Pilate Paddle
Presentation
Since our arrival in Frontignan, we have taken advantage of the holidays to wander through the garrigue and the old salt pans. Now it's time to discover the seaside activities! The nautical centre offers paddle Pilates and paddle fitness classes. So I took the opportunity to try this first activity.
What is Pilates?
The appointment is made on a Thursday morning for a one hour session with the nautical centre of Frontignan. But before telling you about this discovery, let's go back to the concept of Pilates. Founded in 1920 by Joseph Pilates in New York, the Pilates method is a discipline that aims to strengthen the deep muscles responsible for posture.
Pilates is a kind of physical training method that is inspired by yoga, dance and gentle gymnastics. The two key words in this sport are balance and posture. The technique is mainly based on breathing and good body posture.
Why combine Pilates and paddle?
For Séverine, our instructor, practicing Pilates exercises on a paddle offers a double advantage. The support is a board that stays in motion, which allows you to work on your posture and body control to keep your balance. Secondly, the natural environment, in the open air with a view of the sea, favours relaxation and allows you to combine the useful with the pleasant.
Motivated and impatient to try the experience, I put on a neoprene shorty suit lent by the club, without forgetting to spread a good dose of sun cream on my face! Séverine gives me a stand up paddle board and a paddle. I join the small group of participants: the session is limited to 6 people.
A Pilates paddle session on the beach of Frontignan
We leave the nautical centre through the channel of the outer harbour to reach the spot where the exercise session will take place. The paddle board is finally bigger than I imagined. Cautious, I first kneel down to start paddling. Eventually, I feel comfortable and can stand up without difficulty.
We reach a star anchored at the edge of the beach and moor our boards on the floating support. This will prevent us from drifting and allows us to stay close to Séverine to listen to the instructions and coordinate our movements during the exercises.
The sequences remain quite similar to yoga. We work on several types of exercises lying on the board, whether on the stomach, on the back or on the side. The names of the postures are very evocative: "the swan dive", "the boat mast" or "the swimmer". We are in perfect harmony with the scenery!
The activity does not require any particular sports training, but above all it requires concentration on the breath and breathing. On the whole, the exercises are quite easy to do, even for beginners. After an hour, I come back relaxed and determined to come back to the beach this afternoon. But this time, it will be lazing around, swimming and reading under a parasol!