Pilates

I had my first Pilates class today. It was at work at lunch time. I know some of you are thinking, "Why don't you do something more macho, like play basketball with those guys at the north corner of the parking lot? Isn't Pilates kind of girly?"

The answer to the first question is "Because those guys are all sweaty, and Fracker will block most of my shots anyway". The answer to the second question is "No".

Historians disagree about Pilates' original name, but the earliest mentions, dating back to the 16th century, have it named "The Manly Sport of Pilates" or "The Deadly Combat Fierceness of Pilates." No less an authority on bloodshed than Sun Tzu mentions it in his book "The Art of War", and the song "War is a Science" in the broadway musical "Pippin" was originally choreographed by Bob Fosse to include various Pilates fundamentals. Critics panned early previews of the show as looking like a high-school calisthenics class, and the producers had Fosse re-choreograph that song to look more like modern military movements (such as marching).

All of this is, of course, nonsense. It's pretty girly. Walking through the hallway with my little exercise mat robs me of my masculinity a little each time. But I already paid my money, so I'm going. And at the end of the summer, when I have six-pack abs, it will have been worth it.

I hope.