Trying Something New

For a lot of us, we find a workout and stick with it.  For me, if you can imagine, it was Pilates, over a decade ago, with some barre thrown in around 2007.  So when an instructor of mine suggested we stroll over to Equinox Sports Club on Market Street to try out CoreAlign, I was hesitant at first.  I first heard about CoreAlign while living in Singapore.  One of the studios I took classes at had offered it, but didn’t ever think about trying it out, because well, I was doing Pilates, of course.  If I had only an hour to myself for my own workout, I didn’t want to risk missing out that workout.

With a little push from Kathy, we were signed up for a duet with Mona.  I thought maybe being two Pilates instructors, Mona wouldn’t hold back, and just throw us into a tough workout.   The CoreAlign equipment pretty much looks like a reformer flipped on its side.  And instead of springs, it uses rubber cords.  We started by standing with our feet on these two separate carriage like platforms that moved and were attached to these rubber cords.  I thought, “okay, I can see the potential challenge” and was anxiously awaiting for us to really get started.

And that was just it, I kept waiting for the flow of the class, and there just wasn’t any.  For some people, this works.  For me, I need that flow of a class to keep me going and engaged and working.  Maybe even a little sweat.  The session felt a bit too rehab focused for me.  Don’t get me wrong, there were some challenging exercises!  Especially the ones that involved some sort of planking.  I had a quick little shake going on, but that was it.

As an instructor I definitely see the benefit of incorporating CoreAlign into a session.  There is a ton of stabilization, alignment and some great stretches.  I would be interested to see a client in a session who is quite advanced to see how it does progress.  And, I’m curious to see how it evolves and how different instructors approach it and use it.  For now, when I have an hour to myself for a workout, I will stick with Pilates sessions.

Thank you to Mona, and Equinox Sports Club at Market Street for letting Kathy and I try it out!  If you haven’t been to this new Equinox, check it out!  The studio and the views from the studio are beautiful.  Be aware, parking is horrific.