How did Pilates set me up for incredible riding?
Yup, that’s me on the left with the obnoxious fluorescent jersey. Mountain biking has quickly become a passion of mine. I’m new to it, having only begun to ride a mere three months ago, in that period, however, I hit the mountains behind my home about three times per week. I felt ready to tackle the big mountains of Park City Utah when my elder brother invited me to take a trip with him. Upon arriving and renting a fancy full suspension mountain bike, my nerves were way up there on high alert. I’d never done anything quite like downhill mountain biking before. My bro has been doing this sport for quite sometime, so I wanted to keep up. Luckily we started on some blue square intermediate runs. They were easy and exhilarating, and as we got to the bottom I noticed that my non-Pilates practicing brother was a bit tired, feeling his abs working and fatigue in his arms. I on the other hand felt like a million bucks. We went to the top of the Deer Valley ski lift and this time shot off to do some black diamond advanced runs. This was a totally different animal with switchbacks that were so tight at times that if you went too fast you flew off the track, and if you went too slow, then you simply came off the bike. Neither option was good. Once I picked my line, I stayed true to it, and every time the path changed directions, I would feel my obliques fire like CRAZY helping me power through each and every turn. It was incredible! We went with a guide and soon I was past my brother following right at the rear tire of our expert guide doing double black diamond runs. Downhill mountain biking is all about balance. Pilates is all about balance. Downhill mountain biking is all about precision. Pilates? Precision anyone? Check! Downhill mountain biking requires endurance as many of the runs are 10 plus miles. Is this starting to sound familiar? Endurance was very important to Joe Pilates back in the day and we continue to practice that in modern Pilates.
At the end of two days and 9 hours of biking I can honestly say I wanted more. I didn’t want it to end, and my guide and brother were ready for a jacuzzi, a salt bath and some tylenol. I went into the living room to do a full hour of mat repertoire to unwind, loosen up what I had tightened on the mountain and dream of the next trip to the top of a mountain. The final word from our guide was this…”Hey Art, can you show me a couple of these Pilates moves? You should never have been able to handle what I threw at you this weekend having only been doing this sport for three months.” Of course when I put him on his back to show him what a “roll up” looked like, I saw the unmistakeable shake shake shake of the mid-section of one whose core strength isn’t quite where it should be. ”You’ve got some work to do.” I thought to myself. I gave him six exercises to do four days per week. He’ll see his riding go up a level, of that I’m certain.
As I continue to meet more guys that are into all kinds of sports I find one constant…Pilates helps each and every one of them. If you are a guy and you are curious if you can take your fitness, flexibility and strength up a notch, I’m living proof that you can. Until next time.
-Art
