When I first opened my tiny studio in 2000, I purchased a reformer that was pretty good and within my budget. It worked fine, clients were happy and my clientele grew fast. When I finally had a bit of money in the bank, I bought my first Gratz reformer. For those of you who don't know Classical Pilates history, Joseph Pilates worked with a furniture designer named Gratz to design apparatus to his specifications. Think of how an architect designs a house, the foundation has precise measurements to allow for a study house to be built on top. Pilates and Gratz designed apparatus that would allow the exercises performed on them to have maximum benefit i.e. to create a body that's strong and sturdy, like a beautifully well-built house.
I knew how great it felt to work on Gratz apparatus, but would anyone else feel the difference?
So, I tried a little test. I put my new Gratz reformer next to my other reformer and let clients choose without telling them anything about the new one. Over the next few months, clients only wanted to work on the Gratz and their bodies started changing much faster.
There are little tricks to working on Gratz that Classical Pilates teachers are trained to use. I can't tell you how many workshops I've taught to teachers trained in different methods on different equipment where they've exclaimed "I've never been able to do that exercise so easily before" (usually talking about The Teaser)! The springs and dimensions make all the difference.
The piece of apparatus in the picture is lovingly called The Cadillac. It has fairly small dimensions on purpose-fear is a great teacher. If you're working on something that you feel you might fall off of, you're going to pull into your center much more! Pilates really was an evil genius. We offer classes called PowerSpring on smaller versions of The Cadillac called Towers. Nothing beats them to bring better stability and flexibility to the body.
Another benefit of working on springs is that it increases bone and muscle density due to it being weight bearing exercise. However, rather than working with weights in a gym that may be too strong for you and create excess lactic acid, our springs are perfectly suited to your specific body weight due to their design.
So come in and experience some Spring Magic with us. You will feel the difference after just a few classes!