This is the 6th blog in the Clinical Pilates 4-week challenge.
24/8/15, by Jess Davies
I was lucky to get Jeremy all to myself on my Monday evening pilates class. I had spent the weekend down south and therefore had been sitting in a car for most of the day driving back to Perth. My body was feeling particularly stiff and ready to move so I was looking forward to the session.
I have always been aware of certain parts of body hurting more than others and my lower back has often been an issue for me. However, over the last few weeks working with Jeremy, I have come to realise just how tense and stiff my lower right side is and that I should potentially find out why. The fact that every now and then Jeremy frowns, makes an “Oooof…” sound and shakes his head while looking at my back also suggests that my muscles are a little bit off.
With less than a week to go until the marathon, Jeremy wanted to keep things light and set me on a series of gentle exercises to loosen up my muscles. For some reason, most likely my excessive car-sitting, my body wasn’t responding as quickly as it normally would and so Jeremy decided to try something new.
A few days earlier I had seen a post on the Wisdom blog about the benefits of foam rollers, however I had put them in the “I don’t need them” pile along with rest, taking breaks and massages. Jeremy had other ideas.
My thighs join my lower back in the ‘sore point’ bandwagon and are usually the first things to hurt when I do long runs. Jeremy made me get down on the ground with my forearms holding my body and then I had to roll the front of my thighs back and forth over the foam roller.
My thighs join my lower back in the ‘sore point’ bandwagon and are usually the first things to hurt when I do long runs.
I am not someone who swears a lot, but the intense pain that shot through my legs as my thigh muscles spasmed under the roller was enough to make me say a word or two and brought tears to my eyes.
Jeremy assures me that it isn’t this bad for everyone and that it is simply the fact that my muscles are so exceptionally tight that it caused me so much discomfort. I hope for everyone else’s sake that he is correct (and this has been confirmed from a few friends I have spoken to who speak wonders of foam rollers and have no idea why I cried.)
I am definitely becoming more aware of my body and how it works (or doesn’t) which has been an eye-opening learning experience for me.
For the rest of the session my legs felt like jelly however I can now see some potential benefits to this foam roller phenomenon. Jeremy returned to loosening my back and working on my flexibility and I left feeling surprisingly revitalised. I did recover from the experience and I managed to complete two fairly easy ten kilometer runs on the two mornings following.
I wish I had more time with Jeremy before the marathon however the race is fast approaching and I am running out of time. I am definitely becoming more aware of my body and how it works (or doesn’t) which has been an eye-opening learning experience for me. Let’s see what the final days before the big run bring…
To try Clinical Pilates yourself, simply make an initial assessment appointment with Jeremy, Sandrine or Jane through our website booking system or call us on (08) 6389 2947.
