Start the New Year on the Right Foot with Studio Pilates

When a serious car accident left Jo Thiele’s partner Andrew with perforated discs in his thoracic spine, his life changed instantly. Unable to continue working as an exploration geologist, he was told to expect a three-year recovery period.

After trying just about everything imaginable to speed up that time frame, he found only one thing that worked. By helping him build enough muscle to support his spine, Studio Pilates International allowed him to live pain-free while avoiding invasive surgery. And once they’d seen the powerful transformative effect that reformer Pilates can have, the couple were naturally curious when they heard about the opportunity to start a new franchise.

Despite their only prior experience being as clients, they completed the instructor training and opened a studio in Norwood in 2016. That was the first Studio Pilates location outside of Queensland but there are now more than 100 spread across the UK, US, China and New Zealand. Jo puts that incredible rise in popularity down to the fact that “it's a very safe way of exercising, but it's still intense. And you still get great results.”

“It’s all about precision and controlled movement under load, so it's quite different to going into the gym and just lifting weights,” she explains. And because instructors can tailor the amount of resistance on each reformer, “we can cater to a very wide range of clientele, from people rehabbing injuries and those trying to maintain muscle as they age to professional athletes.”

Highly trained instructors stay up to date with weekly professional development sessions and wall-mounted TV screens cue clients through each exercise during classes, which allows the instructor to watch everyone’s technique and physically correct them if necessary. Beyond that, the elegant minimalist fitout consists of white walls, dark wooden floorboards and a stylish chandelier above the jet black reformers. And no mirrors.

“That’s because our clientele don’t want to spend their time looking in the mirror and Instagramming themselves,” says Thiele. “When they’re here, they're very much focused on strength training, it's all about their physical and mental wellbeing.”

Studio Pilates is offering an introductory special for new clients of six classes for $60

Jo Thiele’s Top 3 Tips for Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolution

1. Have fun. If you want to be in it for the long haul, you need to set yourself up for success by focussing on the journey rather than some far off goal. That means choosing something that you’ll have fun doing rather than just concentrating on the endpoint.
2. When you’re trying to build a new habit, doing it with someone else is a great way to keep yourself accountable. You might not feel like going some days, so it creates a sense of obligation because you don’t want to let them down. And it doesn’t have to be a friend - we have mothers and daughters, sisters and even work colleagues that come in and do a lunch class together.
3. Progress is more important than perfection. It's not what you do in one day that makes a difference; it's what you do over a year. The world won’t end if you miss one or two sessions, but you need to come back and build that consistency if you want to see results.