Over the last week, I participated in the 5 Day Pilates challenge with The Balanced Life (TBL) and shared the experience on Instagram Stories. Today, I wanted to share my thoughts on the TBL workouts. This is part of a paid campaign, but I am sharing the pros and cons both, and I am being completely honest here!
As context, I’m a 25 year old medical student living in Manhattan. I don’t have any children, but my life is fairly busy with school. Since I’m in the city, there are limited outdoor areas for working out and our building’s gym hasn’t opened up yet since COVID started. Working out at home is the most convenient option for me.
Besides that, I want to say that I have never been particularly active. I barely played any sports growing up (the occasional ice-skating lessons or swim class, but that was about it) and I dreaded gym class every single day. I only began exercising during my junior year and at home pilates videos were what I started with. Eventually I began going to a gym and learned to use much of the equipment available. Then 2020 started and let’s just say I fell off the wagon. Participating in TBL’s 5 Day Pilates Challenge was probably the first time I exercised consistently for five days in a row this year.
Initial Thoughts
These pilates videos are different from other ‘beginner friendly’ videos because they are ACTUALLY beginner friendly! When I first started exercising, I used to do ‘beginner’ videos that included burpees and other moves that I couldn’t keep up with. I recall feeling pretty discouraged in my dorm room since a lot of those videos were really challenging, and you needed a lot of upper and lower body strength to even perform the moves at all. I’ve been exercising and building my strength for the last four years, and I STILL find a lot of those videos challenging. It’s dawning on me that a lot of those videos were not truly ‘beginner’ friendly, and after this last week, I’ve realized that TBL Pilates is what I SHOULD have been doing when I first started out. The videos are realistic and actually doable for a beginner (but you can 100% make them more challenging with slight modifications), and won’t leave you feeling discouraged. I’m going to leave the link to sign up here and again at the end of this post 🙂
Pros
I truly believe that for someone who is just starting to work out (or getting back on the bandwagon, like myself), TBL is wonderful. You basically only need a yoga mat- no fancy equipment or anything. The annual membership comes out to just over $15 per month, which is a great deal in general. I believe the best deal doesn’t depend as much on the cost but on how much you actually USE the service. So if you actually DO the workouts, this program is really affordable and also much cheaper than a gym membership or fitness classes. If you buy the membership but don’t do the workouts, it would be a waste of resources, IMO.
A second major PRO is that Robin’s guiding commentary is encouraging and is never annoying or cheesy. This might not sound like a big deal, but when you have to hear the instructor’s voice every day, it matters. Trust me. Robin said something I LOVED on Day 5. “Your time on the mat is not a performance.” It was a reminder that pushing myself to improve my form or to hold a squat for longer is something I have to do for MYSELF and if I need a break at some point, it’s alright- no one is judging me. I’ve realized that even if I don’t feel like I’m performing the workouts perfectly, I just have to trust that any time I spend on the mat helps me get stronger bit by bit. Additionally, I found the commentary helpful because Robin discusses how to position your body for maximal effectiveness of the exercises.
Finally, I think the tips on how to make modifications to make the moves easier or harder really makes the workouts applicable and useful to a wide range of fitness levels. I also think that adding ankle weights or arm weights could easily make any workout significantly more challenging.
Cons
For my friends who have been active their entire lives, played varsity sports, and are regulars at the gym, I am not sure if TBL videos would be the most efficient use of time. I know there are people who are comfortable using heavy weights and who want to build muscle. For those people, using heavy weights would be much more efficient than doing body weight exercises, so I would not recommend TBL.
The only other con I can think of for TBL is that the videos are very calming and don’t have much pump-up music in the background. This is hardly a con, but I think it makes perfect sense given that pilates focuses on a mind body connection, which may be easier to achieve without blaring music. I do think it could be a bit of a change if you are used to blasting music, though. One work-around would be to play music in a separate tab on your computer or on a separate device while playing the TBL videos- in essence playing your own background music if you find music helpful.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed TBL and I think it would be the number one program I’d recommend to friends who are just starting out with fitness or who have fallen off the exercising bandwagon! I’m excited to continue using TBL videos as I get back on the fitness bandwagon myself. You can sign up for the next couple days here!
