Due to personal reasons Peter Dunne took an extended leave of absence from exercise. Here he talks about how Pilates turned things around.

Mentally and emotionally was overstretched, so in my infinite wisdom, decided not doing any physical activity apart from lifting food to my mouth and lowering myself onto the couch was the best course of action. This, believed, was a foolproof way to deal with the stress don’t do anything to your body that Mr Creosote from Monthy Python wouldn’t do.

‘I’ll give myself a nice long year’ thought, ‘and then I’ll jump back in guns blazing. No excuses. Watch out world!”

The year did seem nice and long at first, well, for the initial eight or nine months. And then when it got closer to the end, why, it didn’t seem all that long at all. That was a cruel trick, Time! was going to have to get up off the couch. Yuck.

‘Okay, so promised myself I’d get back into the exercise game. What’s the best way to do it that won’t kill me with the sudden shock of eff ort?’ wondered. Years before, after a few months of Pilates classes, my boyfriend had commented it was the first time he had ever seen my body actually change shape from exercise. was more of an endurance race, boot camp, gruelling, sweaty exercise fan, so to hear him say this relatively more gentle form of exercise was the first time he noticed a dramatic change was really memorable. And really annoying.

Pilates it was so.

Since that first time, I’d tried group Pilates classes in mega-gyms but found them disappointing. My attitude towards exercise is – if it’s too easy, it’s not working., but in true hypocritical form, if the instructor doesn’t notice I’m only giving 50 percent, I’ll try get away with it.

When visited the wonderfully peaceful Live & Breathe Pilates studio for the first time, met Steph, who gave me an assessment and discussed what my aims were from the ten classes had signed up for. She brought me through a range of exercises, both on the mat and on the reformer. The reformer looks like one of those machines you would never go near in the gym as you’d never figure out how to work it. would end up loving the reformer.

My first few classes were on that apparently unfathomable (yet just as quickly, em fathomable?) reformer. One thing that’s really important about Pilates is getting the right form, holding and moving your body correctly. Small movements then have big consequences. The reformer is a way to help your body find those positions.

A couple of classes later, the instructor told me had already advanced onto the next level. With these new classes on the mat, what we had learned on the reformer was put to use, as this time moving my body correctly was up to me. The talented (and rather witty) instructors were on hand to give gentle corrections, encouragement and challenge us a little. At the end of each session, would remember just why had loved Pilates so much all those years before. The power of a good class.

Towards the end of those ten classes, didn’t need my boyfriend to tell me- could see my body was starting to change. Pilates is the absolute best thing for your core, so because carry most weight in my stomach, it’s ideal.

This relaunch into the world of exercise and activity had a knock on eff ect. Becoming more physically active made me want to be even more physically active and it lifted my mental health hugely.

There’s a New Year coming up, and think know just how to shake off the whole turkey intend to inhale on Christmas Day.