It’s Friday. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing are you sitting up tall right now with your belly button pulled to your spine and your kegel engaged? If yes, that’s great. If you are already feeling the effects of TGIF and you can’t wait for a little R&R that’s okay too. Sometimes it’s good to give yourself and your body a break.

That being said sometimes the best time to exercise is when you don’t feel like it. Luckily, with Pilates you are actually exercising when you engage your core muscles, think about your posture, and attempt to have good posture. I know it’s hard to maintain for long periods, but that’s why it counts as work, especially when you first get started with Pilates.

I used to have a kickboxing instructor that always repeated these words in class: “Exercise all your life” and “Exercise even when you don’t want to.” Exercising on days you don’t feel like it starts to train your brain to recognize exercise as an activity it must get used to. Plus, I don’t know how many clients I have that start a class saying, “I didn’t feel like coming tonight but I’m here” and leave saying, “Oh, I feel so much better.” That’s what exercise does. It revitalizes you. It gives you energy.

So for the time being just try engaging your core. And if you weren’t planning on exercising today, but can fit it in somewhere in your busy schedule, try to get in a 30 minute walk with core engagement or pick 5 exercises of the week from this blog and try them all in a row. Your body will be glad you did!