September 25, 2001 — Mr. Cantore, my high school health teacher, wanted to illustrate to the class that boys — basketball players in particular — are less flexible than girls. So he called me to the front of the classroom. And I proved his point.
I was unable to do a simple stretch, like bend over and touch my toes. Meanwhile, my female counterpart — a swimmer, I believe — continued with contortions that made me cringe.
Ten years later, I am no more pliable, I am still doing my part to confirm Mr. Cantore’s contention. This was made painfully clear to me at a recent Pilates class at The Edge Performance & Fitness Center in Gainesville.
Pilates (pronounced puh-LAH-teez) can’t really be classified a fitness fad — its been around since the 1920s — but it does seem to be particularly in vogue these days. It’s what the stars over in Hollywood are swearing by this year, so, by golly, the rest of America is going to swear by it, too.
Celebrities such as Madonna, Sharon Stone and Julia Roberts have been linked to Pilates. I’ve always wanted to be linked, in one way or another, to Julia, so I thought I’d give Pilates a try.
Pilates is a body conditioning methodology intended to develop flexibility and strength without building bulk. The result, ideally, is a longer, leaner you.
“I call this my ‘strengthen and lengthen’ class,” said Karen Smith, The Edge’s Pilates instructor.
The practice of Pilates first gained popularity with professional dancers. Its focus on proper breathing, good posture and intense concentration helped them in their craft.
Pilates, however, was originally intended to rehabilitate injured soldiers during World War I. Joseph Pilates, the technique’s creator, rigged hospital beds with springs at a British internment camp and led the patients through his regimen.
Today, some instructors still use machines and apparatus designed after Pilates’ first rudimentary contraptions. I’ve only seen them in pictures. They are odd-looking instruments, the type you’d expect to find in the laboratory of a mad scientist.
The Edge offers mat-based Pilates classes — no machines — and they take place in the center’s well-lit aerobics room — no mad scientists.
Smith has offered the class since the middle of the summer. I was her second male student, and if I go back, I will be her first male student to last longer than one session.
“We should have a lot of guys in here,” Smith said. “It would be good for them.”
I had my doubts, I must admit. I wasn’t expecting to be sore after the class, but I was. I wasn’t expecting to sweat, but I did.
Not too sore, however. Not too much sweat, either.
“I hate to say it’s easy, because it’s not easy,” said my classmate Tracy Renaud, 32, of Cleveland. “But any fitness level can do it and get something out of it. You can make it as hard or as easy as you want.”
For nearly an hour, Smith led us through a series of movements designed to both stretch and strengthen. There are no weights; your own body provides the resistance. My inelastic body resisted more during some exercises than others.
Smith constantly reminded the class to breathe — for every motion, there is an inhale or an exhale — and to “push your navel toward your spine.”
She also mentioned, again and again, “the core.” Every person must find “their center,” Smith said. Every movement flows out from there.
It was a workout, but it was relaxing.
“It makes you feel good when you’re through. It really does,” said 68-year-old regular Jan Evans, of Flowery Branch. “It’s a lot of stretching and balance and strength. As you get older, you need all of those things. And it’s more upbeat than yoga.”
I believe we were about three-quarters of the way through our class when it happened: A bead of sweat rolled down my forehead and off the tip of my nose.
Pilates, at times, can be deceivingly difficult.
“This ain’t no sissy stuff, is it?” Smith said in my direction.
I shook my head in response — and some more of my sweat rolled to the floor.
Afterwards, Smith suggested that I come again, that I break through that Pilates gender gap.
“Bring a friend,” she said. “Tell the guys it’s not as bad as they think.”
No guys, it’s not. And there’s always the chance that Julia Roberts might end up sitting on the mat beside you.