(Post 152 of 263)

“In 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 you’ll see the difference, and in 30 you’ll have a new body.”

I’m about 20 sessions into Pilates and blown away by how much more this workout has done for me in that short time than all the time at the gym, running, hiking, etc. did for me in the past.

As I get older and creakier, my “bad” leg has caused me increasing grief. Not only do I have to contend with the degenerative cartilage condition I got from my dad, but the joint is actually crooked, making the leg shorter than the other. So I limp when I’m tired and this imbalance has been starting to cause hip pain and scoliosis, on top of my existing kyphosis. I’m still young and vital and reasonably flexible, but before Pilates, I was not on my way to aging well at all. I’ve always felt an urgency to do, do do because I would likely have mobility issues in my more advanced years.

My Pilates teacher said that most of the problem with the bad leg has to do with the shortened and atrophied thigh muscles. She worked out a plan to gently lengthen and tone those muscles to help with the overall strength of the leg in order to reduce pressure on the knee. I was doubtful. Surely if there was something to be done with that leg other than lose every ounce of body fat possible, someone would have told me by now, no?

And so, we began. At the start, there were exercises the right thigh could not do at all that the left thigh could do with little effort. At all became with great pain and needing breaks. Great pain and needing breaks became effort. Effort gradually became ease. Today, for the first time in my life, I exercised both legs equally and with the same ease. And I realised that my limp is gone. That is just twenty sessions spread out over only seven weeks.

We are now working on my kyphosis (hump, like a hunchback). Part of that involves planks, which I loathe. But now that I have evidence that my teacher knows exactly what she is doing, that she will change my body without breaking my spirit first, that she really does know what is best for me, I am willing, even eager, to do the work. I hope I can talk her into another set of 12 private lessons before I have to move to group lessons!