BOOTCAMP IS IN & PILATES IS OUT...

HOT

NOT?

This issue has been floating around the internet a lot this week, do to a study put out by the American College of Sports Medicine, on projected fitness trends for 2011.

I say, "Why not both?" This in or out/hot or not thing is silly. It's likening these exercise systems to over-the-knee boots, or jeggings. I love how people like to call Pilates "trendy" or a "fad". Guess what... it's been around since the early 20th Century, and in my humble opinion it's not going anywhere. If you love Pilates, you love Pilates... period. I realize I may be sounding a little snarky, but clearly I am sensitive to this issue, because Pilates is not only something I believe in, it's also how I earn a living. The biggest argument posed by the article was that Pilates is too expensive. I think people are forgetting that Pilates was originally developed on a mat. A mat is what, $40 at most? And, furthermore, most reformer exercises can be mimicked with smaller hand-held equipment (stretch bands, magic circles, mini-balls, foam rollers).


I love the mat workout and find it very effective. Give me an hour and I'll give you a total body workout. Now, I'm not saying that the reformer, chair, or cadillac aren't effective, rather that the "too expensive" argument doesn't really hold any water.
The truth is, there really is room for it all. I know that Pilates is not for everyone, and neither is Boot Camp. The same could be said about Yoga, or Spinning or long distance running, or kickboxing...the list goes on and on. I think we have to realize that it's amazing that there are a plethora of exercise options open to us, and then try to see the ways in which these systems can work together, as opposed to against one another (I, myself, have been known to take a Pilates class on Tuesday, a Boot Camp class on Wednesday and Yoga on Thursday). In fact, this article in the NY Times from just a few months ago talks about how the Army has revamped its own training and fitness regime to combat (pun intended) less physically fit troops, who were getting injured more often. You should definitely read the whole article, but here is a little snippet I found quite interesting:

The new fitness regime tries to deal with all these problems by incorporating more stretching, more exercises for the abdomen and lower back, instead of the traditional situps, and more agility and balance training. It increases in difficulty more gradually. And it sets up a multiweek course of linked exercises, rather than offering discrete drills...

Some of the new routines would look familiar to a devotee of pilates, yoga or even the latest home workout regimens on DVD...“It’s more whole body,” said First Lt. Tameeka Hayes, a platoon leader for a class of new privates at Fort Jackson. “No one who has done this routine says we’ve made it easier.”

So, you see, even the ARMY (who invented Boot Camp) thinks there is room for both. What more proof do you need? I mean, I certainly would want this guy in my Army...

I don't know what is going to happen in 2011, but I do know this: I teach a Pilates mat class at the same time there is a Boot Camp class in the studio next door, and BOTH classes are always full. I'm just sayin'...

photo 1: mscareergirl
photo 2: Jay Sullivan
photo 3: Yogamad
Joseph Pilates Photo: I.C. Rapoport