April 29, 2025 • 24 mins
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After years of following rigid strength training protocols, I discovered that Pilates offers unique benefits that complement traditional workouts while being gentler on the body and particularly beneficial for those with chronic conditions.
• Low impact with high payoff, providing deep muscle engagement without exhausting your body
• Builds deeper core strength beyond surface-level ab exercises, improving stability and posture
• Works smaller stabilizer muscles often neglected in traditional strength training
• Enhances mind-body connection through slow, controlled movements
• Reduces inflammation and supports hormonal health by not spiking cortisol levels
• Provides sustainable, lifelong movement that can be modified through different life stages
• Particularly beneficial for women dealing with hormonal fluctuations, stress, or inflammation
• Pairs perfectly with strength training for a complete fitness approach
I encourage you to try a Pilates workout with an open mind and approach fitness information with curiosity, remembering that not all fitness advice applies to your unique situation and needs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, welcome to the Toned but Tired
podcast.
Today I want to chat aboutPilates.
I know Pilates is somewhat of atrend that's coming back around
.
If you were around back then, Ifeel old saying that, but in
the early thousands and the 90sthere was like a Pilates uproar
(00:24):
for sure.
And I think, as the thousands,trends are making their way back
around some good, some not sogood Pilates is back in the
trend, but I hope it is here tostay as far as popularity,
because I will say that I wasone of those people who didn't
know much about Pilates and Ikind of thought it was pointless
(00:46):
, because growing up notnecessarily growing up, let me.
Let me rephrase that In thebeginning of my fitness training
journey, a lot of what wastrendy early on was very science
based.
I would say, bro, science dudes,which isn't wrong.
But you have these big muscularguys, so one, they're a male
figure, they quote unquote, knowwhat they're talking about,
(01:08):
they have a PhD or some highlevel certification degree,
whatever, and they're spewingoff information.
And you know me, I'm thinking,wow, this guy probably knows
what he's talking about.
And they you know, there'smultiple people like this and
they have that no bs attitude,and there were some females like
this as well.
But it's very trendy to be verysciencey but also very, uh,
(01:32):
black and white as far as likeonly the basics worth work.
Strength training was praised.
Um, you know, it's only squat,bench, deadlift, row, whatever.
A great format to this, if youdo want to get the basics of
training, by the way, is Thinner, leaner, stronger by Mike
(01:53):
Matthews.
He's the one who owns LegionAthletics.
They're a fantastic supplementcompany and I love how he breaks
down strength training.
But again, remember,everything's kind of on a
spectrum.
There's no just black and white, and I took that as gospel as,
like you know, you can only seeresults if you squat, you bench,
you deadlift, you row.
(02:14):
You know, lift in the gym.
Sets and reps, follow the sameprogram for weeks and weeks at a
time.
Anything else is just fluff.
That was the main thing in mybrain, not saying that any of
the other movement was bad, butit felt like you weren't truly
progressing.
That was the message that wasportrayed a lot of places,
especially, like I said, whenstrength training was very
trendy.
It became very rigid and well,if you know anything about me,
(02:40):
it makes sense as to why Ipursued fitness the way I did,
because I have always felt likeI never fit into any of the
boxes and I'm sure many of youfeel that way as well.
I mean, as somebody who hasHashimoto's and struggles with
fatigue and stress andinflammation that go hard or go
home.
Mentality push, push, push inthe gym, deadlift, squat, bench,
(03:03):
like what?
If I don't feel like barbellback squatting, you know?
Or I have long legs and a shorttorso, so sometimes back
squatting is uncomfortable forme because of my body structure.
You know it was kind of likeyou know anything that's not a
barbell back squat.
You know you're just wastingyour time, you're not gonna get
results, this and that andthere's just so many messages.
(03:23):
And that again made me believelike pilates, banded stuff,
because we use bands and pilates, pink, two pound dumbbells are
you kidding me?
Like you know it, it waslaughable of like, oh, you're
not going to get results.
And let me tell you, I thinkthat obviously, strength
training I think everybody needsstrength training to some
capacity.
You do not need a barbell, um,if you don't want to Like
(03:44):
anything that is weighted andhas sets and reps like you do, a
structured program, that'sstrength training, okay.
So I think we all need to dothat in some capacity, ideally
at least two times a week.
But the other stuff I thinkPilates is fantastic.
Once I got certified I gotcertified earlier this year I
really studied it and ever sinceI've been teaching classes I
(04:09):
have fallen in love with it.
Let me tell you and I neverthought I would, because I never
thought it would be somethingthat I liked but it is great.
So I want to share some of thethings of why I feel it's
beneficial and, particularly forwomen, I feel like it makes
sense and a lot of this is more.
Maybe, just like I could seehow Pilates would work well with
(04:32):
women's like emotional viewsand how our brain works and
different things from thatmatter.
And again, that's like more ofa blanket statement.
Everybody is totally different,but this is just me kind of
saying some generalizationsabout it.
So, first off, pilates is lowimpact but high payoff and I
(04:53):
would argue that it complementswhat strength training doesn't
do.
It's kind of like when you seethose big buff bodybuilders
right and they can like bench300 pounds and they're like
crazy jacked, but then, like youtell them to try to do like
something functional and theycan't do it because they're kind
of like these big stocky guysand they don't have range of
(05:15):
motion or like their stretchingis terrible right.
So it's like they're reallystrong in one thing.
But I think Pilates helpscomplement.
It's almost dance, like nodancing required, but I can see
how, like a gymnast or a dancer,a lot of the moves are very
graceful and kind of mimic thosethings.
And if you're not graceful,don't get turned off, because
(05:40):
I'm like the most awkward personever.
I always, I always just lookreally good with fitness because
I've had so many years topractice the form.
But I'm awkward and clumsy andI still enjoy Pilates and I also
think Pilates has there's a lotof different types of Pilates.
So be aware, because I thinkthere are some people that kind
of put their own little twist.
But obviously you wantreputable people.
But there's classic Pilateswhich was made by Joseph Pilates
(06:02):
.
That is like the base, thefoundation.
He made Pilates.
But again, like I said, overthe years people have kind of
put a twist on it.
You might see them categorizedlike modern Pilates.
People will mix it with bar oryoga.
Um, they'll add a little bit ofstrength in there, uh, and, and
it's fun.
I think you just gotta kind offind what preference you like.
(06:24):
Like there's definitely somereally more gentle ones,
beginner ones, there's way moreintense ones people throw hit in
there and stuff.
I like to be somewhere in themiddle.
I shift towards the classicPilates, but I do have some fun
playing around with weights andbands and things like that.
Okay, but it being low impactwith a high payoff is great,
(06:45):
Like the best way I can describeit is.
You'll feel refreshed andenergized at the end, like you
didn't wipe yourself out, likeyou didn't just like run a
marathon or something.
But during the workout, ifyou're doing it right, you're
getting a really nice deep burnin the muscles.
You might be sweating and itfeels like you know you're
(07:05):
actually working your body but,like I said, it doesn't wipe you
out.
So it's like the perfectcombination.
You're kind of doing lighterweight, higher reps, very small
and controlled movements andagain working those muscles in
ways that you don't work them.
Strength training and I wouldsay that a lot of things have
(07:25):
improved ever since I've donePilates that have aided me in my
strength training and just myoverall training.
I've seen some shifts in mybody as well.
I've definitely seen myinflammation come down.
I'm not saying that likeeverybody who takes Pilates,
your inflammation is going tocome down, but for me, as a
trainer who has Hashimoto's andhas to teach classes and do
(07:46):
their own workouts and isrunning around and all this
stuff, it is great to have thattype of exercise to do where I
can feel like I'm working, butit's not going to make me
inflamed and exhausted and allthis stuff.
And I will say it's also reallyeasy on the joints too.
If you have a lot of aches andpains, joints, a lot of women
with chronic illness, arthritis,just different things.
(08:07):
They tend to go towards Pilatesand it's fantastic, I love it
towards Pilates, and it's it'sfantastic, I love it.
Another thing is it builds deepcore strength.
Yes, so you're not just doinglike surface level ab moves, you
are truly working the core.
Um, the way I structure myPilates and again, everybody's
(08:28):
different, but the way Istructured is I tend to break
the class into segments.
Um, so you might have astanding segment, an arm segment
, a glute burnout segment, an absegment, whatever, and I will
incorporate traditional ab moves, but just the way that you hold
certain things.
If you're working arms, youmight always be working core as
(08:50):
well.
I will tell you the one that Itaught recently.
We were doing some like sideplanks and I have never felt my
obliques burn in the way thatthey did during this class and I
was like, wow, I think this isthe first time in like 10 years
that I've felt my obliques burnthis good.
So just like little things likethat, it really just does work
(09:11):
your body and it does work thatdeeper core.
It's definitely going to helpwith lower back pain, stability,
balance.
You are working on your tinystabilizer muscles.
I know for me, my hip flexorsare tight and weak and it really
challenges them too and I thinkit helps pick up the slack and
improve a lot of that for myself, okay.
(09:32):
Another thing is it's going toimprove posture and everyday
movement.
We kind of went over that.
That it strengthens the tinystabilizer muscles.
You know weightlifting.
You are hitting bigger muscles,which it's great because
obviously you know you're goingto hit a little bit of
everything.
But what I found too is thatpeople, if they go on their own
strength training routine andthey don't have a structured
(09:54):
program or they don't know howto make a structured program, we
tend to go towards moves weenjoy and that creates
imbalances, right, like, maybeyou really like to work your
quads, so all you're doing isquad stuff, but then you neglect
your hamstrings in the back andthat can cause tightness,
imbalances.
It could lead to tears andinjuries in the future.
So you want to make sure thatyou're well balanced and you're
(10:15):
hitting all of the muscle groupsyes, the chest, yes, the places
you don't want to work, um,because it'll come back to bite
you in the butt later.
Okay, um.
And I also think, going back tohow pilates is kind of like a
dancer, like vibe I don't knowhow to describe it other than
like you have to take a classyourself to understand it um,
(10:35):
but I think it kind of helpswith that posture because it's
always teaching you to keep yourshoulders down and back, chest
up, core tight.
There's no slouching.
So I think, in all and all,it's going to help with posture
in general.
Another thing is it enhancesmind-body connection.
It slows you down, right, wedon't really necessarily speed
(10:56):
through.
I think it's a moderate pacefor Pilates.
A couple times it might go alittle faster, but usually it's
slow and controlled.
It forces you to feel your bodyagain and not just get through
the reps right, like you'regoing with my count or at least
trying to keep up with it.
So I really like that and andif you're somebody who is really
(11:18):
stressed out and you alreadyhave a stressful lifestyle, it
could be great to kind of getthat release from the burn.
Um, but it's not, like I said,it's not going to wipe you out
like if you did burpees orcrossfit or running or whatever.
So it's a nice combo.
I always feel refreshed afterPilates and, kind of going back
to how I was saying, I feel likeit works with women.
I feel like women enjoy thatcreative side and we kind of
(11:45):
like to keep ourselves busy,because you know we do.
Our mind tends to wonder oflike, where am I going to
grocery shop?
What am I making for dinner?
Tonight I got to pick the kidsup and do this and we got to go
here and I think, being in themoment, you know, because you're
following an instructor step bystep, they're saying, hey,
we're going to do 10, 9, 8.
(12:06):
Like you're always going andfocused from one thing to the
next.
I feel like particularlyfemales.
It it really aligns with howour brains work and I think
that's why females are drawn toit, not saying men can't do it.
I think it would be extremelybeneficial for men and
eye-opening for men.
But in my opinion, just fromlike kind of trends of how I've
(12:27):
observed that I think and womenthink that I've trained, I think
it benefits.
So that's kind of cool I'venoticed more of like that vibe
and that energy.
It is more of a feminine energy.
I guess it's kind of hard toexplain, but I just I've
definitely noticed that.
(12:51):
And then, of course, you haveheard about the toning without
bulking.
Right, and I'm not going to lie, I haven't dug deep into the
research of this.
I will say that you tend to notget bulky unless, genetically,
you build muscle.
There are some people thatbuild up muscle in certain areas
faster, but a lot of times weget bulky because our eating is
(13:11):
not right and we have a layer offat and then we build muscle.
So we build muscle under thefat and then we just look bigger
because we built muscle on topof our fat.
Um, but I will say that the Ihad to pause because my
neighbor's car alarm was justgoing off um, but anyways, going
back, I will say that the repsand the structure that you do
(13:36):
things.
I think it gives a calorie burnand definitely muscle toning,
like I said, hitting the morelike stabilizer muscles and
things like that, which is, Ithink, why you tend to get that
look.
And I think because it's so lowimpact and it seems like women
are more prone to thisinflammation due to hormones
(13:59):
changing throughout their cycle.
It is a known fact that womenget way more autoimmune
disorders than men and I thinkit's because of, like, emotional
stress and things like that.
I think we just hold on to alot more stress so we're more
prone to that puffiness, thatinflammation.
So I think when we do more lowimpact workouts, um, that helps
(14:20):
bring that inflammation andwateriness down and that's why
inflammation's tough.
I know there's a lot ofbuzzwords right now going around
on the internet of like once Ibalanced my hormones and this
and that, and like whatever youwant to call it, you know.
Besides, people argue and getmad and whatever, just like how
they say Pilates is garbagebecause you're not, you know,
(14:42):
using a dumbbell, okay, whatever.
But from what I've observed, alot of the times women feel
fatter than what they arebecause they're holding on to
water for one reason or another.
It could be your period, itcould be a hormonal imbalance,
it could be because you didn'tget sleep, it could be because
you're stressed, it could bebecause you're eating a ton of
salt or you're dehydrated.
(15:02):
There's a ton of reasons, right?
So you kind of get that watery,puffy look.
That's a great way to tell ifyou're inflamed versus having
excess fat is, like I said, ifyou feel like kind of puffy.
Sometimes for me it would getso bad.
Uh, ever since I got medicatedwith my thyroid, it's been a
thousand times better, but Icould actually feel like my eyes
(15:24):
like puffy and and I almostlooked Chinese, like Asian.
People would actually ask me ifI was Asian, which I'm not or
Hawaiian, because my eyes wouldbe so puffy.
You can can even look up moonface.
That's another similar thingfor hormonal imbalances,
inflammation, water weight andinflammation.
You know, again, the scienceypeople will argue it.
(15:46):
I just watched a pod orlistened to a podcast about
inflammation and inflammation isa response to stress right, a
lot of time, and inflammationcan be healthy.
To stress, right, a lot of time, and inflammation can be
healthy.
But, like in somebody like mewith an autoimmune condition my
thyroid I always have antibodiesattacking my thyroid.
So I kind of always have thislow level of inflammation and so
(16:08):
my body's already kind of likemaxed out right and I got to do
things to keep that inflammationdown.
But let's say, somethingstressful happens, or I didn't
get enough sleep, or I atereally greasy food or alcohol or
whatever.
Maybe the average person with ahealthy immune system could
filter that out.
They might be puffy for a day.
Me, that might spiral and youknow I might get super puffy and
(16:34):
feel fatigued and kind of rundown for like a week or two.
You know, I even got to thepoint where I felt a little
feverish at one point.
That's how I really know I'mlike going through it with my
thyroid is if I feel feverish,because that is an autoimmune
response.
But I do think, aside fromautoimmune conditions themselves
, some things that I've justanecdotally observed in my
(16:58):
clients based off what they toldme, I think a lot more people
in this day and age are maxedout on their stress.
I don't think we can kind ofrefer to that baseline of, oh,
just the healthy, relaxedindividual these people I'm
talking to are.
They're holding on to animmense amount of stress,
whether it's mental or physical,they're not getting great sleep
, they're eating like crap andwhen you throw all those things
(17:20):
onto the fire you're going tohave a lot of inflammation and
puffiness and it's kind of likethe snowball effect and you will
feel like run down, like that.
Like I said, this isn't everysingle person, but if you are
feeling that way and you don'tnecessarily have like a medical
condition, it can be stress andinflammation.
Okay, so we have that just justto kind of clarify.
(17:47):
At least that's my observationsand things that I've collected
just from observing people withthat.
Okay.
And then, speaking of Pilatesdoes support hormonal health and
recovery?
Right, it's not going to spikeyour cortisol.
Again, if we're alreadystressed out, we don't need our
cortisol spiking more.
Some is good, but too much ofsomething can be bad, right?
You know, if you're already ina stressed out state, you
(18:09):
probably don't want to add a tonof cardio on top of things or
maxing out a lifting session or,like I said, crossfit or boot
camps.
This would be a great way toexperience a good burn without
like overdoing it.
It's a great thing to do to getyour body just moving, like on
your period, on an activerecovery day, or you just want
(18:30):
to move your body, very similarto yoga or mobility and remember
you can pick differentintensities.
You can make it really reallyor really really easy.
Um, and I think it's a greatthing to fall back on too, if
you just need some consistencyin your life again referencing
yoga and mobility, you need toget some movement in that day,
and the nice part is is you canstack it with strength training.
(18:53):
Right, it doesn't replacestrength training, okay,
obviously, like you're usinglighter weight here and you're
going to see some progression,but I think pairing it with
regular strength training Islike the perfect combo.
So I love that.
And the really other cool thingjust to kind of wrap this up on
my thoughts on it the reallycool thing is I view it almost
(19:16):
as ice hockey.
I don't know if you guys knowmuch about ice hockey, but my
husband plays ice hockey, so Iknow about it.
But ice hockey is actually verylow impact, aside from the men
getting into fights on the ice.
You're gliding right and Derekmy husband, he plays on you know
local teams and there's guys onhis team that are in their 50s,
(19:39):
60s, even 70s, and of course,they're respectful and they're
like, don't slam the 70-year-oldguy into the wall, right, you
know.
And the younger ones they might.
You know roughhouse a littlebit, but it's great.
And that's kind of how I viewPilates for women is, you know
roughhouse a little bit, butit's great.
And that's kind of how I viewPilates for women is, you know,
pilates and yoga and mobility,that's something.
(20:00):
And strength training, you know, it can be modified, can be
done well into your 40s, 50s,60s, 70s, 80s, as long as you
can keep moving.
It may look different at eachstage on what you're able to do,
you know, maybe less weight ifyou develop any injuries or
arthritis or whatever.
It's going to be modified, butI love that.
You can kind of carry it withyou throughout your entire life.
(20:22):
It's a good form of movement.
So I love Pilates.
I'm so happy it was introducedto me.
If anything, I encourage you,after listening to this one one,
to try a Pilates workout and to, um, keep an open mind, be
open-minded.
I don't know how I trainedmyself to do this, but I feel
like I have over the years.
(20:44):
I've trained myself to approacheverything with curiosity.
Um, we kind of develop our ownviews over the years from our
personal experiences.
That's where our views andopinions come from, right, like
we have a strong opinion towardssomething because maybe
something happened when we weregrowing up or our parents or
something happened to us.
So we choose a view.
(21:05):
I know in fitness a lot of thatcomes from, like, these people
who are already athletic.
Right, they're already athletic.
So they kind of have their ownviews on working out.
They've never been someonewho's started completely new or
had an autoimmune disorder.
So I think I bring a fresh viewwith that.
And there's definitely othertrainers out there like me.
But it's nice to have differentviews but approach things with
(21:30):
curiosity.
You know, if you see some guy onsocial media bashing something,
think about like okay, like getcurious, get curious.
You're not gonna go one way orthe other but think why would he
say this?
Hmm, he's a big bodybuilder.
Like he's bashing it.
Okay, I could see where he'scoming from.
But you know, does thisinformation pertain to me?
(21:51):
Right?
I've taught you guys about thisbefore in past episodes.
This is a crucial piece ofinformation.
The number one thing I see myclients struggling with just
this little tidbit and I'llclose the podcast out.
But the number one thing I seemy clients struggling with is
they get information overload.
It's so beautiful that we haveaccess to the internet and we're
able to get any piece ofinformation at our fingertips.
(22:12):
The problem is is just becauseyou have access to the internet
and we're able to get any pieceof information at our fingertips
, the problem is is just becauseyou have access to all the
information doesn't mean allthat information pertains to you
.
Like you could probably searchup one thing, you could probably
find arguments for oppositeends of the spectrum of
something right.
Like you can find fruit isterrible for you and fruit is
great for you, fruit is okay foryou.
(22:33):
Don't think fruit is bad.
There are some doctorsunfortunately out there with
social media accounts that sayfruit is bad, sugar is bad, and
again, open mind.
You got to be curious and askwhy are they saying this?
Is this true?
Is this based in fact?
Hmm, they cited a researchstudy.
Let me see this research study.
(22:54):
One other thing I'll give you anexample of for 23andMe the DNA
tests.
Right, my husband got hisresults and I got my results and
it said that he had achromosome or something or
whatever.
For not a chromosome, but youknow, whatever, something in his
genetics that he could be morelikely to get Alzheimer's right.
(23:15):
So you're like, okay, let melook into this.
He looked into this study that23andMe used and he said it was
a study done on Asian men.
I think it was a very smallpopulace.
I think it was maybe like 20Asian men and there were some
other weird things about thestudy.
But that's how they determinedit and I'm like, okay, so one,
you're not Asian and there wasonly 20 people.
(23:37):
So like what, what kind ofstudy was that?
So you have to really watchbecause, like you know a lot of
those headlines and things oh,this study, this, this, you know
how was the study conducted?
A lot of times data can bemanipulated, things can be
cherry picked.
You have to make sure and it isvery hard to get like a truly
accurate study that'srepresentative of the population
(24:01):
and all the conditions andthings like that.
But there are better studiesout there and there's bad
studies.
So, again, do your research.
Um, you know, think, is thisinformation for me?
You can always block thatperson or unfollow or say I
don't want to see things likethis.
Usually you can hit three dotsin the corner that says don't
show me stuff like this.
You can refine the informationthat you see, so it's a little
(24:23):
bit easier to make educateddecisions.
And do what you can and try notto get overwhelmed, all right,
because nothing's really blackand white, so stay curious,
right.
With that being said, I lovePilates.
I think it's a great complimentto anybody's movement routine.
Low impact makes a difference.
You feel a good burn, it'sfantastic, it's fun, it's a
(24:43):
great social, uh kind of setting, and especially for the female
feminine brain.
All right, guys.
So I will wrap up the podcastepisode there.
With that being said, I willcatch you in the next one.
Have a great rest of your dayand chat soon.
Hello everybody, welcome to the Toned but Tired
podcast.
Today I want to chat aboutPilates.
I know Pilates is somewhat of atrend that's coming back around
.
If you were around back then, Ifeel old saying that, but in
the early thousands and the 90sthere was like a Pilates uproar
(00:24):
for sure.
And I think, as the thousands,trends are making their way back
around some good, some not sogood Pilates is back in the
trend, but I hope it is here tostay as far as popularity,
because I will say that I wasone of those people who didn't
know much about Pilates and Ikind of thought it was pointless
(00:46):
, because growing up notnecessarily growing up, let me.
Let me rephrase that In thebeginning of my fitness training
journey, a lot of what wastrendy early on was very science
based.
I would say, bro, science dudes,which isn't wrong.
But you have these big muscularguys, so one, they're a male
figure, they quote unquote, knowwhat they're talking about,
(01:08):
they have a PhD or some highlevel certification degree,
whatever, and they're spewingoff information.
And you know me, I'm thinking,wow, this guy probably knows
what he's talking about.
And they you know, there'smultiple people like this and
they have that no bs attitude,and there were some females like
this as well.
But it's very trendy to be verysciencey but also very, uh,
(01:32):
black and white as far as likeonly the basics worth work.
Strength training was praised.
Um, you know, it's only squat,bench, deadlift, row, whatever.
A great format to this, if youdo want to get the basics of
training, by the way, is Thinner, leaner, stronger by Mike
(01:53):
Matthews.
He's the one who owns LegionAthletics.
They're a fantastic supplementcompany and I love how he breaks
down strength training.
But again, remember,everything's kind of on a
spectrum.
There's no just black and white, and I took that as gospel as,
like you know, you can only seeresults if you squat, you bench,
you deadlift, you row.
(02:14):
You know, lift in the gym.
Sets and reps, follow the sameprogram for weeks and weeks at a
time.
Anything else is just fluff.
That was the main thing in mybrain, not saying that any of
the other movement was bad, butit felt like you weren't truly
progressing.
That was the message that wasportrayed a lot of places,
especially, like I said, whenstrength training was very
trendy.
It became very rigid and well,if you know anything about me,
(02:40):
it makes sense as to why Ipursued fitness the way I did,
because I have always felt likeI never fit into any of the
boxes and I'm sure many of youfeel that way as well.
I mean, as somebody who hasHashimoto's and struggles with
fatigue and stress andinflammation that go hard or go
home.
Mentality push, push, push inthe gym, deadlift, squat, bench,
(03:03):
like what?
If I don't feel like barbellback squatting, you know?
Or I have long legs and a shorttorso, so sometimes back
squatting is uncomfortable forme because of my body structure.
You know it was kind of likeyou know anything that's not a
barbell back squat.
You know you're just wastingyour time, you're not gonna get
results, this and that andthere's just so many messages.
(03:23):
And that again made me believelike pilates, banded stuff,
because we use bands and pilates, pink, two pound dumbbells are
you kidding me?
Like you know it, it waslaughable of like, oh, you're
not going to get results.
And let me tell you, I thinkthat obviously, strength
training I think everybody needsstrength training to some
capacity.
You do not need a barbell, um,if you don't want to Like
(03:44):
anything that is weighted andhas sets and reps like you do, a
structured program, that'sstrength training, okay.
So I think we all need to dothat in some capacity, ideally
at least two times a week.
But the other stuff I thinkPilates is fantastic.
Once I got certified I gotcertified earlier this year I
really studied it and ever sinceI've been teaching classes I
(04:09):
have fallen in love with it.
Let me tell you and I neverthought I would, because I never
thought it would be somethingthat I liked but it is great.
So I want to share some of thethings of why I feel it's
beneficial and, particularly forwomen, I feel like it makes
sense and a lot of this is more.
Maybe, just like I could seehow Pilates would work well with
(04:32):
women's like emotional viewsand how our brain works and
different things from thatmatter.
And again, that's like more ofa blanket statement.
Everybody is totally different,but this is just me kind of
saying some generalizationsabout it.
So, first off, pilates is lowimpact but high payoff and I
(04:53):
would argue that it complementswhat strength training doesn't
do.
It's kind of like when you seethose big buff bodybuilders
right and they can like bench300 pounds and they're like
crazy jacked, but then, like youtell them to try to do like
something functional and theycan't do it because they're kind
of like these big stocky guysand they don't have range of
(05:15):
motion or like their stretchingis terrible right.
So it's like they're reallystrong in one thing.
But I think Pilates helpscomplement.
It's almost dance, like nodancing required, but I can see
how, like a gymnast or a dancer,a lot of the moves are very
graceful and kind of mimic thosethings.
And if you're not graceful,don't get turned off, because
(05:40):
I'm like the most awkward personever.
I always, I always just lookreally good with fitness because
I've had so many years topractice the form.
But I'm awkward and clumsy andI still enjoy Pilates and I also
think Pilates has there's a lotof different types of Pilates.
So be aware, because I thinkthere are some people that kind
of put their own little twist.
But obviously you wantreputable people.
But there's classic Pilateswhich was made by Joseph Pilates
(06:02):
.
That is like the base, thefoundation.
He made Pilates.
But again, like I said, overthe years people have kind of
put a twist on it.
You might see them categorizedlike modern Pilates.
People will mix it with bar oryoga.
Um, they'll add a little bit ofstrength in there, uh, and, and
it's fun.
I think you just gotta kind offind what preference you like.
(06:24):
Like there's definitely somereally more gentle ones,
beginner ones, there's way moreintense ones people throw hit in
there and stuff.
I like to be somewhere in themiddle.
I shift towards the classicPilates, but I do have some fun
playing around with weights andbands and things like that.
Okay, but it being low impactwith a high payoff is great,
(06:45):
Like the best way I can describeit is.
You'll feel refreshed andenergized at the end, like you
didn't wipe yourself out, likeyou didn't just like run a
marathon or something.
But during the workout, ifyou're doing it right, you're
getting a really nice deep burnin the muscles.
You might be sweating and itfeels like you know you're
(07:05):
actually working your body but,like I said, it doesn't wipe you
out.
So it's like the perfectcombination.
You're kind of doing lighterweight, higher reps, very small
and controlled movements andagain working those muscles in
ways that you don't work them.
Strength training and I wouldsay that a lot of things have
(07:25):
improved ever since I've donePilates that have aided me in my
strength training and just myoverall training.
I've seen some shifts in mybody as well.
I've definitely seen myinflammation come down.
I'm not saying that likeeverybody who takes Pilates,
your inflammation is going tocome down, but for me, as a
trainer who has Hashimoto's andhas to teach classes and do
(07:46):
their own workouts and isrunning around and all this
stuff, it is great to have thattype of exercise to do where I
can feel like I'm working, butit's not going to make me
inflamed and exhausted and allthis stuff.
And I will say it's also reallyeasy on the joints too.
If you have a lot of aches andpains, joints, a lot of women
with chronic illness, arthritis,just different things.
(08:07):
They tend to go towards Pilatesand it's fantastic, I love it
towards Pilates, and it's it'sfantastic, I love it.
Another thing is it builds deepcore strength.
Yes, so you're not just doinglike surface level ab moves, you
are truly working the core.
Um, the way I structure myPilates and again, everybody's
(08:28):
different, but the way Istructured is I tend to break
the class into segments.
Um, so you might have astanding segment, an arm segment
, a glute burnout segment, an absegment, whatever, and I will
incorporate traditional ab moves, but just the way that you hold
certain things.
If you're working arms, youmight always be working core as
(08:50):
well.
I will tell you the one that Itaught recently.
We were doing some like sideplanks and I have never felt my
obliques burn in the way thatthey did during this class and I
was like, wow, I think this isthe first time in like 10 years
that I've felt my obliques burnthis good.
So just like little things likethat, it really just does work
(09:11):
your body and it does work thatdeeper core.
It's definitely going to helpwith lower back pain, stability,
balance.
You are working on your tinystabilizer muscles.
I know for me, my hip flexorsare tight and weak and it really
challenges them too and I thinkit helps pick up the slack and
improve a lot of that for myself, okay.
(09:32):
Another thing is it's going toimprove posture and everyday
movement.
We kind of went over that.
That it strengthens the tinystabilizer muscles.
You know weightlifting.
You are hitting bigger muscles,which it's great because
obviously you know you're goingto hit a little bit of
everything.
But what I found too is thatpeople, if they go on their own
strength training routine andthey don't have a structured
(09:54):
program or they don't know howto make a structured program, we
tend to go towards moves weenjoy and that creates
imbalances, right, like, maybeyou really like to work your
quads, so all you're doing isquad stuff, but then you neglect
your hamstrings in the back andthat can cause tightness,
imbalances.
It could lead to tears andinjuries in the future.
So you want to make sure thatyou're well balanced and you're
(10:15):
hitting all of the muscle groupsyes, the chest, yes, the places
you don't want to work, um,because it'll come back to bite
you in the butt later.
Okay, um.
And I also think, going back tohow pilates is kind of like a
dancer, like vibe I don't knowhow to describe it other than
like you have to take a classyourself to understand it um,
(10:35):
but I think it kind of helpswith that posture because it's
always teaching you to keep yourshoulders down and back, chest
up, core tight.
There's no slouching.
So I think, in all and all,it's going to help with posture
in general.
Another thing is it enhancesmind-body connection.
It slows you down, right, wedon't really necessarily speed
(10:56):
through.
I think it's a moderate pacefor Pilates.
A couple times it might go alittle faster, but usually it's
slow and controlled.
It forces you to feel your bodyagain and not just get through
the reps right, like you'regoing with my count or at least
trying to keep up with it.
So I really like that and andif you're somebody who is really
(11:18):
stressed out and you alreadyhave a stressful lifestyle, it
could be great to kind of getthat release from the burn.
Um, but it's not, like I said,it's not going to wipe you out
like if you did burpees orcrossfit or running or whatever.
So it's a nice combo.
I always feel refreshed afterPilates and, kind of going back
to how I was saying, I feel likeit works with women.
I feel like women enjoy thatcreative side and we kind of
(11:45):
like to keep ourselves busy,because you know we do.
Our mind tends to wonder oflike, where am I going to
grocery shop?
What am I making for dinner?
Tonight I got to pick the kidsup and do this and we got to go
here and I think, being in themoment, you know, because you're
following an instructor step bystep, they're saying, hey,
we're going to do 10, 9, 8.
(12:06):
Like you're always going andfocused from one thing to the
next.
I feel like particularlyfemales.
It it really aligns with howour brains work and I think
that's why females are drawn toit, not saying men can't do it.
I think it would be extremelybeneficial for men and
eye-opening for men.
But in my opinion, just fromlike kind of trends of how I've
(12:27):
observed that I think and womenthink that I've trained, I think
it benefits.
So that's kind of cool I'venoticed more of like that vibe
and that energy.
It is more of a feminine energy.
I guess it's kind of hard toexplain, but I just I've
definitely noticed that.
(12:51):
And then, of course, you haveheard about the toning without
bulking.
Right, and I'm not going to lie, I haven't dug deep into the
research of this.
I will say that you tend to notget bulky unless, genetically,
you build muscle.
There are some people thatbuild up muscle in certain areas
faster, but a lot of times weget bulky because our eating is
(13:11):
not right and we have a layer offat and then we build muscle.
So we build muscle under thefat and then we just look bigger
because we built muscle on topof our fat.
Um, but I will say that the Ihad to pause because my
neighbor's car alarm was justgoing off um, but anyways, going
back, I will say that the repsand the structure that you do
(13:36):
things.
I think it gives a calorie burnand definitely muscle toning,
like I said, hitting the morelike stabilizer muscles and
things like that, which is, Ithink, why you tend to get that
look.
And I think because it's so lowimpact and it seems like women
are more prone to thisinflammation due to hormones
(13:59):
changing throughout their cycle.
It is a known fact that womenget way more autoimmune
disorders than men and I thinkit's because of, like, emotional
stress and things like that.
I think we just hold on to alot more stress so we're more
prone to that puffiness, thatinflammation.
So I think when we do more lowimpact workouts, um, that helps
(14:20):
bring that inflammation andwateriness down and that's why
inflammation's tough.
I know there's a lot ofbuzzwords right now going around
on the internet of like once Ibalanced my hormones and this
and that, and like whatever youwant to call it, you know.
Besides, people argue and getmad and whatever, just like how
they say Pilates is garbagebecause you're not, you know,
(14:42):
using a dumbbell, okay, whatever.
But from what I've observed, alot of the times women feel
fatter than what they arebecause they're holding on to
water for one reason or another.
It could be your period, itcould be a hormonal imbalance,
it could be because you didn'tget sleep, it could be because
you're stressed, it could bebecause you're eating a ton of
salt or you're dehydrated.
(15:02):
There's a ton of reasons, right?
So you kind of get that watery,puffy look.
That's a great way to tell ifyou're inflamed versus having
excess fat is, like I said, ifyou feel like kind of puffy.
Sometimes for me it would getso bad.
Uh, ever since I got medicatedwith my thyroid, it's been a
thousand times better, but Icould actually feel like my eyes
(15:24):
like puffy and and I almostlooked Chinese, like Asian.
People would actually ask me ifI was Asian, which I'm not or
Hawaiian, because my eyes wouldbe so puffy.
You can can even look up moonface.
That's another similar thingfor hormonal imbalances,
inflammation, water weight andinflammation.
You know, again, the scienceypeople will argue it.
(15:46):
I just watched a pod orlistened to a podcast about
inflammation and inflammation isa response to stress right, a
lot of time, and inflammationcan be healthy.
To stress, right, a lot of time, and inflammation can be
healthy.
But, like in somebody like mewith an autoimmune condition my
thyroid I always have antibodiesattacking my thyroid.
So I kind of always have thislow level of inflammation and so
(16:08):
my body's already kind of likemaxed out right and I got to do
things to keep that inflammationdown.
But let's say, somethingstressful happens, or I didn't
get enough sleep, or I atereally greasy food or alcohol or
whatever.
Maybe the average person with ahealthy immune system could
filter that out.
They might be puffy for a day.
Me, that might spiral and youknow I might get super puffy and
(16:34):
feel fatigued and kind of rundown for like a week or two.
You know, I even got to thepoint where I felt a little
feverish at one point.
That's how I really know I'mlike going through it with my
thyroid is if I feel feverish,because that is an autoimmune
response.
But I do think, aside fromautoimmune conditions themselves
, some things that I've justanecdotally observed in my
(16:58):
clients based off what they toldme, I think a lot more people
in this day and age are maxedout on their stress.
I don't think we can kind ofrefer to that baseline of, oh,
just the healthy, relaxedindividual these people I'm
talking to are.
They're holding on to animmense amount of stress,
whether it's mental or physical,they're not getting great sleep
, they're eating like crap andwhen you throw all those things
(17:20):
onto the fire you're going tohave a lot of inflammation and
puffiness and it's kind of likethe snowball effect and you will
feel like run down, like that.
Like I said, this isn't everysingle person, but if you are
feeling that way and you don'tnecessarily have like a medical
condition, it can be stress andinflammation.
Okay, so we have that just justto kind of clarify.
(17:47):
At least that's my observationsand things that I've collected
just from observing people withthat.
Okay.
And then, speaking of Pilatesdoes support hormonal health and
recovery?
Right, it's not going to spikeyour cortisol.
Again, if we're alreadystressed out, we don't need our
cortisol spiking more.
Some is good, but too much ofsomething can be bad, right?
You know, if you're already ina stressed out state, you
(18:09):
probably don't want to add a tonof cardio on top of things or
maxing out a lifting session or,like I said, crossfit or boot
camps.
This would be a great way toexperience a good burn without
like overdoing it.
It's a great thing to do to getyour body just moving, like on
your period, on an activerecovery day, or you just want
(18:30):
to move your body, very similarto yoga or mobility and remember
you can pick differentintensities.
You can make it really reallyor really really easy.
Um, and I think it's a greatthing to fall back on too, if
you just need some consistencyin your life again referencing
yoga and mobility, you need toget some movement in that day,
and the nice part is is you canstack it with strength training.
(18:53):
Right, it doesn't replacestrength training, okay,
obviously, like you're usinglighter weight here and you're
going to see some progression,but I think pairing it with
regular strength training Islike the perfect combo.
So I love that.
And the really other cool thingjust to kind of wrap this up on
my thoughts on it the reallycool thing is I view it almost
(19:16):
as ice hockey.
I don't know if you guys knowmuch about ice hockey, but my
husband plays ice hockey, so Iknow about it.
But ice hockey is actually verylow impact, aside from the men
getting into fights on the ice.
You're gliding right and Derekmy husband, he plays on you know
local teams and there's guys onhis team that are in their 50s,
(19:39):
60s, even 70s, and of course,they're respectful and they're
like, don't slam the 70-year-oldguy into the wall, right, you
know.
And the younger ones they might.
You know roughhouse a littlebit, but it's great.
And that's kind of how I viewPilates for women is, you know
roughhouse a little bit, butit's great.
And that's kind of how I viewPilates for women is, you know,
pilates and yoga and mobility,that's something.
(20:00):
And strength training, you know, it can be modified, can be
done well into your 40s, 50s,60s, 70s, 80s, as long as you
can keep moving.
It may look different at eachstage on what you're able to do,
you know, maybe less weight ifyou develop any injuries or
arthritis or whatever.
It's going to be modified, butI love that.
You can kind of carry it withyou throughout your entire life.
(20:22):
It's a good form of movement.
So I love Pilates.
I'm so happy it was introducedto me.
If anything, I encourage you,after listening to this one one,
to try a Pilates workout and to, um, keep an open mind, be
open-minded.
I don't know how I trainedmyself to do this, but I feel
like I have over the years.
(20:44):
I've trained myself to approacheverything with curiosity.
Um, we kind of develop our ownviews over the years from our
personal experiences.
That's where our views andopinions come from, right, like
we have a strong opinion towardssomething because maybe
something happened when we weregrowing up or our parents or
something happened to us.
So we choose a view.
(21:05):
I know in fitness a lot of thatcomes from, like, these people
who are already athletic.
Right, they're already athletic.
So they kind of have their ownviews on working out.
They've never been someonewho's started completely new or
had an autoimmune disorder.
So I think I bring a fresh viewwith that.
And there's definitely othertrainers out there like me.
But it's nice to have differentviews but approach things with
(21:30):
curiosity.
You know, if you see some guy onsocial media bashing something,
think about like okay, like getcurious, get curious.
You're not gonna go one way orthe other but think why would he
say this?
Hmm, he's a big bodybuilder.
Like he's bashing it.
Okay, I could see where he'scoming from.
But you know, does thisinformation pertain to me?
(21:51):
Right?
I've taught you guys about thisbefore in past episodes.
This is a crucial piece ofinformation.
The number one thing I see myclients struggling with just
this little tidbit and I'llclose the podcast out.
But the number one thing I seemy clients struggling with is
they get information overload.
It's so beautiful that we haveaccess to the internet and we're
able to get any piece ofinformation at our fingertips.
(22:12):
The problem is is just becauseyou have access to the internet
and we're able to get any pieceof information at our fingertips
, the problem is is just becauseyou have access to all the
information doesn't mean allthat information pertains to you
.
Like you could probably searchup one thing, you could probably
find arguments for oppositeends of the spectrum of
something right.
Like you can find fruit isterrible for you and fruit is
great for you, fruit is okay foryou.
(22:33):
Don't think fruit is bad.
There are some doctorsunfortunately out there with
social media accounts that sayfruit is bad, sugar is bad, and
again, open mind.
You got to be curious and askwhy are they saying this?
Is this true?
Is this based in fact?
Hmm, they cited a researchstudy.
Let me see this research study.
(22:54):
One other thing I'll give you anexample of for 23andMe the DNA
tests.
Right, my husband got hisresults and I got my results and
it said that he had achromosome or something or
whatever.
For not a chromosome, but youknow, whatever, something in his
genetics that he could be morelikely to get Alzheimer's right.
(23:15):
So you're like, okay, let melook into this.
He looked into this study that23andMe used and he said it was
a study done on Asian men.
I think it was a very smallpopulace.
I think it was maybe like 20Asian men and there were some
other weird things about thestudy.
But that's how they determinedit and I'm like, okay, so one,
you're not Asian and there wasonly 20 people.
(23:37):
So like what, what kind ofstudy was that?
So you have to really watchbecause, like you know a lot of
those headlines and things oh,this study, this, this, you know
how was the study conducted?
A lot of times data can bemanipulated, things can be
cherry picked.
You have to make sure and it isvery hard to get like a truly
accurate study that'srepresentative of the population
(24:01):
and all the conditions andthings like that.
But there are better studiesout there and there's bad
studies.
So, again, do your research.
Um, you know, think, is thisinformation for me?
You can always block thatperson or unfollow or say I
don't want to see things likethis.
Usually you can hit three dotsin the corner that says don't
show me stuff like this.
You can refine the informationthat you see, so it's a little
(24:23):
bit easier to make educateddecisions.
And do what you can and try notto get overwhelmed, all right,
because nothing's really blackand white, so stay curious,
right.
With that being said, I lovePilates.
I think it's a great complimentto anybody's movement routine.
Low impact makes a difference.
You feel a good burn, it'sfantastic, it's fun, it's a
(24:43):
great social, uh kind of setting, and especially for the female
feminine brain.
All right, guys.
So I will wrap up the podcastepisode there.
With that being said, I willcatch you in the next one.
Have a great rest of your dayand chat soon.
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