Ep24: Jan McGrath, NeuroPower Pilates®

Welcome to the Pilates Diaries Podcast.

Jan McGrath came to Pilates more than 18 years ago with a story many listeners will recognise: chronic neck, shoulder and low back pain, and weekly chiropractic visits that never brought it to an end. Today she’s a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher (NCPT) with an MBA, and the creator of NeuroPower Pilates^® in Rapid City, South Dakota, a brain-body method that pairs Pilates-based movement with neurocentric training.

Before Pilates, Jan spent 20 years training as an athlete in Muay Thai, distance running, tennis, squash, weights and CrossFit, until injuries and surgeries stalled her progress. Pilates was suggested as a last resort, and she hasn’t looked back. Trained through the Pilates Instructor Academy with her mentor Amanda Iiams, she now works with clients from clinical rehabilitation through to athletic performance, through a neurological lens.

Find Jan McGrath and NeuroPower Pilates^®
Website

Timestamps
00:00 Acknowledgement of Country
00:15 Welcome to The Pilates Diaries
00:37 Meet Jan McGrath
25:21 A word about Trimio
26:05 How Jan first arrived at Pilates
51:24 Thank you, Jan

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Bruce Hildebrand: In the spirit of respect, The Pilates Diaries Podcast acknowledges the people and elders of the Bunurong people, members of the Kulin Nation, who have traditional connections and responsibilities for the land on which this podcast is produced. This is the Pilates Diaries podcast, stories of the impact of Pilates from the people who live it. I’m Bruce Hildebrand, 20-odd years of teaching, a few studios along the way, a lot of questions I still haven’t answered, and no doubt more on the way. Let’s get into today’s episode. In this episode, we’re joined by Jan McGrath, based in the Midwest region of the United States. Jan arrived to Pilates over 18 years ago with an oh so common and cliche-typical story of modern day chronic neck, shoulder, and low back pain that she crossed everything possible on a weekly basis in the hope that regular visits to the Chiropractor would bring to an end. It was a mythical wish in hindsight, because things weren’t ever going to change with the continued lack of understanding she was buried in when it came to her own body. Cue Pilates with a fleeting suggestion that trying this lesser-known exercise method might help as a last resort. And Hey presto! Jan has not looked back since! Jan became so enamored with the benefits of Pilates that she undertook a full certification through the Pilates Instructor Academy and her mentor, Amanda Iiams and now takes pride in providing intelligent application of movement to a range of clients from clinical rehabilitation through to athletic performance, all with a neurological lens of understanding. Before all this, Jan had 20 years of experience training as an athlete in the disciplines of Muay Thai kickboxing, long distance running, racket sports of both tennis and squash, weight training and crossfit interval training. It was the learning from each of these and the fateful multiple injuries and surgeries that stalled Jan’s athletic progress that made her realize she needed to seek a different fitness pathway – fortuitously stumbling upon Pilates. Jan’s teaching is now heavily influenced by her understanding and ongoing training in human anatomy, kinesiology, brain function, neuroplasticity and neuro biomechanics. It’s a pleasure to have you on this episode of the Pilates Diaries podcast, Jan, welcome.

Jan McGrath: Hi.

Bruce Hildebrand: I appreciate you coming on and your enthusiasm to get on the show.

Jan McGrath: Oh, my pleasure. I think Pilates unfortunately he passed away in 67. So you, and I, and all these other Pilates practitioners have a heavy task of conveying the story, the legend and how it ought to be presented.

Bruce Hildebrand: I think it’s an important responsibility that we all take on.

Jan McGrath: I do. and I hadn’t realized it until I read the book The Caged Lion by John Howard Steel I had the pleasure of talking with him for about a half hour – hearing those little anecdotes about how it was and how it was intended – very helpful.

Bruce Hildebrand: Which event was it that you spoke to him?

Jan McGrath: It was an event created by myself. I read the book and I actually inhaled the book like in a weekend. I couldn’t believe how he’s a great storyteller. Right. I said I just need to behind this back, this panel here is a whole, slew of books. And so I love to read and sometimes I’ll write the author and just tell them, I really enjoy your book and I got a response. that was pretty amazing.

Bruce Hildebrand: And he’s a fascinating guy.

Jan McGrath: He is indeed because as a lawyer that was pretty much dragged in to go see Joseph Pilates because of his mom and he couldn’t understand any of this bizarre equipment and Joseph Pilates’ German militant behavior, but he found himself very impacted and affected by it and he’s just humorous and he’s still to this day has a Reformer in his home in Southern California

Bruce Hildebrand: and he talked about not being certain if he was shaking from muscle fatigue, nauseous from the changes that had happened internally for him, or whether he was a bit shaken up having a cold shower at the end of the first class!

Jan McGrath: Oh, the shower story was so hilarious, handing you the dry brush women, men, I mean, yeah, pretty amusing,

Bruce Hildebrand: And you’re based in an area near Wyoming, is that right?

Jan McGrath: I’m in South Dakota. the Mount Rushmore state, the Midwest, I originally am from Los Angeles, so I’ve transplanted here four years ago. It’s an interesting thing – there’s an Australian coffee house here in Rapid City, and I thought Australian coffee, Australian breakfast. What is this? And you know what, Bruce, it’s my favourite coffee house here in Rapid City. It’s a family business so this lady cashier, she is I think the daughter, I’m not sure, but she has a noticeable accent. and I’m like, what is going on with Australia? I’m having this podcast conversation with Bruce and I’m having coffee from this coffee roaster from Australia – it’s called Essence of Coffee if you look it up in Rapid City and I believe the guy, he, was brought here because there’s an Air Force base here.

Bruce Hildebrand: Tell us more about Rapid City and about the Pilates story What took you from Los Angeles originally?

Jan McGrath: When we transplanted here, I was looking for Pilates. and I found a place. I think the person conceptually knew what Pilates was, but she did admit that she wasn’t trained because she was reading out of Stott Pilates manual. I knew that she was when she said “turn the page”! I have my legs and straps! So at that point the Chiropractor that I had seen in Southern California said “Why don’t you continue with Pilates?” But being here in Rapid I only found this one place and so I decided to learn and acquire all the teacher training that I could get and really legitimize the exercise because as you know it’s unregulated – so today I could be delivering pizza, tomorrow I’m a Pilates instructor! And I want integrity behind the work – it means something to me because other than that ” Caged Lion” book, I don’t know too much about Mr. Pilates – I do know the history of the name and how someone wanted to not allow it to be used in general use – so I’m thankful that the president of Balanced Body went through that litigation and all that jazz. So I decided to pursue it – I had no idea Bruce how hard it was – no one told me that this was going to be “what anatomy! oh, I’m not just going to raise my hands and do some stretches!?”- it was for real! And the more I learned about it, the more I had an affinity for it because I had 18 years of fitness and I didn’t like Pilates. I wanted to be pouring in sweat, when Olivia Newton John said “Let’s get physical” I really was thinking conceptually ” Yes, that’s a workout, I’m a downpour of sweat, cheeks are flushed!” But, as you know, when our body is just shaking and all over the place, our stabilizers are not stable and we’re more prone to be injured so I had the wrong attitude, but I was in the right class when I started 18 years ago. So moving forward to here, I knew I had to do something because I’m thinking is this what Pilates is over here? No! You know, Southern California, every corner, you go from Starbucks to Pilates studio, Starbucks to Pilates studios, maybe a McDonald’s. And it was in the osmosis – everyone was into fitness and health and all that. But moving here to the Midwest at least from the very early times that we landed here, I didn’t find too many Contemporary or True Pilates, So this is why I did what I did. I decided that I needed the teacher training – it’s not something I can just call myself a Pilates instructor. You can’t do that – you just can’t!

Bruce Hildebrand: I love hearing your story.

Jan McGrath: Thank you. I think if you’re coming from a place of truth, it will just come out naturally. You know, of all the places when I googled asking questions like ” Group Reformer, what are the feedback from veteran Pilates instructor?” Did you know it always landed me in Australia – it was so bizarre! And I said ” Wow, they must be ahead of us here in the U.S. because they see this movement and this form of exercise legitimately not just You’re going to the YMCA and you’re going to do it there”- nothing wrong with that, but I just found it interesting and so in my search that’s how I found you – and I just love hearing the stories of other people and how they want to be true to the exercise method, which I think is very important!

Bruce Hildebrand: And your experience thus far Jan – it’s not been so much the case in the U.S.? Obviously we would view the U S as being miles ahead of the Pilates conversation based on that’s where Joseph Pilates was from the 1920s or so.

Jan McGrath: You know what, I think what happened is when Joseph came and immigrated and then the ballet and dance world got into it, and then when Ron Fletcher brought it to Los Angeles, Beverly Hills the aerobics phase was kind of coming to a close. And I think the use of the Reformer and use of the equipment was great, but it was also merging big gym health club mentality so you have a lot of stationary bikes and machines and I think that, for some reason, speaks to people. I find them really, like, I’ve been shackled to something – I come from a running background, so I wouldn’t want to do that either – but the time was right and when Ron Fletcher, met with now the President of Balanced Body, I think that was a marriage made in heaven. Unfortunately, that kind of took us in – terms of Pilates world – not in a good way, right? Because now you have Club Pilates and franchises that really take some of the good parts of Pilates, but they’ve also merged it with big bucks, if that makes sense? There was a Saturday Night Live – I don’t normally watch it – but it is hilarious because it is a spoof on Pilates and it’s dark room and these two young women walk in – they’re freaked out because they’ve never done Pilates – and then you’ve got people doing the Cirque de Soleil moves – very intimidating – but they look like models, incredible. I don’t know that Joseph Pilates had intended for it to be that way! I don’t know about Australia, but here it’s largely women, it was created by a man and practiced by men – but unfortunately, it’s been so marketed heavily to women that we’ve lost that ability to attract men. In Los Angeles, there were more men doing it, but here I’m in cowboy country, so I don’t know how that’s going to go.

Bruce Hildebrand: What I hear you speaking of Jan – it’s wonderful and fulfilling to hear you speak the way you are because this far into The Pilates Diaries Podcast I’m really glad the message is getting through in that way where yes, there’s a real authenticity around how does Pilates impact people’s lives? And clearly it’s impacted you for many years and there’s a real inherent nature in who you are that has you seeking out the integrity of what makes Pilates what it is and everything you’re talking about commercial success has an undertone of how do we make this a business? And that tends to override what the essence of Pilates is in many ways, which is let’s simply connect with our bodies, connect with our clients, help our clients connect with their bodies in a brand new way that’s majorly unique that Joseph Pilates was able to elicit in all of us and tap into in such a beautiful way across the world.

Jan McGrath: Yes, absolutely. When I opened my own business the question I got was ” Where are the Reformers?” That to me is like “Where are the stationary bikes?” And I think that’s where the danger is because once you’ve outlaid that space, that lease, and then you’ve got this heavy equipment – this pricey equipment- you’re pretty much now not serving the client – now you’re going to be serving that landlord in that overhead, that fixed costs and I think by design that you just shot yourself in the foot. So in order for you to really serve the client – this is one of the reasons why I largely teach Mat Pilates because I view it as a “anytime, anywhere, affordable, accessible” apparatus, that’s really what I want! I want it to be available, I want it to be approachable. And I just teach in a local community center so it’s not a very sleek, glammed up place because I think men don’t like that. It looks like a beauty salon and. They’re not going to come in. So I do have one man, I’ve had a couple of men actually, and they come and they go, but thankfully it’s not bent towards women – I want women and men is my point.

Bruce Hildebrand: Tell me more about the glammed up side of Pilates in the U S it’s fascinating to speak to you from here in Australia

Jan McGrath: I don’t know. When I was, and it’s not just in Southern California, I would say that any place that I’ve seen it I think that there’s typically a retail portion where there’s outfits and gear and really nice mats and weights and things like that. But if I looked at Joseph’s original studio it was smelly, it was pretty what I would say was a regular gymnasium it wasn’t glamorous and it was approachable. So I think that I think her name is Romana – she was one of the early folks in the Pilates movement – she was a dancer, so she probably had that perspective in mind. And so gone were the basic gym and now nice sleek counters, a lot of mirrors, very svelte looking – and of course that’s very appealing- it looks like a spa, a hotel – and when you really think about it, especially for me, I just bring my mat! I take it to the community center – it’s a no-frills place, Bruce because we’re just there to do 45 minutes of resistance workout – that’s it! It’s really that simple and that’s what I want – that’s all I want. That’s all it is.

Bruce Hildebrand: I hear that you’ve crafted what you now present Jan over a number of years and you’ve come to this point of that simplicity that purity of let’s just do this – why does it have to be more complicated? No bells and whistles, let’s just get to work. I hear in all my readings and research of Pilates that is as straightforward and as simple as Joseph Pilates presented as well – plus the overlay of his Germanic nature – just do it, essentially. You speak of how much the tenets or the essence, the core of Pilates can be misunderstood and misconstrued by all the bells and whistles. Tell me about the impact of your training over the years – you’ve obviously gone beyond your hometown to do that training.

Jan McGrath: So I was trained by a lady named Amanda Iiams she owns a business called Pilates Instructor Academy. It’s a very rigorous curriculum and she is a hard instructor as well. It’s not a weekend warrior, crash and burn, get all you can get out of this one notebook – it’s self-paced, but you can study and restudy and that’s what I did and then I would ask questions and she was readily willing to answer my questions. I think the fact that the way that that instruction was presented to me told me how serious Pilates was! It really transformed my view because frankly, like I said before, when I was discovering Pilates 18 years ago, I thought it was just a bunch of stretches and you’re done and the first time I took a mat Pilates class I was so disappointed because I wasn’t in a downpour of sweat, I wasn’t in pain. I was rolling up my mat, I felt great, and I couldn’t believe it. And I said, this cannot have been a workout. Of course I came back because I was like John Howard Steele – I had to keep coming back, I had to wrap my head around what it was that I was doing – it was seriously hard! It wasn’t high impact, but I started to see that my pain was going away. I was stronger, I could carry my groceries and my babies without low back pain – there was something to it! I used to think that when you work out, you had to be in pain- that was the badge of honor! Oh my Achilles tendon, oh my back, oh yeah. I went out there and ran 10 miles – my feet are killing me. That’s shop talk, right? I didn’t have that. I was just like, I feel great. I got nothing more to say – end of story. There’s a lot of noise on the Internet – there’s a lot of noise, period, in the world – but mining for that wisdom – and that’s what I did – I specifically talked to veteran instructors like Amanda Iiams I really respect her! She made a point in her curriculum for you to know the history of Pilates – that was important for us to know and to learn at the end of the day, Bruce, I’m serving a client that I’m usually the last hope! They’ve gone to the PT, the chiro, the orthopedic surgeon – they’ve tried it all steroid, cortisone shot, and then they finally say, I guess I’ll try Pilates and I’m usually the last one on the end of the rope. And the ironic thing is – it should be the first because if they only knew, if they knew how to stabilize their body, develop that core strength, isolate, sequence, gain control, and synchronizing their breath work they’ll gain balance, better flexibility, coordination, on and on and on and on. But, It’s just never. So this is why I think Pilates is misunderstood. Often people say it’s yoga. I say it’s not yoga – you know where I start? I don’t even have the whole conversation. I just take my mat – it’s a Pilates mat – it’s thicker. And I say it’s thicker because we’re not in a static pose. We are going to be prone supine sideline, and we’re going to be moving fluidly. That – right off the bat – sets yoga and Pilates, on a different trajectory because I don’t want that confusion. Recently I have it on my website I decided to do a little snippet of me doing Pilates so that now the conversation doesn’t have to be “Oh, isn’t it yoga? Isn’t it just a number of stretches?” Now they can see it and I think that’s the difference – and anytime I see my clients for a private setting – they themselves don’t even know what they signed up for- they just signed up for it and they’re like “I didn’t know what I was signing up for, I just thought I’d try it!” Nine times out of ten, they want more of it! I have a 74 year old lady right now who has the body of a 40 year old! I really, really wish that before we started that we had a before and after for body because her body has been re sculpted. She is freakishly strong and I cannot believe I was part of that – she’s been with me now for six months and she comes regularly and I couldn’t be happier because I get to be a part of that – it’s life changing. I say Pilates is transformative in many, many ways – physically, your mobility, but as well, just how you feel about yourself! And you don’t have to bang yourself and do bootcamp and, throw your body to the concrete to do that – you can do it safely and injury free in a low impact environment.

Bruce Hildebrand: I feel like a huge part of your expressive experience of Pilates Jan will be elicited from telling your story – you’re a runner, you’ve been an athlete, you’ve done a range of different physical pursuits. Can you share with us the background of all that and where you were heading at the time with your physical pursuits when you stumbled across Pilates?

Jan McGrath: Yeah, so I was a runner – I loved running – I did it when I was in junior high school, into my early adult life – I didn’t think there was anything better than to feel that fresh air. I really liked it when it was crisp and gray But after five foot surgeries, the podiatrist said “You need a different sport!” Even though they say that, you know, you can do your own thing, right!? And then low back pain then motherhood came and I knew I had to change because I can’t be down. At that point I discovered Pilates. I didn’t want to go. I did some kickboxing. I just love physical fitness – I love exercise and I needed to change because I started to have chronic foot pain, back pain and about 18 years ago, I discovered Pilates. I never thought to teach it – but I practiced it – and I didn’t do it willingly because I no longer was out in the fresh air – I’m on a mat. I felt like I was shackled to something. However, reality hit, you know, you’re no longer 18! So I realized that I needed to have something else in my life. It was the recommendation of a Chiropractor who said, you might want to try Pilates. I never thought to teach it – I just thought go to a class If I hadn’t learned what I had learned in teacher training – a legitimate teacher training academy – then I probably would have just relegated it to another YMCA class, but to now realize that most legitimate pilates instructors have anatomy background, kinesiology background, biomechanics background and a full understanding of Pilates method and on and on made me realize wow! this is legitimate – this is not just a fad – this Joseph Pilates guy who walks around in his trunks all the time he had something. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the fruit of his labor. I love Pilates because of what it has done for me and I love what it has done for other people. It has taken people who say, I can’t do that. I was actually working with a client today who said ” I cannot move my shoulder.” And she’s been hearing that recording for two years. I said ” No Carol. I don’t think so! Let’s do some work here” I took a photo of her arm and her range of motion was greater. It wasn’t forced she basically started to realize between PT and bouncing back and forth with other things that she saw online. This is what I said to her – “Random workouts yield random outcomes!” You need someone who understands your body. So she came today and we took a photo so she can show it to her husband that her shoulder was coming up more so! She had imbalances in her body and she was compensating. But at the end of the day, this is the pleasure I get Bruce – I love hearing when they say “I’ll see you next week – this was great!” This is the best job. I get to help you.

Bruce Hildebrand: You describe it so simply. To draw satisfaction and fulfillment from teaching someone that certainly fills my cup – it obviously feels yours in the way that you beautifully express it.

Jan McGrath: Yeah, and the truth is Bruce, what kind of work, how many times do we get to do that? If you have a regular 9-to-5 job that’s great – there’s nothing wrong with that – but this is a very practical, useful way to help someone. All of us need core strength and mobility all of us need it – how wonderful it is that this work allows me to mobilize someone from being sedentary to hopefully doing more than what they were doing.

Bruce Hildebrand: I’m going to press pause on us there just for a moment. Stay with me, and we’ll pick this straight back up. A question for you, the listener, who isn’t a teacher, who does Pilates because of what it changed in how you move day to day. How far do you drive to get to your favourite teacher? If the answer’s too far, there’s a reason. Good teachers are stuck where the jobs are, not where you are. Meanwhile, the studio near you has space and equipment sitting idle several times a week. That’s the gap Trimio closes. And I should say Trimio is my startup, so hear my enthusiasm with that in mind. A studio lists its empty hours. A teacher hires them. You get a session closer to home. Tell your teacher about it, or have a look yourself. trimio.app. And we’re back with Jan. Jan, can you tell me a story of when you first arrived at Pilates? What was the experience?

Jan McGrath: Well, I went to the class – I had the wrong attitude – but I later learned it was the right class! I went to the class and I couldn’t figure out why the reps were so low! Just eight?- not a hundred, other than the hundred! After that I wasn’t pouring in sweat and I was rolling up my mat and I’m like “That was it? We’re done?” I said “Is this for real?” Of course I continued onward and realized that I was getting stronger and there was relief for my body. I wasn’t in pain and it was just so unsatisfactory in the sense that I didn’t have pain because that’s the only measure I had of what a good workout was – you’re supposed to have pain! But this was very refreshing. I felt better, I knew I was moving better and I was stronger and at the same time, my body was reshaped, resculpted! So I was very delighted! And I said “If this is what I can do for myself – wow, I can help other people!” I wanted to do this mainly for myself as I’m aging as well as for my husband, my family! You know, my teen son – he’s 14 – he was going to a basketball event in Tennessee and he said “Mum, can I do Pilates with you?” I laugh at this because at first when I started on Pilates, I wanted them to do Pilates – my kids were like “No thanks!” But here now it was turned around – he actually came to me and said “Yeah, I want to become stronger. How fast can I become stronger with Pilates?” There was a time when I was just flat back and I couldn’t jackknife up to a teaser at all! When they said “Roll up!” I said “This is the roll up!”- but now I’m doing teaser, the rocker – the straight leg rocker – it’s still hard, but it’s consistent discipline that you continue to practice and you can do so safely without the risk of being injured. It’s not like I want to play football there’s a limited lifespan I got to call it quits at 30 or 25 – I can keep on doing this until my last breath if I wanted to!

Bruce Hildebrand: Jan, can you share with us the interaction with the teacher at the very beginning – you mentioned that it was a peculiar class that you’d never experienced before. Can you tell us how that was conveyed by the teacher at the time? And was it an experience of as if they’re speaking a foreign language and you couldn’t really put two and two together?

Jan McGrath: It just started out with tabletop, right? You’re in neutral and you’re in tabletop and I’m like, ” Okay, when are we going to”, you know, there was no uptempo music – it was just so mellow. And I was waiting like, okay, I’m waiting. And then he says, extend it out to, straight and open out to a V and now I’m starting to feel it. And then he’s like float your head up off the mat, start giving me some pats- and now he’s just lured us into the a hundred and I’m ready to stop at 30! And then okay, we’re going to do the cousin to a hundred – and I’m thinking, oh no, is that the 200? No, it was bent me and then tap, tap, tap your legs together. it was hard. I had a little towel with me and I looked at the towel off to the side. I’m like, I’m not going to use it. But by the time I was done, I was using the towel to place it on my side we were in a side-lying position and I wanted it for my TFL because I’m like, when is he going to have us flip over? it was hard. It was very, very hard. And I was very surprised by that. I didn’t expect it to be hard. It was taught by a man – he had a very pleasant smile and he was very welcoming. It was all laid out with mats already and I had it in my head “Oh, this is going to be easy breezy!”- not knowing that it was going to be hard. Even though I wasn’t in pain, I was walking to my car realizing I was feeling much better. You know – he said “Movement Heals” And. I knew I needed to come back! It was good for me, even though I didn’t want it. And I didn’t want it because I still had it in my head that I needed to be in pain. I needed to be pounding my body on concrete.

Bruce Hildebrand: Fortunately, not so, and you can benefit from physical activity that doesn’t have to have detrimental effects on your body, ongoingly.

Jan McGrath: Absolutely. I’m thankful – like I said – if I could turn back time, I wish that I had started with Pilates from high school I’m just thankful that I discovered it when I did discover it.

Bruce Hildebrand: If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a thousand times in terms of wanting to discover Pilates so much earlier.

Jan McGrath: I have a question for you. So why do you think that the Group Reformer business model is popular and desired?

Bruce Hildebrand: I’ve got a simple answer for you – it’s easily scalable.

Jan McGrath: Okay. Yeah.

Bruce Hildebrand: When a business person partners with a marketing person and they can capture the snippet called shiny sparkly thing, and tag it with a hashtag and a marketing line Mm-Hmm. that lots of people are drawn to because it essentially touches on their pain points – marketing 1.01 is to understand what someone’s pain points are and speak into those. You talked about the group fitness mentality in LA – vanity is a pretty strong driver comparison with others, body image pretty strong driver. If all those things can be grouped together in one cup, packaged together and then sold to look hot, to look shapely, and to get it done with, then we have a product, let’s go, and let’s pour some aviation fuel on it so it goes jet packed. All that wrapped together just happens to have the essence of Pilates fall by the wayside and not carried through with the integrity that Pilates actually requires. It’s a body of work. It’s not just the fluff. It’s actually get down on the mat and do the work and reap the benefits. Save Joseph Pilates being, in my opinion, a genius in respect to what he inherently felt in his own body and what he knew that the apparatus could help illicit to complement that versus just having the apparatus work you out and I know this because I went through a sports science degree in the nineties, traditional fitness training principles can be achieved with any resistance equipment, springs, et cetera. And if you look at the Reformer and I say the Reformer, because that’s the most prolific expansion of these sort of group class scenarios – it is a resistance apparatus of some sort. And what it affords you because of Mr. Pilates’ amazing design is this range of exercises, this repertoire that is sufficiently different to tap into the core muscles, to tap into a way of moving that wakes up – like you talked about beautifully, Jan – all the parts of your body that probably have been sleeping giants for a long time – it does that sufficiently for it to be ticking the box called it’s “Pilates enough” to be called Pilates and it’s reproducible and scalable enough that I can have someone really attractive at the front of the room who I want to emulate, and I just follow along do a bit of copycat type of activity and it’s kind of enough. But the fallout is that the essence of Pilates gets very diluted and what someone perceives as the essence of Pilates being – it’s got to have breath in it, it’s got to have concentration in it – these are mindful practices that take time to drop into doing those superficially without dropping into your body, I think is a disservice to where Pilates can go to! In the same breath, if you’re still getting the benefits from doing that group class, good for you. I’d prefer that than sitting on the couch, than scrolling through your phone! So getting active a group class is a good thing and understand if that’s where you’re at and what you need from your physical week, then do it – and if you need more then please be informed – and that’s the essence of what this podcast is all about – be informed that there is a range of Pilates that can speak to you as an individual and I encourage you to seek it out because there are a range of different ways that Pilates can be taught and be experienced and so seek it out If you’re not getting from Pilates what you want and what you know is possible in your body.

Jan McGrath: Yeah, you know, I don’t think the mat is very sexy – it’s pretty flat relative to all the other pieces of equipment, but does it need to be sexy? Jen? No, No, but getting back to what you’re saying about, and I agree with that – and this is why I only teach group Mat Pilates by the way – however, getting back to marketing and what you were talking about Group Reformer, relative to a Mat to all these other pieces of equipment, namely the Reformer – the Reformer is going to win in terms of its appeal and appearance. I get that question a lot people ask me, why not? I said, because you don’t need to! And I say that not to be sassy – I just want them to know that’s the reason I teach on the Mat – because it is accessible. The regular Joe can afford a 20 dollar mat, the regular Joe can go and take that mat practice it at home. they don’t need that fancy piece of equipment! I understand some people who cannot go down to the mat and they need that elevated platform – that’s okay. And I like that about Pilates because it can be specific and it could be tailored to that person wherever they are with their range of motion.

Bruce Hildebrand: What I notice in what you say, Jan, is you’re a limited resource and you choose where you see the greatest impact with Pilates. And what I’m hearing loud and clear is that is in the Mat because you can reach the most people and make it most accessible to the most people. If you were only, for example, to teach one on one sessions, you would only have limited resources to service a reduced number of people and that doesn’t feel your cup.

Jan McGrath: Yeah, when I started this business it was private – it was at home and it was on the apparatuses – you know – Reformer, Tower, Chair. I came up with the idea – I called it a pop up – where I would temporarily teach group Mat Pilates, it was intended to edify and educate – that was my 2 tenants that you would be informed of this type of exercise – once again, it was through a community center, and I’m still doing pop ups! I stopped calling them pop ups now because I’ve been doing them pretty much monthly. I love the fact when I hear someone say “I did not know that that was what Pilates was. I was going on YouTube or this and that. I like the fact that they can turn to me because I have an accountability now. I can’t disappear and go into the world wide web and say, good luck. I’m going to see you next week and if you come back and say “Oops, my back was out because you taught me this.” I have a responsibility and I take it very seriously.

Bruce Hildebrand: Thanks for being such a stand to the community for delivering that service.

Jan McGrath: You’re welcome.

Bruce Hildebrand: Jan, was there parts of the experience when you first began Pilates that you didn’t like and you didn’t want to accept and the parts of Pilates perhaps that you found most challenging in the pursuit of wanting to improve?

Jan McGrath: I think what I didn’t like is just this lack of knowledge and the heavy reliance of people understanding Pilates from just social media- indirectly, not directly – and wherever they had learned it – maybe through a franchise, maybe through social media. You know, there’s a lot of information out there Bruce, but there’s not a lot of wisdom – so It’s hard to sift through all that. What I don’t like is the fact that what has been put before us in the 80s, 90s, and onward, and to where we’re at, it’s almost like you’re swimming upstream, because you’re always having to re-educate the public. I think that’s why I like to do these pop ups, as I mentioned, because I could explain this till I’m blue in the face, or I could just say “Meet me on the Mat”- that’s really what I say ” Meet me on the mat!” When I know someone is having a birthday in the area – I’ll tell them ” For your birthday gift you’re coming to the Mat!” And that is a way they can be informed. For a fundraiser for a friend who had breast cancer I said “We’re going to do Mat Pilates class”- so I taught four classes in a row. I’ve done two years in a row of March MATness and I do it here in a downtown hotel so that the public that normally wouldn’t be doing a Pilates on the weekday, which is what I normally teach can come and now be informed – ” Oh, this is Pilates!?” So I think what I don’t like is this having to re-educate, but it’s a double edged sword because as I don’t like having to do damage control – if that makes sense – I get the opportunity to re-educate. Those were my two mantras – right – to educate and edify through these pop ups. I wish that if we could turn back time! It was a grab, right, everyone took Pilates and made it whatever they wanted to make it – and I wish there was a way to bring the industry into one so that there is a unified voice – a regulated unified voice – I don’t know if Pilates will ever be regulated – but at the same time, what I like about it is the fact that I get to be part of that, where I get to educate from the professional training that I got.

Bruce Hildebrand: Keep up the good work is all I can say – keep up those standards! While we’re on that track, Jan, can you share with us some of the people who you met along your way that helped to shape your Pilates experience? You mentioned Amanda Imes and the training through the Pilates Instructor Academy – can you expand on all those different influences?

Jan McGrath: Essentially the instructors that I had – I don’t remember all their names I just went regularly to the same instructor that was just my local gym- it wasn’t true Pilates that I was going to – honestly – it wasn’t a Pilates studio, but it was enough for me to take a taste of it and then say, I think I’m going to go from there and look further into it. It whetted my palate enough for me to say “I’m going to continue and seek it out myself.” But I keep coming back to the same person, Amanda Iams because she answered all my questions – I was interrogating her – I even asked her “Why is Pilates so expensive? and she explained that – she was very patient with me.

Bruce Hildebrand: Out of interest – what was her response to that question?

Jan McGrath: It’s tied to the body work industry – the massage therapy industry and so now being on the other side of it, being I had to go through so many hours of training I understand why! Because if you only know what you know, which is just a bunch of jumping jacks and stretching your arms – that’s not what Pilates is about! It’s understanding your muscles, it’s understanding how, if I flex my toe, you know, neuromuscular communication is coming all the way up to my glutes- there’s a connection there understanding that which I never knew before. And knowing that my shoulder is a soft tissue socket – now I understand why so many pickleball players and golfers and other people injure their shoulders. It’s not the same hip socket action or the knee socket. Understanding those relationships made me more of a value to other people. In fact, when I go grocery shopping, I no longer say I’m a Pilates instructor – I’m very careful of that – because it’s not a quick checkout because now it’s ” Oh, you are? Oh, my neck is really killing me – what can I do? I’m like dispensing advice and I’m like, gee whiz, I don’t know your health history – you can do some cervical nods – that’s pretty safe. But my main hero is Amanda Imes from Pilates Instructor Academy – she’s a wonderful instructor, she is passionate about the industry I learned so much from her I’m so confident in the training that she has provided me that when someone says I have scoliosis, I have a meniscus tear, I have osteoporosis when they bring that to me, okay, you have some contraindications, we’re going to work around it. To be able to bring value and to help people move – I don’t want to go into the covid thing but the point is that people were basically isolated and they really weren’t getting out and moving and now that we’re past all that, hopefully people will see the importance of having movement and how healing Pilates is and you know you create a community out of this. You’re speaking the same language! I was talking to this teenager who was 15 years old, who was preparing for a marathon and he was saying, I have chronic shin splints – and I asked him, show me how you’re doing your, training, your exercises. He was doing these high kicks, and letting that rip out of that hip socket, the femur. I’m like, Whoa, who told you to do that? He said, my coach. I go ” Okay,, we’re going to do this instead”. Just to be able to touch a person’s life like that – he ended his season. He said, I had no shin splints! Thankfully Joseph Pilates created this method of exercise because he was truly ahead of his time!

Bruce Hildebrand: We’re the fortunate ones who get to pass forward the amazing discoveries of Joseph and what he packaged together in his methodology.

Jan McGrath: Yes.

Bruce Hildebrand: Jan, I’d love to hear your transition from – let’s say gym junkie, sports fanatic, to this curiosity, exploration, gradual falling in love with Pilates. I think it’d be really valuable for you to express what transition and what change you had to go through to find that connection for yourself with Pilates.

Jan McGrath: I think the understanding that our bodies are not invincible- I’m not going to be 18 forever. I thought I was a rock star, because I was doing all this running and kickboxing and things like that – and then motherhood hit! When you have your first baby, they’re going to rock your world – you’re not getting enough sleep, et cetera. So I had to change the way I was working out because I was always tired and I had low back pain I think that was when I said I need to try something else. I heard the word Pilates thrown around – I didn’t know anything about it, I thought to give it a try and it landed just right with my schedule truly because I had so little time. It was from that point on, I said, wow, there’s something to it. I did take a hiatus because I had a second baby, so now my life is spinning in circles and I didn’t put a lot of time to working out – so now I was really going to the PT and chiropractor dealing with low back pain and neck pain, and it was just adjustments and managing, but not actually edifying. So one day the Chiropractor said Jan, you’re pretty healthy- why don’t you just try Pilates? It was because of that conversation – she had no idea what that did to me because I had forgotten about what Pilates could do for you – I really did – I was so immersed in “mommy world” and I was homeschooling that I forgot all about it. So I did at that point say “Okay, I got to look into this Pilates!” I’m a “Why” person, Bruce – I needed to understand it – so at that point I said I’m going to learn and get the teacher training. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with that. I was thinking of helping myself and my family but I started to realize how profoundly it could help other people truly. And because I teach it out of my home, I did it really as a consequence to seeing what it could do for me – and I said maybe I could help one person at a time. But as you notice a group class is more efficient and I am not buying the big equipment – this is contrary to what I believe – I’m just going to stick with the mat because I wanted it approachable. I wanted it affordable. Somebody once said to me Pilates is the Rolls Royce of working out. I said “No, this is a $20 Mat – how can it be a Rolls Royce?” There’s these Pilates personalities and influencers that have spiraled it into that stratosphere – you know – Pilates instructor to Madonna and all this jazz – Okay, fine. but at the end of the day, I see it as if I could help that one person and if that one person is now off the lazy boy, they’re walking, they’re moving, they’re no longer in isolation and they’re thriving, they’re gardening, they’re playing pickleball – great! I get credit for it, but they’ve put in the hard work. I really believe if you’re showing up, that’s fifty percent of the work right there because a lot of people just write it off. They pay for the class, they’re absent. If they’ve made that commitment to show up and be consistent. I’m going to always show up and I’m hoping that you’re going to meet me on the mat. It thrills me. I hate it when the class is with absentees because that means that person did not get the full benefit of that Pilates monthly membership that they committed to. I get to be part of that journey with them and I love that!

Bruce Hildebrand: I love asking the question on the podcast, Jan, for someone who’s sitting on the fence and. wondering if Pilates is for them, what would be your advice?

Jan McGrath: I will always say the same thing – do what I did – try it! Have an open mind and just don’t do it once, give yourself a month, four times, once a week – just try it! It will transform your body. It will transform your life. It is a remarkable exercise and it’s really a no frills exercise. you can just do it on the mat. I usually tell people you’ve just graduated – you’re no longer on the reformer – you’re on the mat. And I say that because I have people who travel – they’re snowbirds they’re not here all year round so they’ll meet me online and they can do it on the mat with me. Not everyone’s going to have a reformer in their house, right? I say, try it. Keep an open mind. and just allow time think about how your body’s feeling I think you will find it is going to be a lifelong journey if you give a genuine effort of let’s say a month of practice.

Bruce Hildebrand: Jan, can you reflect on the journey of your Pilates participation and share with us some of the changes in both your body, mind, and even in your spirit, as Joseph Pilates liked to put it, that are now second nature to you in the way that you not only do Pilates, but also carry over into your day to day life?

Jan McGrath: I just watch my gate how I stand when I prepare food in the kitchen. I’m always looking at my neutral stance, how my big toe is lining up even how I reach for something up on the cabinet. I’m going to position myself so I’m square so I’m not straining myself and hyper extending my arm. it’s flowed even into, how I evaluate my husband or my family, I’m like, okay, you have a little bit of kyphosis there – it’s a living, breathing exercise for me because what I know is I want to know more – it doesn’t stop, and you can continually inhale more knowledge and you know what the benefit is? Not only do you edify yourself, you bring value to your client! So when some people ask me what do you do when it’s slow? I say, wow, great. I get to learn more – there’s never a dull day in this. I get to add more and more to my knowledge as I also add more and more to my clients. It’s a joy. It really is. Who doesn’t want to learn more and guess what you’re activating that brain, you know, our brain is a living organ – so it’s a use it or lose it. Unless you’re putting more information in your head, you can let it shallow out and it could be pretty useless.

Bruce Hildebrand: Thank you so much for your time

Jan McGrath: My pleasure!

Bruce Hildebrand: Thank you, Jan, for opening up your Pilates diary with us. Before you go, one more mention of Trimio, my own startup, so you know where I stand. If you run a studio with downtime in the timetable, trimio.app/host. If you teach and want more hours in your week, trimio.app/offer. And if you’d just like your teacher closer to home, tell them about it, trimio.app. There’s a gap. Trimio’s built to close it. The Pilates Diaries podcast lives at thepilatesdiariespodcast.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so the next peek into a guest’s Pilates diary finds you. I’m Bruce Hildebrand. Thanks for listening.