Despite being no stranger to a yoga matt the idea of doing Pilates always intimidated me. Reformer Pilates even more so.
The idea of pulling myself up and down on what looked like a medieval torture device was a bit confronting, and combined with my lack of general balance, I wasn’t confident that I wouldn’t not fall off mid-class.
The whole damn thing also looked really painful and managed to extinguish any desire I had for killer abs – something that wavers easily at the best of times anyway.

However, a new-found desire to 'push myself' and 'feel the burn' somehow led me to a 6pm Pilates Beginner class at KX Pilates and here's the thing... it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it was going to be, and it worked. Like seriously worked.
Yes, it was a struggle to laugh or cough the days that followed said workout, but as I walked out of that class there was a new found ballet-esque quality in my posture that I wasn't expecting.
Just like Natalie Portman in Black Swan.