This week’s Colgate Workout Class Review is for Pilates with Becky Gough! Anyone who knows Becky will agree that she is one of the fittest people they know, and her goal is to make YOU just as fit. Her energy is contagious and will make you excited to conquer the fitness challenges she places in front of you. She puts a great amount of thought into the exercises she chooses to include in her class, and every move that she leads you through has a purpose.
When it comes to pilates, many people have a lot of preconceived misconceptions. They think pilates is only stretching, that it’s just the same thing as yoga, or that you need to be flexible to do pilates. While it is true that pilates does include stretching and many of the moves carried out in yoga, the main goals of the class are to tone your muscles (focusing on the core and glutes), improve overall strength, improve posture, elongate your spine, and improve balance. Pilates is a total body exercise. In many of the exercises, you will find yourself working more than one muscle at a time.
Becky’s class was unlike any fitness class I have ever been to. We began class by focusing on our breathing and posture which are very important throughout the class. We then did a stretching sequence that focused on lengthening our muscles, as well as engaging them. As we moved from stretch to stretch, we were slowly progressing into the more intense strength portion of the class.
While Becky’s class featured many aspects of the typical pilates class including Hundreds and Teaser, it also included many dynamic moves such as banded Monster Walks across the room. It also included many Barre exercises to work the quads (such as Diamond Thighs) and to work the glutes (such as Foldover and Fire Hydrant).
It’s safe to say that by the time I reached the final rep of each exercise, I was breathing heavily. While the movements may be small, the impact they are making is not. Your leg may not even lift an inch during the glute exercises, but your muscles will surely be burning!
Overall, I give this class a 10/10. It is called Pilates, but Becky combined so many different kinds of workouts and I was not once bored. I worked every muscle in my body, lengthened my body while getting rid of its cracks and pops, and challenged my mind while doing exercises unlike any I have done before. I strongly recommend this class (which is on Thursday from 6:30-7:30 in Huntington 303) for anyone looking to try something new, challenge their bodies, and have fun too.