Pilates is considered one of the suitable sports and exercises for seniors. It is normally associated with the mentality that it is "for the young," so few seniors engage in it when looking for suitable exercises. Pilates has an incredible effect on increasing seniors' physical strength, balance, and flexibility. However, most people and especially seniors, tend to feel more tired after Pilates. The exercises focus on pressuring the core muscles. This article will have a short overview of Pilates, the reasons you feel so exhausted after it, and some tips on recovering from post-workout exhaustion.
What is Pilates?
Pilates was initially invented as an exercise method, aiming to improve the overall physical health status by Joseph Pilates. He invented this method because he firmly believed that poor health mainly goes back to incorrect posture, breathing, and unhealthy lifestyles.
The classic form consists of 34 movements and exercises based on the six original principles: breathing, flow, centering, precision, concentration, and control. Joseph Pilates preferred to call his original devised method "Contrology." As the method became more widely accepted, three other principles were added to the original: postural alignment, Stamina, and relaxation. Since nowadays thousands of instructors practice and teach this method all over the world, the modern form of Pilates that is practiced worldwide today might include activities that were not originally in the exercise plan.
Is Pilates good for seniors?
Doing Pilates is not restricted to shape, size, or age. Many sources have considered Pilates as a safe exercise for seniors. You may start to struggle with some states and activities as you age, including breathing, Focusing, balance, strength, and flexibility. All of which are areas that Pilates aims to improve. Many medical practitioners confirmed that Pilates is an excellent way of working out for seniors since it helps you stay in shape and healthy.
Why is Pilates tiring?
Whether you want to lose weight or stay healthy, Pilates is beneficial and effective. However, Pilates is also considered hard and tiring for many people. Many other sports and methods have their primary focus on core muscles because they put flexibility above all. Pilates, on the other hand, pressures both the core muscles and stabilizer muscles. Stabilizer muscles are the muscles that are not directly involved in movements, but they support the moving muscles and joints and keep your body upright and steady while you are moving. Generally speaking, Pilates for the elderly are more complex and intense. Generally, you feel tired because the nervous system cannot keep your muscles moving after a certain amount of time spent exercising.
Then in a Pilates session, you try to move the core muscles, which are already pressured in any form of exercise and the deeper layer of muscles that are not usually pressured into moving. It's only natural for you to feel double tired.
Will moving the stabilizer muscles can be risky?
You may think that since these muscles are not directly related to moving, they are not supposed to move. Since these muscles are practically inactive in our routine activities, it is good to find a method of exercise that forces them to move. If not moving, these muscles only get weaker and weaker to the point it is so easy to injure them. Then the best thing is to find an exercise that wakes your stabilizer muscles from time to time.
Should I be concerned about being tired after Pilates?
Feeling tired after working out, in general, is not at all concerning. When you do Pilates, you may feel fatigued and drained depending on your workouts' intensity, length, and frequency. Some other factors that may seem irrelevant, like dehydration, poor sleep quality, and an unhealthy diet, affect your energy level after exercising. In most cases, you stop feeling all drained out and fatigued if you stick to a steady, reasonable exercise plan and pay attention to diets for seniors, water intake, and the sleep you get the night before. If you always feel exhausted or sleepy after Pilates, it is a good idea to consult your coach or your doctor in more serious and constant cases.
How can I recover from the exhaustion?
As we said, it is completely normal to feel fatigued after working out. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot do anything about it. Here are a few tips and points you might want to keep in mind to regain your energy after a session of Pilates or even other forms of working out.
Timing: The best time to do Pilates is in the morning. According to one of the related articles published on livingmaples.com, working out early in the day increases your body’s metabolism and raises the muscles’ temperature; therefore, you can burn more calories during the day. Regarding the duration of exercises, most people find 20 minutes of Pilates sufficient and efficient. Still, in the end, the right time and duration depend on your habits, energy level, and physical state. One of the most important things to remember is to always warm up before getting to exercising. Do not start working out without making your muscles ready for it first.
Diet: If you exercise in the mornings, make sure to eat a light but nutritious breakfast to gain the needed energy. Also, the body will need a certain amount of nutrients after the workout session is over. Then consider putting nutritious post-workout snacks in your diet.
Hydration: it is a known fact that you should drink a certain number of glasses of water in a day. But staying hydrated is especially important after a workout session. You have to make up for the water your body lost during the exercises because dehydration can make you feel tired and not focus well on your daily tasks. Dehydration can also give you a headache which will easily ruin your mood for the day.
Sleep: be sure to sleep well the night before or working out, and subsequently, going through with the day would be very hard for you. The best and most sufficient sleep you can get in a night is considered to be eight hours.
Clothing: what you wear while working out might not seem very important in this context. But you cannot deny that wearing uncomfortable clothes and footwear is not only bad for your physical health but can also take extra energy and effort and, at last, ruin the whole Pilates session for you. It is important to pick the right sports clothes for seniors and wear the best exercise shoes.
Conclusion
When it comes to doing Pilates, or any other exercises, the most important thing is not to push yourself. It is okay to test your limits and see how much longer you can go on and to what extent you can tolerate the intense exercises. But you should know your body better than anyone else, so it is best to stop when you feel going on can hurt you. As we said, please keep in mind that feeling tired after working out is okay and natural, so unless you have a constant need for sleep or feeling super tired after doing every session of Pilates, you do not need to worry about anything.
Sources:Livingmaples