and dancers. People who understood discipline and repetition.

A lot of studios have lost the soul.

At Monad Pilates, we keep classes small. Four reformers. When I start an exercise, I reach everyone before the sequence ends. I guide your movement patterns correctly so you learn the routine faster.

Martial arts discipline means you practice every day. You move with intention. Not randomly throwing exercises together and calling it Pilates.

Intentional movement gets you results.

What Your Body Will Teach You

I still juggle that 88-pound kettlebell. I still do snatches and presses.

But I had an old football injury. My whole right side was off. Boxing and kettlebells couldn't fix the imbalance.

Pilates did.

I start every client with footwork. Through your feet and ankles, I can see your compensation patterns. How they affect your core and hips.

Then we do single-leg work. After one side, I have you stand up and walk around.

You feel the difference right away. Between the corrected side and the uncorrected side.

People understand right then.

You're 22, 23, 24. Your body recovers fast now. But what happens at 30? At 35?

After sitting at a desk eight hours a day?

Build the foundation now. Your body lasts longer.

Movement with intention, backed by science and research. Took me 24 years to learn.

Move better. Feel better.

References

Calatayud, J., Vinstrup, J., Jakobsen, M. D., Sundstrup, E., Brandt, M., Jay, K., Colado, J. C., & Andersen, L. L. (2016). Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(3), 527-533. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26700744/

Lau, W. Y., Blazevich, A. J., Newton, M. J., Wu, S. S., & Nosaka, K. (2015). Changes in electrical pain threshold of fascia and muscle after initial bout of elbow flexor eccentric exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 115(6), 1273-1283.

Schoenfeld, B. J., & Contreras, B. (2016). Attentional focus for maximizing muscle development: The mind-muscle connection. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 38(1), 27-29.

Sherwood, B. (2018). Active vs. passive recovery and exercise performance: Which strategy is best? ACE Fitness. https://www.acefitness.org/continuing-education/certified/march-2018/6919/ace-sponsored-research-active-vs-passive-recovery-and-exercise-performance-which-strategy-is-best/

Wells, C., Kolt, G. S., & Bialocerkowski, A. (2012). Defining Pilates exercise: A systematic review. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 20(4), 253-262.

Pilates, J. H., & Miller, W. J. (1945). Return to Life Through Contrology. J.J. Augustin.