Instructor Melani Giommetti described how her studio uses reformer exercises and work with myofascial chains. She also explained why Pilates is not limited to women.
An LN+ crew visited the Toulouse training center in Buenos Aires’ Palermo neighborhood to speak with Pilates instructor Melani Giommetti. She explained myofascial chains, sequences of exercises that, in her view, encourage people to consider the body as a whole rather than as separate muscle groups. Joseph Pilates, who created the method, used to say, “We are the architects of our life.” He also stressed that happiness is more closely tied to physical wellbeing than to social or economic status.
Giommetti said her studio promotes Pilates through work with myofascial chains. She described the reformer, a spring-based moving carriage, as an important tool because it both assists movement and adds resistance. The instructor rejected the idea that workouts on the machine are necessarily passive. Pilates can involve both body weight and external weights, she said.
Giommetti also said Pilates is not a women-only practice. In her experience, men attend classes to complement training in other sports. She recommends comfortable clothing and exercising barefoot. At the time of the interview, she said, four classes at the studio cost about 80,000 Argentine pesos.
The method was developed by physical trainer Joseph Pilates, who was born in Germany in the late 19th century. It focuses on strengthening the body through controlled movement, breathing and posture. Pilates took an early interest in gymnastics, boxing and yoga, then refined his method while working with injured people during the First World War. He adapted springs and mechanisms to hospital beds for rehabilitation. Those experiments later informed some of the equipment used in Pilates classes. In the 1920s, he moved to New York with his wife Clara and opened a studio that attracted dancers, athletes and artists. He initially called his system “Contrology,” describing it as a way to integrate mind and body through precise, conscious movement.