31 years of Pilates fun
In 1993, I joined Jillian Hessel’s Well-Tempered Workout in West Hollywood to help manage her studio. She had already been teaching for years and had created a vibrant studio home. I was immediately impressed by her talent and expertise, and it was here that I first encountered the fascinating world of Pilates apparatus. Jillian even has a Cadillac built by Mr. Pilates himself!
Mr. Pilates' work was just coming into the public consciousness and as Jillian's teaching schedule intensified, I was managing a busy studio, administering a certification program and tinkering with apparatus. Through Jillian's teachings, I was introduced to Mr. Pilates' work and the power of the method as a means to connect mind and body for an optimum life experience. And it was here I learned what the apparatus must do to support the work. Footbar squeaks, wheel rubs, spring noises -- I learned to identify and resolve them all.
I had a 1965 Chevy pickup at the time, so I had a well-stocked toolbox and did a lot of maintenance myself. As my knowledge of the apparatus grew, I picked up fixes for common problems and assembled the best tools, hardware, and cleaning materials for the job. Eventually I started repairing apparatus at other Pilates studios in town and teachers who didn't know my name started calling me "the Pilates guy."
Repairs became more elaborate, service calls more frequent. What has evolved is a company devoted to supporting the Pilates community through equipment service and repair. For the last few decades, I've been traveling to studios, homes, medical offices, and dance schools in Southern California and occasionally beyond.
Tac, Mikael, and Russell in 2009
In 2006, Russell Soder became an associate, bringing a wealth of fitness experience and an innate ability to fix things. My baseline qualifications for a Pilates Guy: Honest, a pleasure to work with, and the kind of guy who has taken stuff apart and put it back together since early childhood. Of course, it helps that Russell's wife and my girlfriend are both Pilates instructors too! Russell had great repair skills from the start, and after only a couple of years in the field, he had knowledge of apparatus new and old, all my secret fixes, and every tool needed to do the job. He worked for a few years as The Pilates Guy associate in New York, and now runs his own equipment company: Pilates Lineage.
In 2009, TAC Fitzgerald brought versatile repair skills to the world of Pilates. He has a lot of experience working on cars and motorcycles, so wrenches work like natural appendages in his hands. Now with 14 years of Pilates equipment experience, TAC is well-versed in the most challenging repairs out there, and knows how to bring equipment back to optimal function.
In 2010, The Pilates Guy® became a registered Service Mark in the United States of America.
In 2016, The Pilates Guy LLC was born in the state of California.
Today, The Pilates Guy visits thousands of clients with Pilates equipment manufactured by Balanced Body, Gratz Pilates, Peak Pilates, and Merrithew. We have a solid working relationship with these major manufacturers -- we adhere to their guidelines on care, help resolve issues for them locally whenever we can, and appreciate their new client referrals. The Pilates community is a wonderfully diverse mix of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and teaching programs ... everyone deserves safe equipment. And it's knowing we are helping good teachers be even better -- that's what makes this job so rewarding.
I believe people can improve their lives with Pilates. And I want them to love their apparatus.
-- Mikael Salazar, The Pilates Guy LLC
mikael@thepilatesguy.com