CLASS REVIEW

Pilates At Forty Plus Fitness
by Amy Bauer

Leslie Ervin performing a Pilates pose on the “Reformer.”

On a recent visit to Forty Plus Fitness, I stumbled into what resembled a modern Japanese setting. Fresh flowers, exotic plants, comfortable couches and afternoon sunlight provided a peaceful, yet engaging backdrop. Later I learned that owner, Sharon Miller, chose the ambiance to represent the goal of Forty Plus Fitness: free your mind, move your body, engage your spirit and touch your soul. Miller’s passion to help others age healthily, both physically and spiritually, prompted her to create her own facility.

“There was no one paying attention to the special needs and desires of 35 to 50 year olds in the market,” says Miller. “There are some programs for 50 plus, but most of those are offered in youth-oriented, youth-focused and youth-managed gyms,” she says.

Never having taken a Pilates class before, and often drawn to the interesting contraptions used during instruction, I signed up for the “Intro to Pilates Equipment” class. Fortunate enough to receive a one-on-one session, my instructor, Leslie Ervin, greeted me with (buff) open arms. Ervin, who began as an aerobics instructor some 25 years ago, is a five-year reformed Pilates instructor who has no plans of going back to her previous form of exercise.

“Pilates is amazing. I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in [my life] and I feel healthier than ever,” she admits.

Wearing comfortable, breathable clothes, we began class in first position. Standing tall, with my heels touching and my toes pointing outward in opposite directions, Ervin showed me how to plant my feet, open up my chest, drop my shoulders and lengthen my abdominals without arching my back. Talk about multi-tasking! Who knew that standing correctly required so much concentration? After some deep breaths and suttle readjustments, I rolled gently onto the mat to do some warm-up work before moving onto the machines. Sitting upright, we warmed up our stomach muscles by keeping our knees bent and our hands tucked loosely behind them, then slowly rolled down to the mat one vertebrae at a time. After a few repetitions, I was quickly feeling the burn.

“People think that they need to do thousands of crunches to get solid abs, but that is just not true,” says Ervin. “When I was an aerobics instructor I used to do so many crunches a day but I never saw my lower stomach flatten out; there was always that ‘pooch’ that I figured was just hereditary. After learning Pilates, I was finally able to flatten out my pelvic region,” she says.

After our short warm-up, we headed over to the “Reformer,” a piece of equipment that looked like a bed missing a mattress, but whose name alone gave me a nice boost of confidence! Ervin helped me position myself properly, placing my feet against the front bar and my back flat on the roller. We began with some basic footwork; placing my feet in different positions while slowly and steadily pushing off and straightening my legs. By simply turning my feet in different directions, I could feel different muscles working, like my glutes, thighs and lower back. And to keep me from losing my form, Ervin placed varying-sized balls in between my knees and my ankles. If a ball dropped, it was a tell-tale sign that I was out of alignment.

Next we moved onto a mini-trapeze-looking machine known as the “Cadillac.” This is where I learned to really lengthen and strengthen my hamstrings, arms and abdominals, while Ervin helped me focus on my breathing and keep my body in a straight line.

“You want to focus on the engagement of abdominals, glutes, hamstrings and inner thighs. These parts are all instrumental in maintaining good posture and alignment,” she says.

The best part of my “Cadillac” experience however, was a move called the “Push Through.” Resting on my back, I grabbed onto the trapeze with my hands and stretched my legs straight out. Pleading with my abdominals, I pushed the bar up, reaching for the sky, and then swung my head forward until my chest rested against the top of my thighs. Finally, we finished on the “Wunda Chair,” a small seat with a foot plate that moves up and down, providing even more abdominal and posture work.

After the class, I felt renewed, relaxed and invigorated, but above all else, I was ready to take another class at Forty Plus Fitness and truly become a convert. As a newbie to Pilates and its principles, I have to admit this was a fun, challenging and fulfilling workout — one I highly recommend to anyone looking to change things up.

“Intro to Equipment” classes are held every Wednesday at 12 p.m. Forty Plus Fitness is located at 4701 Westgate Blvd., Ste. D-401. For more information, call 358-8700 or visit www.fortyplusfitness.com.