SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to Pilates Perspectives. Today we have Joachim Walsinger, and we're going to have a wide-ranging conversation on how Pilates can support those with developmental disabilities, how his military background informs his teaching, and the experience of learning from first generation elder Lolita San Miguel. But first, let's check in. As usual, we want to bring your attention to your breathing. This time, let's take a really long cleansing breath. I'll encourage you to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. And let it be your breath. I'm not going to count today, but see if you can increase the length of the inhale and really exhale all the way to complete completion of that breath. And notice how the breath starts to roll almost like a wave in the ocean. As one comes in, the other goes out, continuous. Now let's just think for a second on all the things that we do, almost routine or automatic. Things like breathing and digestion. Now let's think about an activity, whether it's swimming, and imagine yourself diving into a pool, or whether it's running, or a really good Pilates session, and how your body nourishes it and craves it and just enjoys it, finds the flow and the rhythm in it. Or let's think about a single moment of achievement. It could be something physical like completing a marathon. It could be completing a task or a project at work. Regardless, think about how our body was there for us. We knew what to expect. We knew that we could we could grow and we could we could challenge ourselves and we can achieve. Okay, I think it's time to bring on Joachim. All right, welcome to Pilates Perspectives. Today we have Joachim Valsinger, a Pilates teacher, uh, and he is a Pilates educator for Lolita's legacy. His many skill sets include Pilates for the Military and as a specialist for Pilates for the Disabled Child. Uh Jochum, welcome to Pilates Perspectives.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Thanks, Joey. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Oh, uh you know, I've wanted to have this conversation ever since. And I'm trying to go back in the data bank that is my brain, which is not super reliable these days. But I think it's about two years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Last was on tour in London.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah, where we had a really lovely in-depth conversation on some of the work that you've been doing. And um, between the military on one end and disabled children, you really span quite a you you create quite a bridge in two different worlds, right? And not to mention being an educator for Lolita's legacy. Um, so we have a lot, this is a wide-ranging conversation, and I'm just really excited to have you here. Um, I I think let's start with you and a little bit about you. Um you have experienced some significant and what some would say life-altering injuries, right? You know, partial diaphragm paralysis or a ruptured Achilles' pendant. Is that true?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, that's true. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

And you credit much of your rehabilitation and I love this, and sanity to Pilates and massage. Can you speak a little of your experience there?

SPEAKER_02 4:50

My absolute proof of of the the truth in that statement is that um I had a previous injury while in the military where I did not have Pilates and I suffered as a as a consequence of that. Um, so I don't know whether I have uh soft tissues or whatever, but during my military training, I killed a uh lower trapezius nerve from heavy pack wearing. Yeah, I weighed 60 kilos, 70 kilos. Um, well, multiply that by 1.6. So I weighed 70 kilos, and we all had to carry 50 kilos minutes. Oh, jeez. So um I damaged that lower trapezius muscle and it caused winging of my scapula because it just it wouldn't uh it wouldn't uh sit back onto my torso. Um and I really struggled to rehab that through the military, through regular uh physiotherapy. I managed to do it and I managed to carry on with the selection training and it worked out, but it was um it was really frustrating. I didn't know what to do, and um, I didn't I didn't have the skills and I didn't have the the detail and the attention to detail and specific exercises. Fast forward then to uh the diaphragm, which was uh phrenic nerve injury from a sore neck, like just neck spasm.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

So you had a phrenic nerve injury, but it was from a neck spasm. Wow, that's fantastic information for people.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

I know. And guess guess how I got that that crazy half diaphragm paralysis from sleeping on a bad pillow. Oh, jeez. So, like the most the the the most um unexciting way of getting an injury, but it just with a series of events, I had a neck spasm um that I couldn't deal with. We were walking out, we were carrying a chopper out, we were driving for 12 hours, I went uh flew for two and a half hours, and then I went and did a full day of work, and then I had uh seven days of work after that. So I never got the massage, the stretching or the sleep that I needed. And it just got worse and worse and worse. And six months later, I thought I was having a heart attack because I was out running and I got pain in my chest radiating into my left arm, and I thought, oh, geez, doesn't feel right. No, that doesn't feel right. So I went to the doc, I went to the gym, hooked myself up to a heart rate monitor, and said my heart's fine, no problem. Went to the doc and and um they misdiagnosed me with uh a pneumothorax. This took a long time to work all this out. The thing with the paralyzed diaphragm, it was the uh prognosis was that the the muscle, the nerve just had to regrow down to the diaphragm, which it did bit by bit by bit. Um, so yeah, a millimeter a week or whatever it grows, it took a long time, but it was quicker and I was back to full health because I was at that stage doing pilatas because I was doing accessory breathing, lateral breathing, using other muscles rather than just relying on the diaphragm. So when they put me on uh the treadmill to do a VO2 max test to see how I was going, my VO2 max score on one lung, one diaphragm, and the accessory muscles was better than the boffins who were testing me.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Oh, that's that's that's cool, right? Yeah, that's very cool. What an interesting diagnosis and what an interesting sort of way to get that information. Uh talk about the Achilles tendon because that's that's a that's uh I think an injury that we do hear more and more of uh today, and people should have an understanding of of how it impacts and what some ways back from that are.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yeah, totally. The it happened on a Thursday night. I was doing a military fitness class, uh taking part in a military fitness class. It was like uh Wimbledon was playing at the time. It was beautiful, sunny. The UK is awesome during Wimbledon time, and I was literally congratulating myself on how wonderful life is. I'm just running with my mates, having a nice time.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Keep going, you finish, and then I have a question about Wimbledon and that.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

So, and then I did a jump as part of the class. It was 45 minutes into it, so I was warm, I was comfortable, I landed perfectly, and I just had a white pain, full body pain explosion in my ankle. And my mate was laughing behind me, so I thought he just thrown a stone at me because he yeah, that's why he was laughing, because it just I heard it explode, felt where the tendon should be, and it was chicken skin, not um tendon. So I knew instantly what it what had happened. The pain disappeared pretty quickly, so it was just it was instant, all-encompassing pain, but that was that was gone. Long story short, Thursday was the injury. I was back at work teaching Pilatas on Monday morning with my leg in a cast, sitting on a ball. Right. Um, and um that was before the operation, and then after the operation, I just waited for the skin to heal. They they stitched it back together, which they don't always do. But um, once the scarring had healed, Pilatas made all the difference. And uh there's I can't run, I can't walk, I can't cycle, I can't do anything for the next six months, a year. Um, but I started doing Pilates then as soon, you know, uh three weeks later. My core has never been better. And um the the the historic order of mat work, you can do 90% of that without your feet. Um, it just makes it uneven that one leg's got a cast and the other one doesn't. There are some movements where the the fascial connections are pulling too much, so you've got to go easy on those. But other than that, it was Pilates really made a difference, and it absolutely helped with the um um the compensatory um postures that I took on when I was limping. It helped to alleviate them. Um so massage and Pilates and just a good um protocol for working with that made a huge difference. And I spoke to every doc I could, every physio I saw, said, What is the protocol right now? No, they they they I got eight sessions on the National Health Service, which is amazing because that operation was free and and and then you know they got me back to life, but um they got me back to living, um, and they got me back to making a cup of tea. I could limp from my bedroom to the kitchen, that was good enough for them, right? But as a Pilates teacher, I don't want to have a limp for the rest of my life, so I I needed to go further. So I asked them, what is the protocol? What do I need to do? Because I wasn't a specialist at that stage. Um, and then you know I took their work and looked at how can I expand on this in the Pilates studio, and and yeah, then I have now my own protocols for that.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

You know, uh I guess you're you're sort of giving credence to the book, right? Uh the the doctors got you back to the living and Pilates got you, you know, returned you to life.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Yeah. Yeah. Without a doubt. With a purpose, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

With a purpose. Um, hey Jochum, uh this is something I I don't actually know about you. When did you discover Pilates? Were you in the military at the time?

SPEAKER_02 12:12

I had just completed commando selection. So I was bulletproof and I could do, I was the king of push-ups. So they break you down, but you come back a stronger person on the inside. And um, I asked him after a while, you look good, you're well built. What do you do? Because I'm I'm trying to get as big and strong and capable as I can. And he said, All I do is pill outs. And in speaking to him more, I found out that he was 45 years old, as old as that. Um as old as that. I know, right? And and he but he looked about 30, 35. Um, and I thought, geez, if that's all you do, I looked at the old soldiers around me. They do not look good. Um, I want to look as good as you do when I'm as old as you, but 45. So how old were you at this time? So I was I was relatively old. Um, I was 28 when I started Pilates.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Right, right. Yeah. So 45 seems like, wow. So he said Pilates, that's all he does.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

That's all he does. Yeah. And I I didn't ask what type, where, how. I just Pilates was the word that I heard. I researched it in um you know 1998. It was pretty hard to find out about it. Um, and I went to the UK around about that time and found um body control Pilates, uh, Lynn Robinson, the big name um at the time. So um uh so that's how I started my Pilates journey for the sake of looking better.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Uh for the sake of looking better. Um, how I mean you had just you you had just become, as you say, bulletproof in the military and finish your commando training. So when you started taking your sessions with Lynn, um, how did it measure up to what you were doing in the military?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Uh yeah, then my first Pilates lesson is interesting. It was not with Lynn that I did my first session. So she's the one that introduced me, um, and I got to meet her later in my career, but um, it wasn't she wasn't my initial uh she piqued my interest, uh, but it wasn't my initial exposure. But in my very first Pilatus class, what was I? 29, 30, because it took a while to research, and I just looked around at these middle-aged women and said, we're gonna do push-ups. Come on, I am the king of push-ups. But we did stand, roll down, walk out, elbows into the body, down, and all the way up, walk it in, roll it up, one, and and again and again and again. And I was the first person on the floor crying. Oh, interesting. Unable to keep going, and all these little women around me were just working through, saving energy, and and doing beautiful work. So um the the the muscle um uh strategies that I had built, my inbuilt military strategies did not work because they're about big power muscles.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Uh, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

And yeah, I'm the king of push-ups because I can do many push-ups. Or I could, right? Back then, I could do many push-ups. Did they look good? No. Were they in good form? No. Were they healthy for me? Absolutely not. Um, but they they fit the criteria with which I was being measured. Um, so I I had capacity, you get push-ups for absolutely everything. Do something badly, you get push-ups, do something well, you get push-ups. Your mate does something badly, you get push-ups. Um, so yeah, uh 200, 500 push-ups a day was easy. No problem.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Oof, oof.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Easily happened.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

But interesting. But when you were you were asked to to, you know, uh for a particular form or particular uh and to sort of follow that movement patterning that that was hard for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Yeah, integration didn't exist. Um interesting. And and it you're just overcooking the muscles, the the prime mover muscles, but none of the stabilizers. Um, it just it the the and this this is why Pilatus for the military is such an easy easy subject to to teach, right? For us as Pilatus teachers, to teach these these people to do nice good movement is super easy because the you can you can expose their weaknesses so quickly. The stronger they are, the the the more um the easier it is to get to them.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, so um so that's an interesting that's an interesting thought. I I also find that relates to bringing men into the Pilates space, right? When you're really asking for that integration and some of this becomes challenging in a very, very different way, um, it resonates. So I would imagine when you bring this to the military, it resonates with them.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Well, so the the yes military and men, um, you've got to you've got to approach it in a in a really interesting and subtle way, right? Because we're fragile little beings. Um, so if if you You know you can say that.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

I can't say that.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Right, right. But if you if if you go in with the purpose of showing the big strong men how weak they really are and how much they need to do, you're gonna break them and they will turn around and say, Well, it's not relevant to me. No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

First of all, yeah, I mean, would you say how weak they are, or really just a is it really just a question of how integrated they are, um, you know, as opposed to moving again from the big mover muscles, and but once integrating the spine and the shoulder girdle and the pelvis and the legs into a push-up is a whole different is a whole different animal.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

So that is that is where it becomes interesting. If you introduce it to those people in the right way, they find um uh a point of interest because Pilates, um, you don't do more repetitions, you don't lift heavier weight. So all of the metrics that modern life gives us about success in fitness, they don't exist in Pilatas. You can reach closer to your toes, you can feel a bit better when you wake up in the morning. So the metrics are uh are much softer, but then you you if if you say, right, you're working your leg here, what's your opposite shoulder doing? Control that. Think about what the opposite shoulder is doing while you're working your leg down here, and suddenly they when you give them something else to focus on within that stabilizing something while working something else, then it becomes an interesting thing for them.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I'm a I'm a harder, faster, stronger kind of guy. Right? That's how I was brought up, and that's that is success to me. Harder, faster, stronger yes than I was yesterday. Until I was taught properly that yeah, I'm looking for something interesting. So it it it piques my interest, but I'm not I'm not looking for personal best in Pilates in the way that modern fitness tends to want to do.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Right. Do you see that as a problem or a hurdle that Pilates of today needs to get over? Is that modern fitness is still looking at the harder, faster, better model of fitness uh instead of the sort of the depth of something interesting? And I I don't want to say depth because that that that connotes one isn't as good as the other, because I don't I don't agree with that. I think there's many attributes um in in both styles of fitness. But do you think um as we go into educating the world on what Pilates real is, um, that that's that's a that's a a a hurdle we have to overcome?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Totally. We we need to make this experiential exercise still valid in a fitness industry that wants metrics.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

I I I'm very glad we have that recorded because I'd love to have you repeat that five times over. So everybody who's listening, I think you should go back and and repeat that sentence over and over. Um and and we have to be really confident as teachers in that experiential space um uh because it's easy to yield to um metrics in in many ways.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah. Um I tend to introduce new clients, male clients, military clients to the metrics first. Like I have developed metrics within Pilatas, or you know, your your client information form will elicit what's important to your client. So you say, yeah, do you want to pick up your grandkids? Did you pick up your grandkids more this month than you did last month before you did Pilatus? Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Those are some pretty powerful metrics.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Correct. Um, so I I work on those metrics early on, and that that that gives them um a reason for keeping going. And then once they are interested and they feel that you know they can tell their friends at the golf club that yes, I I yeah, I feel better for it, and this is why, then I'm able to switch them into starting to feel for why is it interesting? Why does it feel better? Do you enjoy that movement? Um so uh go ahead. I'm sorry, finish. Well, even saying to men, you know, I don't use it all the time, but pretty movement has a place. Right? So um there and and um uh when we say, you know, look at the the the typical ballerina um of uh Of sort of the the the traditional style, it's based on good movement, good, healthy movement. Now it's been taken too far with hyperextension and working people too much and making them anorexic and doing all sorts of you know um uh other things just because the trend has gone too far. But but it's based on good, proper postural movement. Um, and if we have a joint working through its full range in its correct placement, then that tends to look attractive. We see someone who who flows naturally through life, they tend to look better than someone who is fighting every movement with one joint or another.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Well, I mean, we could take that extreme and say um if you're on a field, whether it's a um a football field in America, football uh and uh in in in in the rest of the world, football, right? Yeah, however you see football. Uh so if you're on a field or if you're uh in a combat you know uh stature or posture, if you will, um that graceful movement is coordinated movement, is integrated movement. Uh uh it requires strength and endurance. So all those, all those principles that apply to that ballerina apply to uh football/slash soccer player, apply um to anybody who is, I would imagine, and you need to correct me on this, in the military and has to perform physically.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah. And the you just gotta you you have to make it relevant if you give the image of the the very flexible dancer straight away too early in their journey, they're like it it's that's irrelevant. I'm not interested in that. I do not want to be like that. I will never be like that. You know, I weigh twice as much as that person. Yeah, we're we're it's it's just it's not going to work. Um, and it turns the turns that client away from the method. I think in the 1980s there was a little bit too much uh spandex and leg warmers worn as well for for those male clients. Um but you know it it um there is a reason there's no mirror in the CrossFit chip, right? Yeah. Um, and so we've got to make them comfortable with the mirror. The mirror is simply a tool. Yeah, it's a tool for assessing posture, it's a tool for the teacher to be able to see the back of you while you're working on the front. So it's a useful tool. Um I do love the clients who I say when I have a look in the mirror, and they're like, Well, I took my glasses off at the start of the class, so I can't.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Um, so we we've talked a bit about how you bring Pilates to the military, but but um some of the military techniques and strategies uh that can be used, can they be useful for the Pilates client?

SPEAKER_02 24:58

For sure. Absolutely. Um the training that I got in the military, I think it's been useful for me as a teacher, so that I did I deliver a better class for my clients in the first place. Um, but the I I think I've been able to infuse in my non-military clients some of the strategies or techniques that we use as well. Commitment and consistency is is an obvious one. You just turn up and do your thing, whether you like it or not, at the time. You know, that's what gives you uh better results. But so I'm I'm from the Australian and British military, which um they they're not the yeah, the British military is enormous, um, but it's not as big as the US military. So there's a very common expectation that you've got to achieve a lot without many resources. So that capacity to do what you need to do, to get done what you need to do with what you have in front of you is a really that's the probably the most useful skill that I learned in the military to be able to adapt what I have in front of me to work out what's the goal, what do I have at my fingertips to be able to use it? Who can I um bring in? What can I bring in to make that happen? What are the steps that I need to achieve to get there so it becomes a systematic process. Now, as a teacher, I don't always know what exactly exercise I'm going to be doing. So I like I test stuff out. I don't have to have the full plan organized, but um I have I have um uh I usually very quickly work out what it is I need to do to achieve the goal that the client sets me. So goal setting is really, really important, I think.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

You have uh Pilates for mil for the military program. Uh you have a three-strand like organization. What quickly, what what is that? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 26:57

So that was a project that Lolita um on my Pilates Master Mentor program, she made me do. Um, we had to have a thesis, and and I said, Can I do Pilatas for the knee? And she said, No, we've got plenty of knees. I had a client with a knee, so so yeah, she didn't want that. She said, We don't have Pilatas for the military, you're doing Pilatas for the military. But Lolita, I've been out for a long time. I don't have my contacts anymore. I don't care. You're doing it. That's what you're doing. You're you're you know, that's your unique skill. Go and do it. So having parameters is really good for a start. So she forced me to do something that I didn't think was an obvious project. Um, and I had to think about it. This is before the pandemic, long before the pandemic. So there were it was, you know, the recorded videos existed and YouTube existed, but we we didn't have Zoom classes in the same way that we had. But I came up with the three cohorts. Um, my original contacts back in Australia spread out around the world. Um, my British uh Army Reserve contacts down in the south of England, whom I went to visit once, and then um an online cohort whom I met and and you know, just a lot of different people. Um so they they all got the same program, but I applied it in different ways. I'm I created uh a 12-week mat work, basic, basic mat work program, uh full-body uh routine, you know, stuff from the basics, working to more advanced, but never got really beyond intermediate. Um 12 weeks, and we did military tests at the start and military tests at the end, push-ups and sit-ups. And um, because the the military are interested in metrics, they do not care whether you feel good achieving the task, they want the chart, the job done. Uh, and and you are, by the very nature of the thing, expendable in order to get the task done. So, so whether that's now or later in you know, you've got a bad back in in later life, they don't care. Um because they and that's that's the premise under which they need to work. Um, so can you do the job better, is what they're interested in. So military test, um, two minutes best effort of push-ups and sit-ups at the start of the program. Throughout the program, we had not a single push-up, not a single sit-up. We did some roll-ups, but not many, more rollovers than roll-ups. Um, but I've got the whole program written out. Um, and then at the end of the 12 weeks, we did the same military test. And on average, the three categories, the ones I never saw online didn't do very well because they didn't adhere very well. Um, the third, the third cohort, I'm sorry I didn't say that. The third cohort was in my local town, an army reserve unit that I became friendly with. Lolita came for the um the introduction. So she sat in the colonel's office surrounded by all these soldiers, going, Oh, this is nice. We'll do this. Yeah, I'm enjoying this. Um, and uh, so I saw them every week. So I delivered the program to them every week. Then there were the people that I saw once and then they were online. So the onliners didn't do so well. The one session, then online, did okay. But then the ones that I saw more regularly, where I, as the teacher, was in control of what was going on, they they did better. When I say better, they did better at adherence. Right? They they continued more. The others had all sorts of reasons why they couldn't adhere to the program. But at the end of it, the the push-ups and sit-ups, the average change in scores was an increase of 39%.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Wow, that's fantastic! Wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Yeah, terrific.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Right. How much does an athlete spend on on a new pair of shoes that's going to give them a 2% increase?

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, incredible, incredible. We need to you still have that project. I think so. We need to.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's it's yeah, it's ready to go. That's that's fantastic. And what is what was interesting about it, there's there's plenty of research on Pilates for the injured soldier rehab. We know that that works really well, but this um I I filtered out injured not fit for duty soldiers. So this was this was uh military personnel who were fit for duty. They were the only scores that we recorded. Everyone got to take part, but we only recorded the scores of those that were fit. Um great.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

That's what a what a finding that is.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Thank you to Balanced Body for sponsoring this episode. Outfitting a studio is a hundred decisions and one budget. Balanced Body partners with owners around the world to outfit new spaces, refresh cherished studios, and expand apparatus as class schedules grow. Start with what you need and add more as your business grows. Get $20 off your equipment order of $100 or more by visiting Pilates.com slash podcast dash discount and follow the prompts. So let's talk a little bit about your relationship with Lolita. Um, I love that she saw your background as a benefit, right? It wasn't an impediment of any kind.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Um, can you speak a little bit more about your time with Lolita and how it shaped you as an instructor?

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Yeah, absolutely. I have a lot to thank her for. Um, because I up until Lolita, I was apologetic for who I was as a Pilates teacher. I knew that it was really good. I I started for the wrong reason, but I learned all the right reasons to keep going. So that's why I wanted to keep teaching.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

You started uh I think by your own words, right? Vanity.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Correct, right? That's no way to I want to look good at 45. But I wanna I'm gonna look good at 45 um on on the beach in Sydney. That was my ultimate plan. But then on the way, I learned how useful it is, right? So so um I I I I saw the true light um whilst uh whilst searching for the the the fake holy grail. Um and Lolita, she was the first one to say that I really had a space because many I'd come across many people, so this was early 2000s, and and there was just an undertone that I wasn't a dancer, a gymnast female. Um I didn't really have a place in the industry. Um, and and so you know, I knew that I was making a difference for the individual people, and and but I was slightly apologetic for who I was. Um, and she saw me as unusual. Sure, Lolita likes men in the first place, and and men are unusual in the industry, so that's um uh you know, she she wants to encourage more men to take up pilatas. Um, but uh she could see the gap in the market and certainly in the skill sets that we have, and she realized that I'm a good person to speak to male teachers, male clients, military um macho kind of people, in that I can walk into a room. I I through the military, I came out as a physical training instructor. So I can walk into a room with uh trained soldiers, and they will do what I ask them to pretty quickly because I know the language, the tone, the posture to adopt, and they they respond to that really well. Um and and so that that that's sort of the biggest takeaway I think I have in terms of pilas for the military is learn to speak the language of the clients that you want to have, and language is more than just the words, it's you know how do you get your message across to those people? So I'm a natural communicator to those people. Um, so Lolita pushed me hard. Um it it her Pilantas master mentor program was two years uh going to Florida um every six months um for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

From Sydney, Australia?

SPEAKER_02 35:17

No, I was living in I was living in Scotland at the time.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Still right away, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

So, but yeah, still still far. Uh no, so all of my Pilantas had happened in the UK um uh since I since I came to the UK in '98. Um, but an interesting sort of roundup of that was my wife came with me on our graduation week, the last week that we were there. I presented my thesis and we all got our certificates and uh and everyone was very happy. Sunday morning, as we're about to graduate, my wife says to me, So, how do you feel now? Do you feel any different after two years of this stuff with Lolita? And I stopped and I thought, I feel very different. The weight that had lifted off my shoulders, the the the the just the the um uh the validation that I had received and the overcoming obstacles. And I at that moment realized that it was very similar to my commando selection course, because it was emotional and physical ups and downs, thinking I can't do this. Um, but somebody helping me through, whether it was you know Lolita or my seniors or my buddies, um the team that I went through the PMP with were just amazing, so supportive. Um and um so I have lots of stories where Lolita would say that's not good enough. Yeah, no one's interested in that exercise. And my my little friends would go, I want to try it. And and she's like, Really, you want to try it? Yeah, I want to try it. So she's okay, I'll let you have that one. Um, so she's you know, she's she's a tough old cookie, um, but she really gets the best out of people. So the change that I made was it was hard, it was physical and emotional. Um, it smelled better and it was a little bit cleaner. Um, but but the the the And all indoors, yeah, and all indoors, mostly indoors, exactly. Um, except when we were doing the body walk in front of the crosswalk crossfit gym and Olita, the woman in a big hat and sunglasses leading us like little ducklings behind her doing her body walk, which was hilarious. Um, but it it was a very similar two-year experience to what I had in my commando selection. Um, and I came out a different teacher, much more confident in myself, um, feeling that I did have a place. Um, the the Pilatus for the military, Lolita got me to present that at um the Heritage Congress in Germany. Um, and then at the PMA, I did Pilatus for the military, PMA in Monterey. And um I was quite nervous about going into the the present at the PMA. Um, you know, people with 40, 50, 60 years of experience, and you know, what do I know? But then I realized hang on a minute, I am the expert. None of these people have had my experience of Pilatus for the military. So Lolita gave me just the confidence to be the teacher that I am. Um, and and once you find your your way of teaching, once you find who you should be, then you're unstoppable. So that is really what she gave me.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

What a beautiful gift. You know, I I think about um we all we all do. I think we we think about the art of teaching quite a bit. Um and I always think there is this quiet legacy of teaching, the things that you know that go beyond teaching the exercise. So she taught you confidence, she gave you a space, she gave, you know, like these things that help you grow the the permission to grow into the teacher you are. Um and and you know, good mentors do that for their mentees, but good teachers do that for their clients. At what point did you make the transition from I want to look good at 45 and this Pilani stuff looks looks promising to um to I want to do that for other individuals?

SPEAKER_02 39:17

So um I was I was a sports therapist. Uh coming out of the military, I became a personal trainer that became a sports therapist. Um, and in doing massage and exercise um uh prescriptions to clients as a sports therapist, I realized that 90% of them didn't need me, they just needed Pilates, they needed to move better. And and um so it was it was seeing how massage was really good, but on its own, it's it's just it's a passive um fix. They came to be fixed by me, um, and they never did their homework. And and I was amazed when I then started teaching Pilatas sometime later, and I gave a little bit of tentative homework, and they all did their homework. So the the Pilates client is um uh by their very nature expecting to do the work themselves. So that was really, really cool. Um uh and then I just leant into that and went more and more. And I for a while I was doing massage and Pilatus because the two go so well together, but now I just don't have time. Um, so uh we have uh um yeah, I do Pilates and education and um no more massage as such.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Hey, uh you I think your words were she's a tough old cookie, Lolita. Um I take that uh you know, she's just she's a very strong personality, always has been uh a force of nature in the most wonderful ways. Uh, so much so that our first book for our book club is Lolita's My Enchanted Life. So I think that's that speaks an awful lot to uh truly Lolita's legacy. Uh, what is the one thing about Lolita that you think people tend to misunderstand?

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Oh my goodness. Misunderstanding her. Um, right, we've got to look at who's the audience. Um, because what I have found here in the UK is very different to I, yeah, the American audience is is generally has a longer heritage of understanding Pilates, of understanding the lineages and the strands. Um, when I started Pilates here, I I did comprehensive training initially, but I opened a mat work studio. So I ran a mat work studio for seven years, and and apparatus was not really a thing in my city in Perth. Um, so people didn't know about Lolita. Now they do. Um, but here in the UK, many people come to me to do her training because they hear that her training is classical Pilatus. Now the thing is when you talk to Lolita, she doesn't understand and recognize the word classical Pilatus. Um she says, What is that? So it's the the point that the classical Pilatas in uh uh schools are trying to put across is good Pilatus, is from what I can work out. Good, deep, well-trained Pilatus based on what the original man thought, and with some input from some really good people on the way, that is it. I think the classicists wish to um teach people that that uh you know the short course Pilates is not is generally not going to get you the education that you need. Um, and uh so yeah, the the someone like Lolita will absolutely agree with that, but she doesn't understand or um recognize the word classical. So um here in the UK, she's seen as as original and classical, um, but but uh she wouldn't call herself that and um and we certainly can't uh claim that on the world stage because it's it's uh it's it becomes political, right? Um when um you know the there's such a boom of Pilates right now that so we are under pressure more than ever um from uh shorter courses. I just saw a $35 Pilatus training.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Yeah, I yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Um, so so I think that's that's it. Um I I live in the UK, I meet mostly UK teachers. I think that's sort of the the the most interesting thing. But what it doesn't really answer the question, right? What then is Pilates, according to her? Um, I I think that's one of the problems we have as an industry generally. We don't we can't describe it in the way that yoga, everyone understands yoga. Um we don't have a catchphrase. Praise for Pilatas in the same way that the yoga industry does. But we we have a we have an image problem in that good Pilatas looks like this as opposed to this. And what's the difference? Like whereas yoga is whoo, that's fancy, that's fancy. I want to do some of that. So it's um the good Pilatus isn't necessarily exciting looking. There are some amazing moves you can do, but the average person can't do them. So um I would say that it the the the most thing the the the what does Pilar what does Lolita what is she most misunderstood for in my personal experience in in UK and in Europe is that they think that she is classical when she just simply isn't, and it just makes me chuckle because it leads into such a long conversation with a person who's interested or not interested.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

I think we can all agree she's an original.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

Right, right. Yeah. Um in many ways.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Right. In in many, many ways, uh, with with so much to offer and insight that that does come from the original source. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Um let's let's start. Uh let's let's let's let me ask you another question that's going to move us in a in a completely different direction. And let's talk about what you would quote, what you've been quoted as saying is your most important work. And that's the benefits you found uh with Pilates in supporting your son Albi with his developmental disability. Um tell us a little bit about Albi and and how you came to use Pilates with him.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

So, firstly, I'll give you a warning here. I I will cry throughout this conversation because it just it's it's uh it affects me so much. Um so Albi has um a condition called Prada Willie syndrome, and um there are lots of aspects to it. Um, there are autistic traits, um, there are hunger issues. He doesn't have it yet, but um they have at some point, it's it's one of the characteristics of that condition is that they have um insatiable hunger. The brain doesn't recognize fullness, so they can literally eat themselves to death. And then the thing that that is the most um obvious is they have cognit cognitive uh challenges, um, but but he has low muscle tone, so he has hypotonia, um which it just means he he really struggles to just do the basic muscle engagements, so it turns him makes him uncoordinated, um, and and it's difficult to to speak and um uh and move and and just achieve the things that that a regular kid should be doing. Um and um the problem with that is low muscle tone means they don't burn many calories, and yet they can eat as much as they want and take all the calories they want. So, like it's just it's it's a really difficult uh tightrope to navigate because our society is built on food reward. Everything we do is a food reward. You go to someone's house, you bring a bottle of wine and something to eat. Um you're going to someone's house to eat.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

Um, and and you've got three courses happening there, and they're delicious, and you eat a little bit more than you should because you're at your friend's house. Um, you know, I overate at that barbecue I mentioned earlier on. Um the kid falls over and scrapes their knee, and we take them to uh their favorite restaurant to make them happy. Everything is food related. The number of boxes of chocolates that we get at the Pilates studio because our clients love the teachers, um, you know, it's it's ridiculous how much food is out there. Um and um so yeah, that's an issue. We've got that under control, but um Pilates was it really made a big difference for him. Um and I didn't expect it to because the when you get the diagnosis, you go home and you Google it, um, and it it doesn't look nice. Um, but and the docs are all sorry for you as well, but very quickly we got into um a PWS association and they helped us out a lot. But I was um I've got Lolita to thank for this in terms of Pilatas as well. Um I so I was as as affected as as any parent is when you are grieving the future of the child, because it's it's just not going to be the same to join. And we had this awesome moment where Lolita was at my house um and she was sitting with Albi in in in her arms, and um you've seen her rings, right? It's like Cleopatra's jewelry, and she was just dangling this stuff over the top of him for about 45 minutes, and he was six or eight months old, and Lolita was was holding him and talking to him, ignoring the rest of us. So we were trying to to speak to her, but she just had no interest. And after about 45 minutes, it was the first conscious movement of him trying to reach up for her rings.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

We just went, check that out. It was like totally, you know, um, it was breathtaking to see that. Um and so she then showed me physically how what attention to what the client wants to do to have that interaction, um you know, the magic of that, and it shook me out of out of my um uh depression of of inactivity. And um it it gave me just the impetus to start looking at what what's the physiotherapy advice that we've got, how can I expand on that? Um and and I started researching all sorts of conditions as all parents do, um, and just seeing you know what can I learn from here from there. Um so we then started applying systematic movement encouraging protocols in within the the family. So when you're chaping, changing his nappy or his diaper, as you call it, I would, I would, I would be over here, and then I move over here. So his eyes just track you. And then after a while, his head starts tracking. So, you know, and that with with a hypotonic kid, this takes months. So it's it's not it's not um, you don't get a change within weeks. Um it's it's a it's a gift in certain ways, and certainly as a trainer, it's a gift to have that slow progression because it means that you're you're reinforcing the thing again and again and again, um, and you never miss a moment. Um, you know, I was never going to to miss his first steps because yeah, it took months for them to come. Um so it just your equipment, the balanced body equipment, has been so helpful for him. Um, and so the first piece of apparatus that he had was the the Pilatus Arc with the shallow slope and the steep slope. Um, I started him sitting in the well, sitting slumped over like this with his legs over the lip, and then I could hold him. So that just gave him some something to sit on. Um, that was one of our exercises. And then this eye movement and head movement, I took it from being on the flat on his changing table to being on the shallow slope and then moving him onto the steep slope and and moving further and further up, so increasing the challenge. But like it took weeks for this to happen. Um the infinity bar on we I have it on the Allegro 2 and on the the um clinical makes all the difference for a little person because you can you can mini-size the reformer and and he can get proper work out of it. It um so it your equipment has has had an integral part. And um, I spoke to Dave Lippmann about that, um, and I've spoken to Ken about that a lot. That um and and I want you guys to realize what an impact you have made for for us um and our family to with with the capacity to um adapt the exercises and adapt the equipment for him. It's been really cool.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

That's great, that's great. Wow. Uh it was originally that Infinity Footbar was originally created. I mean, it had all these other wonderful applications to it, but it was originally, as I understand, created for children to do just that to bring the footbar closer to the shoulder rests.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Yeah, yeah. And and and and it's amazing. The difference that it makes is huge.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Um, uh, how is Albi doing and how has Pilates been beneficial, um ongoing for him?

SPEAKER_02 53:24

So he he is a little superstar, right? The sad future that we were expecting hasn't materialized.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Fantastic. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Has life been easy? Absolutely not, right? So my wife and I, we are passing ships in the night where oh, someone's got to be with him the whole time. So we we meet and you know, you know, we just we can't often do stuff together. It's it's a tough life having any any disability with uh within the family. It's really hard for his sister, but Albi has um he has an amazing life, good friends, um, good people around him. Pilates on tap. Um, and he uh we're taking him further and further all the time, and he's improving all the time. Um, and the main thing is that he enjoys coming in to the studio. Um and I whenever we have a visiting uh uh teacher here, I try and expose him to as many people as I can to just get different views on stuff. Um, so we we learn from anyone who comes along. So, Joy, I'm desperate to have you come to the studio and and see him as as well.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

Uh I would love, I would love to be in your space with uh with you, your trainers, and and certainly I would I would adore to meet him.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

Yeah, so he's he's he's a real superstar. I'm going to try and we've got the Pilates Gathering. You're you're in London um uh for Body Control Pilates the same weekend that we're doing the Pilates Gathering conference in in Stirling. And I have a lunchtime session where I shall try to put Alby through his paces in the the village, um, in the studio that we have set up in the in the you know the in the village. Um he's an he's a showman, right? He loves performing for people, but anyone who turns up, yeah, they have to sing songs, they have to do dances. Um, you know, he he doesn't he he he's the best meter and greeter you could imagine, um, because he just says, What's your name? Um, and he he goes through everybody in the room and um has no stranger danger. And I have met some very strong people in my life, some frightening, some inspirational, some just you know, incredible human beings, and I've never seen anyone as mentally strong as him. Because he expects to fail all the time, right? He doesn't expect he doesn't expect for things to work out, and therefore when he fails, it's not a problem. Um, and so he just falls down, has a little rest, gets up and goes again. He doesn't give himself a hard time, he doesn't um you know he'll complain if he hurts himself, drop something on his foot, or whatever, but um his determination to keep going is I've never seen um what a lesson for everyone. Totally, totally. We we have a family saying that that you know we should just be more Albi, the rest of us.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

Yeah, I think I think that's a lesson for all of us.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:31

How old is Albi now?

SPEAKER_02 56:33

He's nine.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

He's nine. Wow. I think when we first were were talking about this, he was he was about six or seven, yeah. Um how old's your daughter?

SPEAKER_02 56:46

She's 11, turning 12. I'm dad, I don't remember ages, right? Um so uh she's she's beautiful. Um, and uh she's gonna turn into the most wonderful person she already is, partly because of her exper exposure to him and her experience with him. When um uh yeah, when I hear them playing in the other room, it's just it's really beautiful to see how she takes care of him. Um he she we often use her as the translator. Um when she's the Albi whisperer. Yeah, she is. Um so she knows what he's saying better than anybody else. Um, she knows how to trigger him as well. And and you know, I I take comfort when they bicker because that's a natural brother-sister response, right? Um, so you know, we don't want her to be um uh yeah, pussyfooting around him. We don't want her to be giving him everything that he wants, he mustn't be spoiled. Um, but her she doesn't have chocolate in the house because he can't have it. She doesn't um yeah, there are lots of impositions on her 11-year-old life that um you know that are unfair. We we can't treat the two children fairly. Um, she has restrictions placed on her because we have to allow him to do stuff. He doesn't get the same consequences that she does. It's it's it's it's a really um unfair situation and and probably one of the things she'll hold against us, but it's gonna make her a really lovely person. She is an amazing uh friend and and uh little uh you know guide for him. Um and she she's a natural in the Pilata studio because she's just grown up here. Um and uh she helps me a lot with him as well. So because um if I'm coming after school to do a workout with him, I need her to come with me because I can't leave her at home. So she's she's part of the routine. Um, so I have her doing more dancy, acrobatic, fun stuff. Um, and he does the you know the stuff that he needs to do.

SPEAKER_00 59:01

Uh I I think you've said uh she challenges your creativity, um uh asking you to create new Pilates moves every day. So, how does she challenge your creativity?

SPEAKER_02 59:13

Well, so you know, too much is never enough with her in terms of movement, right? Um so and it's really interesting. We do a lot of partner work, she and I. Um, but as she grows, grows taller, the dimensions, you know, the the just the limb length and all this sort of stuff, her weight changes. So what we could do at a certain time when she was the right length and weight. For a while, I was doing teasers with her standing on my chest and I was holding her arms, and she was teasering her out from that angle. And and that just got progressively more and more a little harder for you, eh? She grew up. Um, and and uh it wasn't you know, like the the fable of the man who carries the ball to market. I'm afraid I did not you know grow up strong enough to be able to to um to do it with with her as she is now. But no, so she challenges me in in all sorts of ways where you know she just asked why. What next? Um, you know, so we we show an exercise, and oh, this is interesting. Number one, she can do a version of it that's because she's not integrating. Um yeah, she so she can create a shape, and she says, Why is that shape difficult? Um, so I have to give an appropriate age-appropriate answer to to her depth of understanding, which doesn't always ring true because she says, Oh, check me out, I can do this. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

Um what's her name? What's her name?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

Mariella.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

Mariella. So Mariella and Albi, it sounds like um adults can learn an awful lot from both of their childlike wonder and uh absolutely, and you know, they they are they are my biggest teachers um for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

I've you know, I sought the training um that through the military and and I looked, uh I sought out my time with Lolita, I made an effort with all of these things. I uh I never expected to have them as amazing teachers, um, but they really have made the the biggest of differences.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:16

Um for other parents with um and and siblings and caregivers um who are managing developmental disabilities in the home, uh what are ways that Pilates can be particularly beneficial?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:33

So um I think the methodology is is the first thing. Uh what are we trying to achieve? What's realistic? What are the tools that we've got? How are we going to make that happen? Um, and then the the the physical tool that I think is is one of the best is the spring and the stretchy band. Kids naturally like the tensile interest of that. Um so the you know, if you give a a kid a stretchy band, you don't want to give them a spring because they'll catch their fingers, but um the you know, the the toe corrected, toe gizmo, give them one of those, and they just go, Oh, ours, ours, right? Right, yeah, because that's interesting. Then you get them to straighten their arms and do it, and it starts to become integrated without them knowing. So um, I think that there are some we have some really automatic things within Pilatas that we don't have in in the gym. The gym uses gravity. Gravity is brutal. It it doesn't change. My my dog understands gravity because he comes and drops a ball at my feet, right? So we we we have inbuilt strategies to deal with gravity, we don't with the spring resistance. We we can't predict how it's going to feel. To that end, it doesn't really matter whether it's a strong or heavy or a light or a long spring, it's just it's unusual. Um, and um, so I think that's that's probably the the biggest tool. Um I I I offer Pilatas, um uh free Pilatas to families with disabled kids. Um and because they're expensive to run, right? And I can't be part of the cost process for another family. Um, but I'm also aware that I'm asking them to do yet another thing. And because the number of people that that yeah, I don't offer unsolicited advice, but if people come to me, I'm I'm happy to give it. Because the the statement of um oh you should do this for your disabled child, it's like it's just another wait. Number one, thanks. Number two, I've probably heard about it already. Number three, it doesn't work in my circumstance. Number four, it's gonna cost me something that I can't afford or or you know, time or whatever. Um, so for those that have the space and capacity to come to Pilapsas with me, then I'd I'm delighted to help out. Um, but yeah, uh I have uh yeah, when you look at it from that initial discussion conversation that Lolita had unspoken with Arby in her arms, um, just to see what does this client need? Uh, what does this person need? This morning I had a disabled uh uh child in, it's her third visit, and today we got we got one push against the footbar. So it was one uh conscious resistance, and that's awesome. But like it's taken us three goes to get there. Um that means the family's been late every time because we are late, because as soon as you step in the car, the kid has a poo. We've got to go and fix that. And then you know Albi's nine, he's a big kid, so he wears two diapers at any one time. Um and um it's yeah, it's it's a big undertaking to get him out the door. Getting there early isn't an isn't an issue, or isn't a solution because then you're sitting outside the Pilan studio for 20 minutes with a kid that is gonna kick off if they can't, if they if they're not doing something. So um I don't know, advice to pill to teachers, uh advice to families. Do what you can get in contact with someone who is interested, because um, you know, I mean most Pilates teachers are are are doing it for the right reasons. I didn't start doing it for the right reason, but most people do. Um, so you you know, it's it's a it's a love of the industry, and people will make the the best that they can. What I will say to teachers is don't worry about not being an expert in that condition. Right? Google will tell you you do Pilates for the condition. Google that. And it'll give you some kind of suggestions, some of which you can discount and some which ring true. But the parent is the expert, the kid is the expert. Um, and you just treat them as look at the body in front of you, and you say, you know, if this person is is fully slumped over in their in their um wheelchair or they're sitting with the real scoliosis, what are you gonna do? That's obvious you want to work some something against the scoliosis. Um and number one, get them excited about being in the studio. So I have balloons, I have bells, I have fun things in my studio. Right. Um, because it's not a place for work and and intellectual stimulation, it should be a place of play.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:44

Right. So so you don't have to be the expert because there is it really is not going to be an expert, right? Right with a lot of this, but to provide the space or the the you know the just the opportunity for progress in a way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:03

Um uh so beautiful. Thank you so much for being so open and sharing. Um it it's it's really super important. Um I'm I'm gonna move us to rapid fire questions. You ready?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

Oh okay. Well, listen, thank you for your for your patience with me as well, because it's um uh yeah, I can ramble on about this for a long time, but it's it's um not everybody wants to have the conversation, right? That's an interesting thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

It's such an important conversation, and there's no thanks needed. It's so powerful and important. So I I I we're all just grateful that you're willing to have these conversations because just as Lolita uh naturally gave you confidence and to be the teacher that you are, by you having these conversations, you just don't know all the people that you touch and reach and inspire. So it's super important. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

Which is exactly why why it yeah, it is important for me to to broadcast as much as I can the success that we've had with Albi because everybody can benefit from this. That's right. And every teacher can give a benefit, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:10

It's every teacher can give a benefit. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, that's terrific. I'm I'm um I'm very moved myself. Uh, so thank you, Yoko. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:22

Um, okay, just ready?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:25

Okay, I'm ready. Approximately definition of Pilates, what's yours? Definitely definition of Pilates is uh a methodical movement technique that makes you a better version of you.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:41

Oh, I love that. I wish I thought of that when I was asked this question. That's fantastic. All right, what's your favorite piece of Pilates equipment, big or small?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:50

Why? Um inversions on the chair, pipe, whatever you want to call it, from whatever whichever school you come from. It's it is a mind over matter. You you you can lift the pedal in a way that you you think that was never gonna happen. How did that happen? And then you just ask a little bit more, and it's magic. So that is my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

You say my mind over matter. I say ass over tea kettle. Just kidding. I hope I could say that. Anyway, um, that's that's great. Uh uh chair, boom. Uh, what's one misunderstanding about either Pilates or our profession that you wish more people understood?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:32

People think it's stretchy, stretchy.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:34

People think it's stretchy, stretchy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

It's not stretchy, stretchy.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

Uh, what's one habit that you do that complements your Pilates practice?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

Um so I'm uh uh I'm an omnivore. Um I run as much as I can, I cycle, swim a little bit, I lift in the gym. I don't do pilantas to get stronger. It's uh in our in our manual, in Lolita's legacy manual that says this exercise makes you stronger. And I'm like, really? Does it? Is that gonna make me stronger? Working, you know, the the the togizmo or whatever. No. So I lift weights to get stronger, I do Pilates to get better.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:16

Oh, I love it. I live weights to get stronger, I do Pilates to get better. Do you have a few books or podcasts that you recommend to our listeners?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:24

Uh books. I'm um, I don't, I just don't get time for podcasts. Um, how I get time for books, I don't quite know. Um, in the Pilates industry, Eva Rinke has written a biography of Joseph Pilatus, German uh woman. She's this book is really cool because she's a German historian, a German biographer. She has no skin in the game. So it's just it's just a factual book about Joseph Pilatus, where there are lots of great books, but most people um you know they they if they knew him, they have an opinion of him. Um and if they didn't know him, then then they would like a myth around him, whereas she just wants facts. So that I think is really cool. Um, there's a uh uh Pilaster teacher here in the UK called Charlotte Marsh. Uh, she's got a book called Suzy Sloth. It's a longer name than that. Um, but Susie Sloth, her amazing superpower. Um, it's a little bit highbrow for Albi. It's a kid's book. Um, and and it talks the super skill that she has is is breath control, which Albi does not have. Um, but but that's a lovely book. Um, and a book that I just read recently, a fitness book, uh by Hackenschmidt, George Hackenschmidt. So he was a German um um uh um a German author, fitness guru, um, and into the the um he was a like a generation and a half earlier than Joseph Pilates. But when you read his book, it's so similar to to um return to life through controlly. So you realize that Joseph Pilates was part of that movement, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

That physical culture movement, physical culture, that's exactly it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:08

Yeah, and it's hilarious because he's so absolutist in exactly the same way that Joseph Pilates is. Um, and uh you know he's he's a world record holder in lifting something from the floor to overhead. So okay. Um but it it it's an interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:29

I I um I'm looking over at Stephanie, she's writing them down for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

So so I Jordan Hackett Smith, how to live. How to live.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:37

Fantastic. Okay. Uh this is this is not on the list, but I'm gonna ask it. Uh so you said Wimbledon always has good weather. Do you think that there's a conversation with whatever that supreme, super wonderful energy that there is in the world that provides Wimbledon with good weather every year?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:56

It's gotta be, right? Everybody loves Wimbledon. It's it's just it's quintessentially English.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:01

Um and it's it's guaranteed weather somehow, which is not a English thing, guaranteed weather.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:08

No, I know. And and you're eating strawberries, which are beautiful. Like who wants like fruit and and and good weather and and sunshine and and and just relaxing and sort of in the early evening sun? That's not what you think of with England, but no, Wimbledon does that. It's crazy, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:24

Um, all right. Listen, before we conclude for today, where can our listeners find you?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:29

Um, I am Pilates Joachim on Instagram, um Joachim Balsinger on uh LinkedIn and Balance Pilates B-A-L-A-N-S. B-A-L-A-N-S. Um, I chose my name before the internet. Um balance with a Swedish spelling sounds nice, but nobody's gonna search my studio, Balance Pilates Studio. Um so it it our names sound nice, but um the old names they they they were invented before the um SEO.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:07

So so an emphasis on the A, Yoakim. Say it again.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:12

Yoakim. So I say it in an Australian manner. You can say however you want, George, because I love the way that you say it. And and here's the thing like Albi and Mariella. So Albi's proper name is Alben. Albin and Mariella is a long name, but you can say it, you can spell them right now. The Japanese, the Puerto Ricans, the um Portuguese, they can all say it, spell it, read it, and have no problem. There's not a culture in the world other than Sweden that says Joachim properly, which is Joachim. You can't say that. My wife can't say it. My wife can't even say oh. She's Scottish. So she says Joachim.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:53

So I'll I'll answer to anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:56

Well, I'll I'll stick with my pronunciation then. Joachim, thank you so much. Um, um, really, I wish I could just um go through the screen and just hug you and uh and spend more time with you. I always do enjoy our time together.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:12

Yeah, you're a real star, Joy. Your name is appropriate. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:16

I appreciate that. Uh honestly, I I appreciate that. I appreciate you. Um, and I really would love to come and spend some time with you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart and your lovely, wonderful family. Uh, lots of love and thank you. Thank you, thank you. And thank you, everybody, for listening.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:33

Thank you so much. Bye.