A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of a plank-to-pike in Pilates when I had a somewhat startling realization: I was enjoying myself. The Shaggy remix of “Angel” was playing, the instructor was no-nonsense — not the you-go-girl-I-SEE-you type I’m allergic to — and I was nailing my pike for the full count. I didn’t have to collapse ahead of time. I didn’t have to default to the easier, modified position. It might’ve been the first class where I went all 50 minutes without thinking of that quote in the Kristin Wiig Pilates skit on SNL: “It’s so hard and it’s also soooo boring.”

According to the app I use to book my classes, this moment occurred in my 65th class — the 65th class I had taken since trying Pilates for the first time ever, just about a year ago. Which probably sounds like a lot of months and a lot of pikes and wheelbarrows and reverse teasers (omg the worst) to endure before being able to experience a moment of genuine enjoyment. And it is. But: In spite of the pain and the boredom, I somehow kept going back week after week. I like to think this is because of my new workout routine and the new mindset that has sprung from it.