Posts Tagged ‘pilates for men’

Lose Weight With Pilates and Diet

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Success Story Category: Men

Art A.  lost 17 lbs* – he actually lost 30!!!!!!!

Dear Jenny,

In the summer of 2009 I was sitting behind the desk at my wife’s Pilates studio in Encino, CA. I had this nagging self-consciousness worrying that I was a poor representation of Pilates sitting there at a whopping 220 pounds and barely six feet tall. “But I’m in marketing!” I told myself. I don’t do Pilates. After about a month of sitting there, slinking down in my office chair, one of the instructors, and a close friend, Josh, said what I’d been thinking all along. He said, “Art, you’re too fat to be sitting at the front desk of a fitness facility. Let’s work out.”

Now, the timing of this was incredible, and Josh was reading my mind because a few days earlier I had started the fabulous Jenny Craig program. I was new to the Pilates business and didn’t want to feel so uncomfortable in my own body day after day. Additionally, my doctor was begging me to lose 30 pounds, as I have high cholesterol and refuse to take cholesterol-lowering meds. She was painting pictures of horrific heart attacks by age 50. Before the moment that Josh and Jenny Craig snapped me out of my panicked and frozen state, I had no clue what to do as I was never a person who “dieted.” As Josh put me through a “male-oriented Pilates workout,” my mind was effectively blown. Josh had me do versions of Pilates that were brand new. We working parts of the body that guys love to work! I never knew this kind of workout even existed. Suddenly, I became really excited knowing that I had my food under control. “What are the possibilities of what I can do if I did Pilates 4 days a week and kept my caloric intake down?”

Joseph Pilates had a famous quote, “In 10 sessions you’ll feel a difference. In 20 sessions you’ll see a difference, and in 30 sessions you’ll have a whole new body.” Nobody had ever tested that quote and put it on video until Josh and I did it last summer. What we discovered was perhaps the most potent, and powerful one – two punch in Pilates and Jenny Craig! In roughly 60 days, I lost 17 pounds* and completely changed my body from flabby and fat to fiercely fit! I couldn’t have had this kind of result without a nutrition plan that gave me great energy while I worked out. The Jenny Craig Program was, and continues to be fantastic! Now, when I come into my Jenny Craig Centre to weigh in and get my food, I get questions from some of the new clients. My favorite is, “What are you doing here? You look fantastic!” “You should have seen me last summer.” I tell them. “Stay on the plan, and see your consultant!”

I want to thank you and your fantastic company for changing my life! I sincerely hope I can help convince men that Jenny Craig is as wonderful a nutrition plan for men as it is for women. I certainly proved how effective it can be with a steady diet of Pilates.

Thank you for changing my life! I hope I can somehow be an inspiration to those who are looking for nutrition and fitness solutions. It’s all right there for them, and the road to healthy tastes great!

Sincerely, Art

click to read more!!!!!!!  Jenny Craig Success Stories

The Daily Observer

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

The Daily Ride...

I ride my bike to Pilates Sports Center about three days per week. Today was one of those days, and I’ve got the commute down to about 32 minutes give or take a few seconds.  I’m clearly not a poet, nor a master of prose, but I find myself always thinking on these rides about things that I hear, smell and see as my senses are always on full alert.  The ride to and from the studio is always an exciting highlight to my day.  So, here are some of the things I noticed on my ride today.

- People that honk their horns are really angry at something, but whatever that thing is – it just looks foolish to those of us outside on the sidewalks.

-I still can’t get over the fabulous scents in the air. It’s as if each restaurant is cooking up a nice slice of heaven. I want to eat at each place.

-Motorcycles are all loud, but some motorcycles are deafening. There oughta be a law.

-Movie crews are a busy bunch when they take over a city block. Lots of running around in every direction and yelling.

-I hear a lot of interesting languages on the sidewalks. None of them English, but most of them far prettier.

-Why do people half commit to the right hand turn before they ever look to their left? It baffles the mind.

-From Van Nuys Blvd to Sepulveda I must pass 200 or more cars each day I ride.

- Why do portly pedestrians always insist on walking right in the middle of the sidewalk? Can’t we follow the same walking rules as we do driving? Walk on the right, people! Can’t you see I’m minding my own business breaking the law over here?

-Most drivers need to unwind from their commute to work before they put in their 8 hour day. No wonder people are so tired and grumpy all of the time. Coffee and Facebook can only cure so many things.

-To have a life where at 7am I’m on top of a mountain with my bike, and at 9:30am I’m taking a fun Pilates class is the kind of life I’d really enjoy.  Wait…that is my life.

-Some people hate turning 40. In some ways, now at 40 I feel like I’m really actually living for the very first time.

-On my bike life makes much more sense to me than when I’m in my car.

-I find I smile nearly the entire time I’m riding. I never catch myself smiling when I’m driving in LA…unless Howard Stern says something really funny, which happens far less now than it did when I was 20.

Lastly, I have to give thanks to my good pal, Josh for making me stick to a Pilates regiment that sort of started this whole fitness campaign that became a lifestyle choice over a year ago. Together we created a fabulous product, in Pilates for Men that hopefully will be a conduit for many others to follow in their own healthy journeys so they can find the fulfillment that I have found.

Until next time!

-Art

Can Pilates Help with Water Sports? Indeed!

Monday, August 30th, 2010

A total body workout!

Just wrapping up a 4 day trip to Austin Texas, where, if you’ve never been there is literally surrounded by lakes everywhere. If you’re an avid outdoors person, then Austin is a place that will not disappoint you. My brother and his awesome family own a house in the city, but also have a lake house about 40 minutes away on lake LBJ. Now, I haven’t water skied in quite some time, and knee boarding is completely foreign to me, but it was initiation by fire trying to keep up with the young niece and nephew out on the water and before I knew it I had a board strapped to my feet and a rope handle tossed at my head and a V8 monster engine ready to blow gallons of water in my face as I yell the two words that will either spell my demise or see my success, “Hit It!”

Before I let you in on what happens next, I think it fitting that you all know what it was like in my pre-Pilates life when I tried this, mind you carrying around an extra 30 or so pounds around my middle. The last time I tried to ski/wakeboard, etc I yelled, “Hit It” and all that happened was a lot of boat groaning, trunks filling up with water and a handle being ripped out of my hands before I could ever get up. I used to ski when I was a kid, so I had some technique back in the day, but that extra weight was keeping me from getting up. After 6 or so failed attempts, my hands were shot and cramping, and I was relegated to watching others more fit (than me) from inside the boat. Not fun at all, and quite embarrassing to be honest.

This time, and with that image still haunting me, I took a big inhale and yelled, “HIT IT!” The boat roared to life, my heart rate quickened in anticipation and a funny thing happened…I popped right up. Wasting no time, I veered outside the wake, a massive smile showing all 200 of my teeth evident for the passengers inside the boat to see. I zipped from one wake to the next trying to catch air, and make rooster tails of waves behind me. My core was firing as were my obliques, and all of those “hundreds,” “roll ups” and “rollovers” suddenly were worth the countless hours of working out.  I was having a blast.

Fo two days I shredded that lake.  I was now about ten years older, than when I had my last skiing debacle, but clearly I was much more fit at 40 then I was at 30. This weekend was a direct result of the time I’ve spent in the Pilates studio and at home doing my mat work. I have never doubted that the Pilates for Men 10-20-30 Challenge we created last year was powerful, but MAN…was it impressive to see the direct result of the work.  I am so proud to be able to share this story with you, and I hope you find it meaningful enough to share with others.

Until next time!

-Art A.