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Business & Tech

Getting Reformed at Pilates Studio City in Valley Village

Pilates teacher Rosann Pelayo is on a mission to help people move better.

There’s a scene in the 1995 post-apocalyptic film Waterworld in which “ancient” relics are being examined. A character picks up a strange figure-eight-shaped object – the Thighmaster – and proclaims it to be a medieval torturing device.

It’s the first thing that pops into my mind when I spot the Pilates reformer machines during my first visit at Pilates Studio City’s Valley Village location, , on a Saturday afternoon. If it weren’t for the smiling faces that greeted me as I walked in, I may have headed back the other way. I imagine the conversations of curious future peoples: Is that contraption a horizontal relaxation chair, as the padded rolling board with shoulder and neck rests might suggest? Or is it a way to extract critical information from enemies of the state, judging by its number of heavy-duty cords and tension springs?

I’m there for a one-on-one Pilates reformer class with Rosann Pelayo, whose mat Pilates I take twice a week through an employee program at my full-time workplace. Pelayo's a petite Filipina with a big sense of humor who keeps her students laughing, even through a sweat-inducing 30-second plank position.  She encouraged me to try the reformer to help correct a knee problem that forced me to stop my weekly running routine, and so I’m at the Valley Village studio to finally give the machine a shot.

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I lie down on the reformer and try to breathe and relax – inhale to prepare, then exhale on the "up" movement, just as Pelayo has taught my co-workers and I at our after-work classes. Pelayo is part-drill sergeant, part-Pilates instructor and part-physical therapist: she typically modifies the movements for each individual based on their abilities or injuries, and she makes sure every move counts and that they're done right. It's one of the reasons I keep coming back to her - not only do I feel healthier and more flexible, but I also don't mind that my pants fit a little better since I've been taking her classes since last fall.

For the reformer, she always assesses first-time users’ familiarity with Pilates.   Pelayo tells me it'll likely be easier for me to learn how to use the machine because I know many of the moves already. Still, it's a good idea to take a few one-on-one lessons to make sure you really understand how to make your body work with it, regardless of your skill level, she says.

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She runs me through what’s essentially a horizontal squat exercise on the machine in order to strengthen certain muscles to help my knee. After a series of different movements, we move to another room with a mirrored wall and ballet barre. She grabs two small half-sphere exercise balls that look like little porcupines and has me stand on them for about a minute to loosen up my feet.  When I step off, my feet are more flexible and my posture feels improved.

Pelayo is a "mover" – in addition to teaching Pilates, she's also a dancer and choreographer (and has the legs to prove it) who’s currently earning her massage certification. She became interested in Pilates after a friend helped correct her posture during a dance class.

"It made a huge, huge difference,” Pelayo says, and it inspired her to learn more about the exercise technique.

Initially, she began taking classes to help improve her own movement.

“It took me a year to finally decide that I wanted to teach,” she says. “I got interested because one person made a big difference in how I felt inside … I wanted to give that back to another person.”

She found inspiration in her Pilates teacher, Michael Holden, and her physical therapist, Rob Cowell, who both dedicate themselves to helping others live healthier lives, she says. Pelayo's clients also inspire her to become a better teacher: after seeing so many people with back pains from hours of sitting at a desk, she wanted to find other ways to help them. It’s the reason she decided to become a certified massage therapist, she says, and her "goal is to help others through continuing my education on movement."

Eventually, she hopes to open her own studio, which she plans to call Ro DanzCore Pilates. For now, she enjoys teaching mat classes, group reformer classes and private sessions at Pilates Studio City's three locations, as well as helping her many individual clients.

When I emerge from the studio after the hour-long session, I anticipate the next morning's pain – the kind of soreness you feel when you've done your workout right.  As I walk back home, I find myself standing tall, feeling reformed and ready to tackle the rest of my Saturday.

The Annex by is located at 5223 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Valley Village. Business hours are Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The studio has locations in Studio City and Porter Ranch.

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