At the beginning of 2010, I have started to research and attend many Pilates classes as I felt the need to find the better way to be ready for ballet lessons. I have worked with a mat, a balance ball as well as private machine training (you know, the proper big thing with springs on it!). My warm-up has changed to a half of hour mat and ball Pilates exercises before the lessons, and it made me physically warmer. I often sweat (maybe this was where I started to go wrong) and started to enjoy the sensation of building different muscles and muscles being tightened (definitely wrong feeling!) before the lesson. However, I have eventually started to feel that my joints were getting a bit tighter and also got tired by the time the lesson had begun.
So, I came to a conclusion: Pilates can be used as a warm-up, yet it needs to be done carefully, which means knowing exactly which muscle you are aiming to develop and knowing which exercises suits you the most, which changes with your condition every day, this means if you want to do it properly you probably need an instructor and it can be counter productive if you do it half-heartedly. After I came to this conclusion I have started to develop yoga and meditation as a warm-up, and I felt yoga and meditation suited me the most for what I wanted and aimed for before ballet lesson, which was calm mind and warm body, yet it did last until the middle of 2011 as I finally found the best warm-up for my need!
Next blog is the last and conclusion of my current warm-up!