Is Pilates Worth It for Tall Girls? Let’s Find Out… ft. Debi aka Tall Girl Pilates

Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's tuning in today is doing super fantastic. I have a very very very special guest with me today. We recently connected on Instagram. Today. Our guest is Debbie. Hi. Debbie hiwan you for having me. Cour great, doing great, and that's done in California. So it's cold, So it's like seventy. Seventy is cold, a real feel of twenty nine degrees here in New York City. That's all I'm going to say. So I'm jealous of you. Anyways, take a moment to introduce yourself to the audience. Okay, my name is Debbie. Like India said, I'm a ploate's instructor here in Orange County, California. My instagram is a tall Girl plates and I am five to nine, but I have extremely long limbs. I have a sister that's six foot and I wear jeans that are longer than hers. I know I had a very long wingspan as well for someone my height. So to anyone who says that five to nine isn't tall, it is indeed tall, period. But you know, now that you mentioned that you're tall, and even your sister is tall, I want to hear about your experience growing up as a tall girl, the good, the bad, the ugly. What was that like for you? Yeah, it was I felt super awkward. I've been at this height since I was fourteen, like seventh eighth grade, and I grew faster than most kids. So my one thing is my posture. I was always like slouching and trying to crouch, so for some reason, I thought that made me look shorter, and. I was just trying to blend in. So I was kind of a shy kid, like nervous too, feeling uncomfortable and feeling like I. Was so different than everybody else. And my face gets really red naturally, especially when I am nervous, So I was like my red face and people always ask me why we're so much blush And then being taller a lot of the other kids. Yeah, I can definitely understand that, especially with the feeling of, you know, feeling embarrassed in a way. And it's so interesting to say because it's like, how can you be embarrassed about something you just naturally have? But you know, growing up, especially around people who are around our age. We want to relate to our peers, but seeing that they're so much shorter than us when we're younger, it's just I can definitely understand the feeling. So, what was something involving your height? It could be a question, it could be a comment. What was something involving your height that you absolutely hated hearing. One thing that really was kind of stuck with me through the years is I. Was playing basketball, and because everybody told me to play basketball because I was tall, I. Really wanted to dance. But again, I felt so much taller than everybody else, and I was doing ballet and there was nobody really all that I knew that dance. And I was you know, everybody was here and I was way up here, and I don't know. I ended up quitting and playing basketball, which wasn't that good at because I'm not real aggressive. But one thing that has stuck with me is my coach one time put me in the key, put my arms out and was like, we'll go along your arms are you could guard for one side of the court to the other, like in front of the whole team, And I don't know. That was really embarrassing. For me for whatever reason, and it just kind of stuck with me. We we wie, he said during a game, literally in front of Oh my Yeah. I think I probably did something wrong and I get rid of but just remember that, I remember that. I'm so sorry that that happened to you. And also, fun fact, because he said that you wanted to be a dancer, I used to be in dance too. For literally this much of my life. I used to do tap dance. I used to do tap dance in ballet and I'm telling you the probably fifty million time that I fell flat on my face because I was I was very uncoordinated as a child, like trying to grow into. My I was just very oll Yeah. Yeah, the fifty million time I fell flat on my face during tap dance, I was like, there's no way I could do this. So honestly, kudos to you for you know, taking on dancing and really wanting to do that well. And I do believe the dance did help me with my body and my height. And I have a daughter. She's eighteen now, but when she was like two and three, all she did want to do was ballet dance, and. So she got I put her into. Class and her very one of her very first teacher was this sixth one beautiful dancer, and I remember being like, oh my gosh, like I've never seen a girl who's tall be a ballet dancer before. And I was like, I. Was so happy because I don't know how at that time I'll tell my daughter was going to be, but I would just I just love that that was there, and it just made me so happy to see that. Going back to your fitness journey, because you said that you did you are into polates now, like that is your page. Can you please tell us a little bit about your fitness journey, especially because you're tall and you did play some sports growing up. How did being a tall woman shape your approach to exercise and fitness? Well, I ended up finding plates. Actually when my daughter was a baby. I started doing plotates with first after having a child, and I just. Love the way it made me feel and. I was able to come back and feel stronger than I ever had doing pilates, and so I just kind of did plots for fun for lots of years. I really love group fitness classes. I was like twelve years ago I got laid off of my marketing job and was really struggling to find a job. So I ended up changing directions and becoming a plates instructure and also doing marketing for one of the studios I worked for. And I just was a passion and I was so excited to learn more about it. I will love all fitness, I think all forms of fitness. I was a runner and I started getting into CrossFit. I had a lot of friends that did it. I mean I was a little nervous to do it and so but I had so much fun going with my friends. But everybody in Crossford is like they do things really fast, and I really struggled because when I squat, somebody that's shorter than me can do two squats to my walk, and you know, it just takes more time for me to go down. And versus someone who is shorter. So I was always really slow. But I'm not a competitive person, so I just I enjoyed and I had a good time. But it was actually a crossbit. Coach when I was squatting, though, I was like get lower, get lower, and I was like, I can't get lower. My body won't and he like, he goes, wow, you have really long femurs. So everybody says you should squat, you know, a certain way. He's like, but your legs are so long, you need to stip your legs wider. And that teeny little thing made all the difference. I could do a normal squat, and I was like, like a light went off. And I was just like and then I did some research into it. It's like anatomically like a narrow squat, our hips and our femur is hit in a certain way that you can't go that low in a squat with more of a narrow stance. So I tell my tall people in my class all the time, take a wider stance, and they're like. Wow, you know, that's actually very interesting that you bring that up, seeing how being tall can definitely mean that you have to take a different approach to fitness, to exercising, to working out because of how we're built, we have to do things a little differently, like are what is the word for it, not a posture form like our form in a way, it has to be different than the average type person. And that's something that they don't really talk that much about, which is like, yeah, I mean I can understand because most of the population is like average height or shorter, but it's still something we're talking about because that can potentially lead to injury. But anyways, exactly, I mean, I still take classes and a teacher will be. Like, oh, bring your stance more narrow to squat. And I don't like, Oh, they just don't know, you know, And I like, once I learned that, I really did like the some research on it to understand the anatomy of it. I'm a little bit of a nerd that way, and being able to One thing I did love about Ploates is you want to go slow, you know, and you are in a group class, but it's so individualized, so going slow is really good. You don't want to go too fast when you're working with resistance on a reformer, particularly if you go too fast you could fall. So I love that about plates going going slow and very mindful, and you're working with. A group of people about everybody. It's so individualized because you know there could be slightly different things to each reformer, so you just have to listen to your body. Yeah, that's very that's very interesting, and honestly, I think it's smart. Back to what you said, it's smart that you're doing research on it because everybody is different, so it's really good to make sure that you know you're doing what's right for your body exactly. And also speaking of pilates, Pilates is everywhere right now. It's like the big bad It's the biggest trend, especially on TikTok, seeing how people are incorporating plates classes into their morning routines and with its rise and popularity. Should tall girls, should tall women give pilates a try? Absolutely? I call plates really like the exercise for life. You do focus on a lot of smaller muscles that do a big job or support the bigger muscles. So it's a great compliment to other forms of exercise. That's why you see so many professional athletes doing it. They get to work those smaller muscles to help stabilize the work their balance. Uh, and you work in a different way. I actually have a client. He's a surfer and a snoreboarder and he does all that. And he was a snoreboarding recently and hit a rock and he said he should have fell, but he was able to like maneuver and save it in a way that he's never been able to before. And he's like, that's because of the pilates, He's like, I should have gotten injured, and so I. Mean it's like the little things too. And yes, I think people like it because they it is hard and you do get to build muscle, but it's also easy on your joints more so than weightlifting, such as a little a less impact in that way. So when you first started in pilates, did you like similarly to how there was a bit of struggle with CrossFit in terms of them because of your longer limbs, did you also find struggles as well when you started in your pilates journey. Yes, exactly, And that's how I got my Instagram name. When I started my training, there was a group of I think six seven of us that we would meet on our workshops and work to do the program together. A few times, learning new moves. I struggled more than anybody else, and we're always like, you know, like she's in shape, because she's struggling. Why she's struggling so hard? And it was because I'm tall. I had to set up the reformer a little bit different. I had to do different resistance like they'll give a suggestion. But again, like we talked about finding what works right in your body and with pilates, it's it's like a physics based concept, like the distance times of resistance equal the load. So if my arms are longer and I hold holding a handle and pressing it all further than somebody that might have shorter arms of me, the resistance will feel different for me versus them. So it's all about your body. So yes, I would have to go a little bit lighter on some of the resistance, but it doesn't matter. I'm getting just the greatest workout. So it's like you can't compare apples to oranges. Yeah, very true, and not us bringing physics into but I mean that makes sense. That makes sense what you said. And then going off of that, what are your top plot let's say three, what are your top three? A lot of these tips for tall. Women, I would say again, do a resistance that works for you. Do a picker resistance for whatever exercise you're doing that you can fully lengthen your body and elongate your your spine or whatever move you're doing. You know, you could do an arm xercize, but you couldn't fully straighten your arms, like change the resistance, use the longer loops, take a wider stance, those little adjustment in your body. So even if the teacher says something, but if that doesn't work for you, that resistance, then do a different one. So resistance, you know, and they tell you what resistance to do, so feel free to make those adjustment. I'm going to ask your teacher to They should know when standing you might have to take a wider stance. So there's just like little things. It's just good to feel it in your body. Also, doing any sort of a work when you are laying on your back and you like lift your feet up in the air, like. We call it a tabletop position, our legs are longer, we have more leg we have more. Bone, so it's going to feel heavier. We have longer legs, so that's a bigger challenge on our abs. So just be mindful of all that. And then also I have like two mini follow up questions, right. The first one is kind of like we would consider that pilates is a low impact type of workout. Yeah, okay, so in your personal opinion, in your opinion, like, do you think that lower impact workouts could potentially be better than I higher impact workouts? I mean, obviously it's going to be it's going to vary from person to person, but I would just like to know your views on lower impact workouts versus higher impact workouts, especially for women of different body types, even if they're tall, have longer limbs, or just average height or anything. I would like to hear your views on that. What I love about low impact exercises, it's something that you can do throughout your whole life, no matter what your age. I have taught children plates, and I have clients can do pilates. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I have not heard of that. Yeah. I trained some high school athletes and I have clients in their eighties and everything in between. So it's something with a low impact exercise. You know. Of course, as long as you're healthy enough, that's something you can do at any age. When I love that. High impact exercises when you get to a certain age or maybe you have some sort of condition malsterro Pross, sometimes that high impact. Stuff can not be safe. So that's something not always that you can do throughout your life. I mean I do have that. Being said, I do have a client that is in his seventies and he's a marathon runner, and he runs a marathon a month and he's amazing, but he does say I couldn't keep doing this at my age if I wasn't doing pilates. That's very interesting. I mean that was also like the second question that I had in terms of you saying that you do pilates in combination with other forms of exercise. What other forms of exercise do you do along with pilates and how do you see the benefits of those working together, if that even makes any sense. Oh? Absolutely, Like I said, I used to be a runner and I would get sciaticas and like. There's shooting pain. So when I would do pilates and. Run, I didn't get that sciatica pain that like shooting down at the back of my leg. Just because I was my joints were more flexible. And you move your body and especially your arms and legs and a way that we don't normally move them. For example, I call this pilates dessert, and I always do it at the end of my classes. It's called feet and strung are. You laid it on your back. On the reformer and you put your feet into the straps and you do circles, so you're moving your hip in that big circular fashion, which our hips are can do but and there are normal day to day we don't do that movement. And anytime you move a joint is there's a little cheesy saying, but they say motion is lotion for your joints. So the more you move a joint or the more you move your body, the better it's going to feel. Yeah, that's that's a good one. That last part tips for all the tall girlies who's having that pain out there. Motion is lotion. Yeah, and it helps posture too, so being. Tall, you know, we want to have our good posture. Also, I know I said two questions, which is one more because you were talking about a plate's move. I was going to ask, what is your favorite polates like move or technique. I'm sorry, I don't know how they call it. Oh, that's a good one. My favorite pilates mover technique we call it stuppint arms. So on the reformer you'll lay on your back and you grab the straps and you'll be doing arms. But at the same time, your legs are up in a tabletop, so you're just getting a killer a workout too. So it's definitely one of my go to moves to teach. Just because it's. Kind of cool that you get to work out lying out on your back. Some of my least favorite would be like standing on the machine for ballots, because. I'm always like I have a long way to go with that fall. I favorite, And I don't know if we said that before earlier, but are you able to list just some of the benefits of pilates. Yeah, absolutely, increase flexibility, improves your ballance, helps build muscle. Also an exercise that can help strengthen your bones as well. Any weight bearing extra size will help youse your bones strength and density, which is really important as women. As we age, our bones become more brittle. So anytime you can do any weight bearing exercise, whether it's walking, pilates, weightlifting, whatever your. Form of movement is, is great. Yeah. Range of motion for your spine. It keeps your spine really healthy too, like all those little bones in your back too, and being a tall girl and having a long spine too is something we want to take care of. Thank you so so much, DEBI for coming on here today and talking to us a little bit about fitness all women and pilates and your tips and moves and so forth. Our last question, what is one piece of advice that you want to get to the tall gross listening right now who are struggling with their self esteem and potentially even their fitness because of their height. Grace who you are, who you are, And I know I've always struggled with my self esteem throughout the years. But the more self love you have, the better everything will be in your life. The more you accept. And love who you are, you're able to love others better and to be true to yourself. You're going to succeed. You know you're gonna do amazing things whether whatever. It is, but it all starts with you. It all starts with loving yourself and be different, stand out. Why not? We should do it? Go for it. Just bringing good vibes. And positivity even when things are tough. Bake it to your make it sometimes, and don't be afraid to reach out for help. Don't be afraid to reach out to any other tall girl. And we're you know, we got each other. Yes, I really love that last part. Tall through community is always here to support each other. Thank you so so much for that, DeBie. Please can you tell us where we can find you on the interweb? Socials? Anything? Yeah, I'm on Instagram as a Tall Girl Pilates. I'm on TikTok as well, so. Yeah, wait is it the same username? Yeah, yeah, yeah, tall Girl pot Tall Girl Pilates across the board, y'all, And this is a good time to plug myself of course, you know, at a Tall Girls podcast, Instagram, to TikTok, Pinterest. I'm literally everywhere. It's where we're doing the thing. We're doing the thing. You can search me up on Google and Google will tell you where I'm at. So yeah, you're doing a great thing. Thank you, thank you, Thank you again so much, Debbie for joining us today. I really do appreciate it. I really enjoyed hearing about your insights into fitness and into pilates. It was honestly so amazing. Well, thank you so much for having me, of course, and make sure you hit Debi up if you have any other questions or you want to make any other comments, of course, you can always hit me up. And until then I'll catch in the next one. Good night and good bye, good bye.