How strong do you need to be before you start taking Pilates? How flexible do you need to be before you start a Pilates practice? Do you have to be a dancer to do Pilates? How old can you be and still do Pilates? Do you have to be perfectly healthy or do you need to be injured to get what Pilates is about and what it can do for you? So many questions and fears for many as they start to think about starting a Pilates practice.

There is a lot of thoughts that enter a new clients head as they enter the Pilates studio for the first time. The apparatus can look intimidating the Cadillac especially if you have never seen one before. The moves can seem complicated and foreign to the body. A new client to Pilates may feel that they aren’t “able” to do Pilates.

If you have had any injuries or are dealing with an injury it can be a bit scary not knowing what is going to happen in terms of the exercise and movement for your pain due to that injury. Will it help or make it worse? Will it cause more pain in a different way? Clients that come to Pilates due to an injury or having pain may have fear of being put into situations that will trigger pain or make things worse. Other new clients to Pilates may have not worked out or done exercise in a long time or maybe ever and this is their first exposure to movement. They may feel muscles or things in their body that are new and that can be overwhelming as well.

It can be unnerving seeing all the apparatus and learning this new choreography that Pilates requires. A lot of uncertainty can occur with the fear of doing this new thing for many that are just entering the Pilates world/

That is not to say that a healthy strong person who comes into the Pilates studio for the first time will have no fear or challenges. Doing Pilates for the first time can be a challenge in terms of them overcoming a fear of doing something they think they can’t, or feeling out of control or not “good enough” as they learn this new way of working out. They may have worked out and done many sports yet, they come to Pilates for the first time and the movement is not something they have done before so, they think “I am not good at this”.

This is where the Pilates teacher can guide the client and session to overcome those fears and challenges.

Pilates is all about the individual and the body of each client, not comparing or thinking each body has to be able to do the same things in the same way. This makes the workout for each person what they need, can do, the pace and level they are at, and challenging them how and when they need or are ready for that challenge.

Trusting your Pilates teacher is key when you are overcoming fears due to pain. Pain that is constant due to an injury even pain that is in the past but, there is that fear of doing something to bring that pain back. The Pilates teacher needs to make sure that the pace and level of work is one that you feel safe and supported with. It is learning where the path in Pilates is for you and what pace will make you stronger and help support healthy and fit movement for you body without triggering pain.

No matter what pain you have dealt with Pilates and your teacher can help take your movement with the building blocks of Pilates to get you stronger, more connected, and moving at a pace that keeps you in a place feeling safe and supported.

That client entering into a Pilates practice with no health issues and a strong body that has the fears and challenges in their own movement that don’t relate to an injury or pain but, in their thinking that they “can’t do that” due to age, never have before or not believing they are strong enough to do it also can count on their Pilates teacher to give them the cues and building blocks to get where they want to go. To be challenged without feeling they can’t do it.

New clients as you enter into the studio have different fears and challenges that they are dealing with and as a Pilates teacher it is important to give you space and time to figure things out in your way and ability.

The wonderful thing about Pilates and the work that Joseph Pilates created is their is no right way or wrong way. It truly is your time and workout to explore what you can do, how you can do it and build on that. To take that journey with your Pilates teacher that helps you overcome fears and challenges that you may have as a new Pilates practitioner.

There are so many exercises and different apparatus in the Pilates studio that are there to guide and support just as the Pilates teacher is there to guide and support. So if one thing isn’t right for you then another will be in terms of where you go in the studio with your teacher.

A good Pilates teacher will also hear and listen to your cues of becoming overwhelmed and needing to move slower or wanting to get more into it and work harder. They will give you that positive environment to explore and see what works or doesn’t work for you.

Pilates is all about getting your body to have it’s full range of movement and finding those muscle patterns that support that. Movements that support not only learning how to make that happen but, that memory and then moving forward with that and getting stronger.

This allows the person who is injured or maybe having pain to learn how to move in ways that keep that pain more in control or not going back there. Not getting into a pattern of movement that will set your body back. For the healthy client who is very active it will help prevent injury and pain as they continue to be able to do the sports and things they want on a daily basis.

So for the uninjured and injured overcoming the fears and challenges may be different and come from different though processes but, the outcome of why and what Pilates does is the same.

Pilates gives all that support and guidance to understand the best movement and connections for each individual body to be able to do what needs to be done every day. That could be getting in and out of a car, picking up groceries, running a marathon, climbing a mountain, staying out of pain, getting more movement to deal with pain, and the list goes on.

A good Pilates teacher realizes that it is overwhelming for any person that first Pilates session. Taking the time to understand and move with you in your comfort level is what that teacher will do. When you come in for your 10th session you will be confident and know what that path is that you and your teacher have set for you.

Over the years that path will shift and change but it won’t be overwhelming or anything to fear as you have the guidance of your teacher and they have given you the tools and confidence to know you can do it!

Listen to 2 Pilates Chicks podcast “The fearful client: the fear of movement” for more!