For tonight's diary, I thought I would review some books I've run across while trying to implement my New Year's Resolutions. Follow me across the jump for some capsule reviews and reactions.
But first - what is this thing called WHEE?
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
So You Say You've Got A Resolution...
As many of you know, I have two WHEE New Year's Resolutions:
- To have my scheduled WHEE diaries written by the day before they're posted, and
- To do core alignment exercises, such as Pilates or Egoscue, at least three times per week.
So how am I doing?
Well, on resolution 1, I've made a good start, but I've already fallen short. My first diary of the year was ready to post the day before, the second diary was completed before I went to bed after midnight on the day it was due, and the third was ready the day before - but I'm writing this one after 6 PM today, so I'm back to my old habits, alas.
As for the second resolution, that's been a total failure. I haven't done any alignment exercises at home or at the gym since New Year's. However, I still know how important it is for my continued physical improvement, and I'm determined to get a start.
Why does alignment matter? Well, for starters, a strong, aligned core is the foundation for building a strong, fit body. I've known this for a long time. About ten years ago, I had a co-worker who had been a star football player in high school and was recruited by a number of universities. We got to talking about strength training one day and I told him that I wanted to build up my arms, since the amount of weight I could bench press was an embarrassment. He told me, "Start with your core - work on building up your chest and back muscles, and the bench press will take care of itself."
More recently, since losing thirty pounds (thanks to this WHEE support group and my bodybugg), I've started running. Or tried to, anyway - I've found that although I've been able to avoid foot, ankle, and knee pain, I've been plagued by post-run backaches. Balancing my misaligned, weak core on top of cycling-trained leg muscles is not a recipe for running success. I really want to get my core into alignment, so that I can move freely for the rest of my life. But how to get into alignment?
Pilates
Pilates is probably the most popular form of exercise for core strength and alignment. In the early 20th century, Joseph Pilates worked out a system of exercises in his own journey from frail, sickly teen to healthy adult. For years, Pilates training was known mostly to dancers, but in recent years Pilates mat classes have proliferated at health clubs like 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, and the like. Since I'm a member at 24 Hour, I thought I would just drop into classes there. Unfortunately, their classes are scheduled in the mid-morning, great for students and stay-at-home moms but not so great for someone with a day job, like me. Also, group classes are good if you're already familiar with the movements, but not so great if you're trying to figure out how to do these movements for the first time.
Of course, the traditional way of learning Pilates has been at a studio catering to ballet and modern dancers, where one can get individual attention and work out on Pilates-specific exercise machines. That is an option, but one I can't afford right now. The alternative for me right now is to work out on my own to get an idea of the moves and start developing the muscles used, so that if/when I can get into regular group classes, I won't feel hopelessly out of place.
What resources are available for someone who wants to work out on his own? DVDs are available, but with my wife's treadmill in the living room, there isn't much room to do Pilates there right now. I don't have a laptop or portable DVD player, so I can't take a DVD to the gym to use in the workout room when no classes are in session. There is a Pilates app for my phone (not an iPhone), but it uses still pictures (not video) to illustrate the moves, so I think a book will do just as well. What books are out there for the beginning Pilates student?
Pilates on the Ball, by Colleen Craig
This book caught my eye, because I remembered NC Dem's diary on Swiss Ball workouts. Colleen Craig is a Pilates instructor who worked out a way to incorporate the Swiss Ball into a Pilates routine. She uses the ball as a substitute for exercises done on the specialized Pilates machines (as mentioned above), combined with standard mat work. The book looked interesting, but I decided that since my goal was to learn the movements of a standard Pilates mat class, this book wasn't what I needed.
Craig has another book that looked interesting: Strength Training on the Ball. I checked this one out as well, hoping to find some exercises that I could add to my regular weight work. Unfortunately, this book isn't well organized for that, either. Craig's philosophy is to explain thoroughly and lay the groundwork for a complete program of Swiss Ball workouts, and it makes the learning curve seem rather steep.
Pilates for Men: Fit for Sport - Fit for Life, by Alan Herdman and Gill Paul
I looked at this book, figuring it might be a better match for me than one for the typical (i.e., female) Pilates student. Unfortunately, like Craig's Pilates on the Ball, Pilates for Men includes a lot of additional material that doesn't have anything to do with a standard mat class, so I left this one on the shelf as well.
Pilates for Wimps: Total Fitness for the Partially Motivated, by Jennifer DeLuca
The Pilates routine in this book matched the exercises I tried to learn in the mat class at 24 Hour Fitness (for the 10 minutes that I lasted, that is). Better yet, the book has received a series of 4- and 5-star reviews at Amazon. It seems to be out of print, but Amazon's used book sellers have a number available for little more than the cost of shipping. A large-format paperback with plenty of clear color pictures, it looks like it could be just what I need.
The Pilates Body, by Brooke Siler
This book is smaller than Pilates for Wimps, and the illustrations are B/W photographs and drawings rather than color pictures. Siler has studied Pilates under Romana Kryzanowska, who is the oldest living protegé of Joseph Pilates and who has been teaching for six decades. More importantly, The Pilates Body breaks the standard Pilates mat routine into beginner, intermediate, and advanced moves - a beginner following the sequence in the book is instructed to skip ahead to the next beginning exercise at the end of the previous one. There is also an introductory subset of seven exercises for the absolute Pilates novice (e.g., a 50-year old guy who's recently lost 30 pounds and hasn't had a ballet or jazz dance class in almost 20 years). Unlike the Wimps book, Body is still in print. There are also plenty of used copies available at Amazon.
The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion, by Pete Egoscue and Roger Gittines
Like Joseph Pilates, Pete Egoscue developed his Method first for his own physical development. Egoscue was injured in combat during the Viet Nam war, and created his exercises and stretches to rehabilitate himself.
Unlike Pilates mat classes, the Egoscue Method prescribes different routines for exercisers with different classes of alignment problems. The Self-Diagnosis chapter of Health Through Motion uses diagrams to help the reader decide whether he or she is suffering from Condition I (pelvic girdle pulled forward and down, with everted feet), Condition II (lateral hip rotation and/or hip elevation), Condition III (hips reversed and tilted under), or enjoying Condition IV (a balanced body, with hips square and level). Condition IV is also called D-Lux, and is the goal of the Egoscue program.
The chapter after Self-Diagnosis lays out the exercises for the four Conditions. Unfortunately, the exercises are listed alphabetically, but performed in a different order for each Condition. For example, Abdominals are listed first, but are the 5th exercise for Condition I, the 8th exercise for Condition II, the 6th exercise for D-Lux, and not used for Condition III. To use the book while exercising, one has to flip back and forth through the book to do the exercises in the correct order - Arm Circles, then Gravity Drops, then Downward Dog, followed by Runner's Stretch, then Frog... (that's the start of the sequence for Condition IIs like myself).
As the title suggests, Egoscue's philosophy is based on "Health Through Motion," and he talks specifically of motion in sports. A table rates 24 different sports as avoid, neutral, moderately beneficial, or highly beneficial for the three problem conditions (all 24 are listed as highly beneficial for the fortunate few who have reached D-Lux alignment). For example, cycling is neutral for Condition I, but should be avoided by Condition II and III sufferers (because it will aggravate their misalignment). Cross-country skiing (including indoor skiing on a Nordic Trak) is moderately or highly beneficial for all Conditions, weight lifting is good for everyone, but running, tennis, boxing, and rowing are off-limits for the three problem Conditions I, II, and III. Boxing and rowing are forbidden because they exacerbate misalignment, and running and tennis are verboten because the risk of injury is too great (as I can verify through personal experience with running) until one reaches D-Lux alignment.
Like Pilates studio work, Egoscue movements can be prescribed to address individual issues. Egoscue's second book, Pain Free, gets away from the four Condition menus and emphasizes shorter exercise sequences focused on specified complaints and problem areas, such as neck pain, lower back pain, ankle problems, etc. If you have the money and believe Egoscue is the way to go, there are certified Egoscue clinicians all over the U.S.
It's been a while since I last read Health Through Motion. Skimming it for this review, I'm re-discovering my interest in doing the Egoscue exercises and fulfilling my New Year's resolution. Maybe in a future WHEE diary, I'll have good news to report - provided, that is, I can fulfill my other New Year's resolution and get my diaries written on time.
Scheduled WHEE diaries:
January 14
Thurs AM - ???
Thurs PM - sheddhead (!)
January 15
Fri AM - ???
Fri PM - Wee Mama
January 16
Sat AM - ???
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 41)
January 17
Sun AM - ???
Sun PM - kismet. Something. Who knows what.
January 18
Mon AM - NC Dem
Mon PM - ???
January 19
Tues AM - ???
Tues PM - Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 42)
January 20
Weds AM - ???
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock