I don’t do Pilates because I want to enter the Pilates Olympics; I do Pilates because I love doing ‘stuff’. All kinds of stuff: salsa, hiking and yes, kayaking. I heart kayaking.
If I can keep my body in tune, so that when I shoot up to Oregon to
The hood on my jacket is the only thing keeping the too-big cowboy hat on!
see some friends and then end up kayaking for 7 miles then THAT is what it’s all about for me. I kayaked the tributaries leading into Klamath Lake. A place called Rocky Point is where we put in. Very calm water. In fact, while I also love whitewater rafting, I’ve never tried whitewater kayaking. That scares me; which means someday I’ll have to try it. But I’ll need a pink helmet so if you know where I can get one…
Anyway, the trip was great. Lots of birds and a few humongous beavers and not a bald eagle (they told us we would see a bald eagle). I can’t say I wasn’t tired. I was more tired than I should have been because somehow on LAKE Klamath I was given a whitewater kayak. A whitewater kayak has no keel so it spins easily. Everytime the wind gusted it would spin me. Kind of funny on mile one and two; scream-inducing by mile seven. But I made it. My bum was tired of sitting and I thought my arms were going to strike but it was a great day.
The really cool part? I woke up the next morning and my arms were ever so slightly sore. THAT is why I do Pilates.
Pilates exercise for kayaking:
1. Sit on the reformer facing the head of the reformer. Your legs are straight with
Reason #173 to do Pilates: Kayaking next to yellow flowers
one leg crossed over the other. Place a nice thick wooden dowel through the foot straps attached to the reformer’s cords.
2. Imagine the dowel is the kayak paddle.
3. Lean back and paddle to the right. Stick the right end ‘in the water’ and pull back. Repeat on the left.
4. I don’t usually count the number on this exercise, I usually count time. So do 3.5 hours with your right leg on top of the left and then repeat for another 3.5 hours with the left leg on top!
5. Enjoy!