Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Workout Tower: Denice McCullough, foreground, works out doing pilates on a tower unit at Renee Monroe-Satterfield's Reformation Studio in Willow Glen. Pilates, originally called Contrology, was founded by Joe Pilates around 1920, and involves the use of spring-based machines.
Studios bring a new form of exercise to Willow Glen
By Kate Carter
There's no reason to feel the burn. So say the owners of two fitness studios who have recently introduced pilates exercises to Willow Glen. Pilates (rhymes with bodies) are strength-building, stretching and breathing techniques that are designed to help bodies move better, and not to become bulky or stiff. They were developed by a New Yorker named Joseph Pilates more than 70 years ago to help dancers and people recovering from injuries. The exercises have recently come into vogue on the West Coast.
Renee Monroe, who owns ReFormation Studio, and Elizabeth Cassidy, who owns Tru-Balance Fitness, both say that what they offer are places for people to build strength, flexibility and coordination without putting unnecessary stress on their bodies, or pressure to look good in spandex.
Monroe opened ReFormation Studio at 1070 Lincoln Ave. on April 7, after beginning operations just a year ago on Park Avenue. She says her studio has grown so fast that, when her lease came up, she jumped to rent two new rooms in her home neighborhood of Willow Glen.
Most studio clients are professional women from Willow Glen, Campbell and Los Gatos, Monroe says, and many of them come in with an "issue" or two--an old injury, physical limitations, or frustration with the body-conscious gym environment.
Monroe says she started ReFormation Studio without ever having taken a pilates class. She was experiencing some upper back and neck pain and the medicine her doctors prescribed wasn't helping. A holistic doctor recommended she try yoga, and then she heard about pilates.
Monroe has been a pilates instructor at her own studio for about six months now, she says, in addition to the six pilates and seven yoga instructors she has on staff. The studio offers several daily yoga and pilates classes that average about 10 students each, as well as personalized training and smaller group sessions, she says. She also has instructors who teach classes in gyrotonics and NIA, or neuromuscular integrative action. Cassidy's Tru-Balance Fitness opened last November, in a single room at 1261 Lincoln Ave., suite 211. Her studio focuses entirely on pilates techniques and she teaches individuals and groups of up to four people.
Cassidy, a full-time San Jose State University student studying nutrition and dietetics, has been a pilates instructor for about three years and used to work for Monroe at ReFormation Studio, before striking out on her own.
"We're totally different people," she says, "and we're running our studios in totally different ways."
Cassidy has always been an athlete and even became a personal trainer after seven years in the corporate world, but she says she was "never really a gym girl." She learned about pilates and trained with Madeline Black, the "guru of pilates on the West Coast," and other experienced pilates experts, she says. Learning pilates taught her that effective workouts don't have to leave a person in pain, and can even help people unlearn bad exercise and movement habits.
Cassidy says she enjoys helping people learn healthier ways of living and exercising in a small setting that emphasizes mastering controlled movements and breathing over how much a person lifts or how far they run.
"I love what I do. I would never pick another career," she says. "This is what my passion is, and it shows."
For more information about ReFormation Studio call 408.993.9642. For more information about Tru-Balance Fitness call 408.294.9656.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
