Editor’s Note: Caitlin’s Great Pilates Adventure will take you through the Reformer Series from Level 1 through 3. We hope you enjoy Caitlin’s perspective as she learns the ropes. Share your own experience with us in the comments! 

Going in to Carpe Diem for the first time I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. I’d taken pilates classes in the past, but after looking at Carpe Diem’s website I could tell it wouldn’t be laying on the floor with resistance bands on my legs.

I felt welcomed immediately. The atmosphere is very laid back and the women who work at CD love what they do and would probably share it with the whole world if they could. After a couple of minutes of introductions and a brief explanation of what we would be doing (brief, because there is a lot of explaining along the way!), we jumped right into… breathing.

In this style of Pilates, we use a Reformer that has springs which allow different amounts of resistance – so that’s where the bands went! We started on our backs for much of the time the first few classes. Because we are laying down, and because of the types of workouts we are doing, it is important for our torsos to remain level, and therefore we must breath into our “back space”.  This was a really weird concept for me, and I don’t think I really started doing it right until my third week when something clicked.

Carpe Diem trainer, Brandi, works with Caitlin

After practicing breathing sitting up, we laid down and began doing leg presses. We added different foot formations to our leg presses which targeted different muscles, and after one week – although this wasn’t my typical semi-intense workout – I was very intrigued by what this class would bring. Doing these seemingly basic movement, I’d felt muscles that running or squats never even hinted at.

To be continued…