Following the launch of its new, pioneering Pilates Group Reformer program designed specifically to upskill practicing instructors to teach Pilates Reformer, Balanced Body® has teamed up with Ten Health and Fitness as a UK delivery partner.

“The collaboration is a no-brainer” says Joy Puleo, Director of Education at Balanced Body. “Ten Health & Fitness is a brand associated with Pilates excellence. With 11 beautiful studios located in and around the capital, showcasing our Allegro® and Allegro® 2 Reformers plus a long-standing and respected own-brand education program, the company is perfectly positioned to deliver our new education offering. As the surge in popularity of Group Reformer Pilates continues, this partnership will help to plug the current gap between the demand and supply of educated instructors.”

The Group Reformer program focuses on teaching all the fundamental Pilates techniques to fitness instructors, skills and progressions to deliver engaging and results-driven Group Reformer classes, whilst also allowing for and encouraging instructor creativity.

Joy Adds: “Every setting is unique and every brand wants to offer a degree of differentiation. Our Group Reformer for Fitness Professionals training is built within a framework that enables fitness instructors to adapt sessions to reflect the needs and preferences of their bespoke community without compromising the quality of the instruction or the principles on which Pilates is built.

“This course is an accessible route into Reformer Pilates instruction that fully aligns to our established incumbent Pilates Reformer Instructor education offering and delivers certification equivalent to the completion of Levels 1 and 2 (of the 3 Levels in our comprehensive training.) If instructors want to then extend their education beyond the Group Reformer for Fitness Professionals program they can then apply to join our comprehensive training program at level 3.”

The first Balanced Body Reformer Pilates course took place at Ten Health & Fitness, Notting Hill this month.

Brett Starkowitz, Head of Education, Ten Health & Fitness, comments: “Being the first provider to run this prestigious course marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration with Balanced Body®, and we’re truly excited for what this means for the Reformer Pilates industry. At Ten, we pride ourselves on being deeply expert in everything that we deliver and having the opportunity to align with Balanced Body® has offered us natural progression in this area.

“The group of instructors that we’ve had on the first course have been seasoned professionals in other fitness disciplines. They are experts in what they currently teach, and they were looking for a Group Reformer qualification to match. It’s also been great to see a mix of both freelance instructors and studio employees on this course, both looking to expand their Group Reformer repertoire.”

Find out more about Balanced Body and Balanced Body Education®.

Find out more about Ten Health & Fitness.

In response to growing member and community demand for Reformer Pilates, The Thames Club has launched a new, dedicated Reformer Pilates studio as part of its Hot Yoga Club brand.

Located just outside of Staines town centre on the River Thames, a few miles West of central London, The Thames Club is a multi service health club with a reputation for innovation. In 2018, The Club introduced a dedicated Hot Yoga Club within the footprint of the existing club, creating a completely standalone brand and membership in recognition of a growing demand for a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing.

The Hot Yoga Club has been a huge success, growing the total membership base and driving new revenue. In a bid to continue to grow the appeal, evolve the offering and optimise revenue, in 2022, Managing Director, Peter Williams, and Studio Manager, Laura Hedges, added a small Reformer Pilates studio to the offer.

Laura explains: “The dedicated Reformer Pilates studio was a hit from the start. In addition to existing Hot Yoga Club and Health Club members making bookings, the new Reformer Pilates studio started to attract new members from the community, growing our membership and revenue. Two years on and the studio is unable to keep up with the demand, with a large proportion of classes attracting a waiting list. In response to this, we have relocated the Reformer Pilates studio into a larger space on the first floor, next to the Hot Yoga studio, and added three new Balanced Body® Allegro® 1 Reformers.

“We researched different Pilates Reformer suppliers and Balanced Body® was the stand-out. Our incumbent Reformers were Balanced Body® Allegro® 1’s so adding 3 new Allegro® 1’s made perfect sense from a continuity perspective. We have now added 3 Reformers to our existing 5 to create a dedicated 8-Reformer Pilates studio.

The uplift in the popularity of Reformer Pilates experienced by The Thames Club is mirrored globally. Giving his thoughts on why Reformer Pilates has suddenly become a global sensation, Peter Williams says: “Pilates is such a diverse modality, supporting a wide array of mental and physical health drivers. It can be adapted to train strength, bone density, balance, mobility, flexibility, agility and power, so it is easy to understand why it has such wide member appeal. Thanks to many celebrities and influencers sharing their positive Reformer experiences on social media and a general wake up to the diversity of outcomes Reformer Pilates promotes, has created a perfect storm and seen the popularity of the modality skyrocket.

“At The Thames Club, we are attracting engagement from across a broad range of demographic groups and are seeing increasing engagement with men.

Our ambition is to ensure that The Thames Club and Hot Yoga Club can grant access to everyone who wants to get involved. Not only is this good for the individuals and our community, it is also good for The Club because it drives the revenue we need to keep reinvesting and providing services aligned to ever changing consumer needs.”

The new 8-Reformer Pilates studio launched at The Thames Club week commencing April 8, 2024. The Club is currently timetabling 30+ classes per week, catering for all abilities from beginners through to seasoned Reformer Pilates practitioners.

Speaking of the partnership, Mark Mailhot, Commercial Fitness Sales Manager, Balanced Body, adds: “It is fantastic to see The Thames Club respond to consumer demand so positively and so quickly. Reformer Pilates offers club and studio operators an incredible service and revenue opportunity with most consumers still willing to pay a premium for high quality Reformer Pilates experiences. I can’t think of any other modality which has the potential to deliver such a high financial return per square metre of floor space. We look forward to fully supporting The Thames Club and Hot Yoga Club on their onward journey.”

Balanced Body, global leaders in Pilates equipment and education, continues to expand its UK operation with the launch of a west London Authorised Training Centre from which to showcase its equipment and professional education offerings.

The Balanced Body Authorised Training Centre has been established in Putney as a shared space with Balanced Body Authorised Training Center myPilates London, founded by Pete Pallai, a two-time Olympian and Balanced Body Educator.

Ken Endelman, founder and CEO of Balanced Body, adds: “The UK is an exciting, high growth market that really recognises the business potential of Pilates. We have had an absolute boom in demand for Pilates equipment and instructor training. By opening the Authorised Training Centre in London, we are able to optimise engagement and establish closer connections with our UK business and consumer audiences.”

As well as being the location for Balanced Body Education in the UK, the new Training Centre showcases some of its leading Pilates equipment including seven of Balanced Body’s best-selling Allegro 2 Reformers, a Studio Reformer with Tower, a Reformer Trapeze Combination, a Combo Chair, a Ladder Barrel, a Pilates Arc, an Exo Chair split pedal, an Ultra-Fit Circle and much more.

This opening comes a year on from Balanced Body bolstering its UK presence with a direct equipment supply and distribution network, storage facility and education provision that serves the UK audience directly.

Joy Puleo, Director of Education, Balanced Body comments: “Our new training centre will host our Comprehensive Pilates Training and our new Group Reformer for Fitness Professionals, a course recently launched and endorsed by Active IQ.

This new education program is designed to upskill commercial fitness club instructors, providing them with the Pilates training, tools and class development resources to be immediately successful in delivering innovative, effective Group Reformer classes.”

To find out more about the showroom and schedule a visit, contact [email protected], or for more information regarding Balanced Body equipment and education, visit www.pilates.com

Balanced Body ®, global leaders in Pilates equipment and education, have received Active IQ endorsement for its newly launched professional education programme specifically designed to upskill fitness instructors with a Group Reformer Pilates certification in direct response to global market demand.

The Active IQ Professional Recognition Service has now confirmed that both the Balanced Body ‘Reformer 1 For the Fitness Professional’ and the ‘Reformer 2 For the Fitness Professional’ programmes have received a Silver License, covering both courses.

Active IQ’s Professional Recognition service complements its suite of regulated certifications and organisations to enhance the status of their own non-regulated training programmes by gaining the Active IQ professional kite mark of quality.

Regarding the courses, Joy Puleo, Director of Education explains: “Created for fitness professionals, our aim was to develop an accessible, flexible education program that holds relevance to the instructor’s wider work with clients. Our “Group Reformer for the Fitness” curriculum meets the instructor where they are, upskilling them in the Pilates method with strong emphasis on quality of movement, proper breathing technique and the connection of mind and body in motion.”

“Some Pilates education has a reputation of being long, expensive, rigid, and esoteric. We are breaking down those barriers whilst maintaining our exceptional education standards.”

The program fully aligns to Balanced Body’s incumbent Pilates Reformer Instructor program. If instructors complete the new Group Reformer education and feel they want to extend their knowledge and learning, they can seamlessly join the Reformer Pilates Instructor training.

In the UK, the Group Reformer education program can be delivered as an onsite developed to meet a customer’s specific needs, at one of our partner venues or at the Balanced Body Training Centre.

The Group Reformer education program is available for booking now.

In a move to plug the growing gap between consumer demand for Group Reformer Pilates and qualified instructors, Balanced Body Education has launched a new professional education program specifically designed to up-skill instructors already teaching in a fitness setting.

“Our new Group Reformer program teaches all the fundamental Pilates techniques, skills and progressions needed to deliver engaging and results-driven Group Reformer classes, whilst also encouraging a degree of instructor creativity,” explains Joy Puleo, Director of Education for Balanced Body®.

“Created with fitness professionals in mind, our aim was to develop an accessible and flexible education program, without sacrificing the quality of movement, that would hold relevance to the instructor’s wider work with clients. Some Pilates education has a reputation of being long, expensive, rigid, and esoteric. We are breaking down those barriers whilst maintaining our exceptional education standards.”

The program fully aligns to Balanced Body’s incumbent Pilates Reformer Instructor program and delivers certification equivalent to the completion of Levels 1 and 2 of 3. If instructors complete the new Group Reformer education and feel they want to extend their knowledge and learning, they can seamlessly join the Reformer Pilates Instructor Level 3 to explore more creativity and put their own stamp on signature moves.

The new Balanced Body Education offering was created in direct response to global market demand. As consumer interest in Pilates continues to rise, due largely to its exposure in the media and across social media channels as a favourite amongst high profile celebrities and athletes such as Harry Styles, Margot Robbie, Ronaldo Cristiano and Lebron James, the availability of ‘oven-ready’ qualified instructors has lagged.

Joy continues: “The market is crying out for quality education that upskills existing club-based instructors to deliver Group Reformer Pilates classes, in a concise timeframe. Our new education program is not a watered-down version of our incumbent Reformer Pilates Instructor Training. It is a specialized program which delivers essential Pilates content to qualified instructors and allows instructors to begin teaching while learning.

In November, Balanced Body Education partnered with Ten Health & Fitness to deliver an international Educator training conference at the Ten Health & Fitness training centre in Notting Hill, London. 20 Balanced Body Educators from around the world attended to become proficient in delivering the new Group Reformer education including several UK-based Educators.

Joy adds: “Our team of global Balanced Body Educators are now ready to roll-out our Group Reformer education program. In the UK, the Group Reformer education program can be delivered at one of our partner venues or at a Balanced Body customer’s studio.

“Our goal as a company is for as many people as possible to experience the benefits of Pilates. Right now, accessibility is limited by a lack of qualified instructors. With our new Group Reformer education offering, we are addressing this need and creating professional growth opportunities for fitness instructors and new business channels for operators.”

The Group Reformer program is available for booking now. For more information, contact program manager Christine Crooks.

Award-winning classical Pilates studio, Exhale Pilates, has opened a new site in the heart of Marylebone, London, furnished with Contrology® apparatus from Balanced Body, global provider of Pilates equipment and education with a trading history spanning more than 45 years.

The new location marks the third addition to the Exhale Pilates brand, with existing studios in North Finchley and Primrose Hill frequented by A-listers including Harry Styles and Sadie Frost. Founded by Gaby Noble, who has over two decades of experience in practising and teaching Pilates, Exhale’s focus is on traditional, hands-on training utilising the Contrology equipment which celebrates the classical foundations of Pilates per the original specifications of Joseph Pilates’ equipment.

On the launch, Noble explains: “Exhale Pilates is the home of classical Pilates, championing transformative workouts that embody the core principles created by Joseph Pilates. It is Pilates in its most authentic form and our mission is to educate and inspire people to realise their personal abilities through this methodology.”

“I fell in love with Pilates after seeing first-hand how it transformed my body after suffering a spinal injury. From this passion, Exhale Pilates began, and it has gone from strength to strength. I’m excited to open our third studio in the heart of Marylebone and be partnering with Balanced Body Contrology line.

The equipment’s aesthetic appeal and specifications preserve the work of Joseph Pilates and gives our clients the true Classical Pilates experience, the perfect fit for Exhale. The studio focuses on small group Tower and Reformer classes for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, as well as one-on-one training which also utilises the Contrology Cadillac (Trapeze Table), Ladder Barrel, Chairs and Pedi Pole.”

The popularity of Pilates is dominating the fitness industry at the moment, and Exhale’s expertise is steeped in a background of education, with all teachers completing a full 600 hours of comprehensive training.

Chanin Cook, Director, Marketing for Balanced Body adds: “It’s been an honour to partner with Exhale Pilates on the launch of its new studio. Gaby and her team demonstrate a first-class, authentic classical Pilates offering that revives the original works of Joseph Pilates using a variety of our Contrology equipment which works different parts of the body through intelligent sequences that promotes full range of movement. They are best-practised in action, with a highly qualified team of instructors and in a pursuit to champion the classical methods.”

To find out more visit Contrology or to learn more about Exhale Pilates visit exhalepilateslondon.com