Pasadena isn’t hurting when it comes to fitness options- there’s a wide variety of chain gyms, fashionable high-end studios that may possibly be more for prestige than for fitness, CrossFit boxes, fighting gyms, and so on and so forth. But one thing the Crown City has been lacking is an intimate, private Pilates studio that focuses on highly attentive and individualized training. So local trainer Melissa Woolf stepped in and opened Gold Line Pilates, Pasadena’s newest studio.
Pilates Reformer: If you don’t know, now you know.
Woolf is extensively trained and has experience teaching at other private boutique studios as well as big box gyms and training abroad in Singapore. As a lifelong athlete, dancer, and marathon runner, Woolf has found her niche in Pilates. The practice incorporates different elements of her athletic background and is adaptable to all fitness levels and goals.
Movement: Teaser with Push-Thru Bar
Gold Line Pilates also offers Gyrotonic training. As a Pasadena-based gym rat, this is not only the first studio I’ve visited that offers Gyrotonic training, it’s the first time I’ve even heard of it, let alone come face to face with a piece of the equipment. Gyrotonics, I learned, is a system that’s theoretically similar to Pilates, though the practice is newer and not as ubiquitous as its predecessor. The goals with Gyrotonic training are in line with Pilates—core strength and stability, muscle toning and lengthening, etc—but while Pilates movements take place in a more linear field, Gyrotonic movements consist of spiraling, circular movements which allow the body to flow through wider and more versatile planes.
Gyrotonic Training with a View
Let’s not kid ourselves that a trainer’s personality and ability are both crucial to the client’s success; if your trainer isn’t as pleasant and motivating as they are knowledgable, it’s easy for your attention and enthusiasm to begin to wane. With Woolf, you’re in great hands. She’s flawlessly well-versed and candid, so all you have to do is show up, listen, and laugh with her through the workout. Laughing will be painful for the following day or two, so get in as much as you can while you’re fumbling around the Reformer.
Movement: Skater
Gold Line Pilates is open to the public on an appointment only basis. The studio offers both private and semi-private (two or three clients at a time) sessions, so grab someone you know who’s always been curious about Pilates (we all know at least a couple) and head over.
Movement: Pike on the Stability Chair
Gold Line Pilates is located at 501 S. Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, CA. For more information please visit www.goldlinepilates.com. You can contact the studio by phone at (626) 360-5999 or via email at . Keep up with them on Twitter and Facebook @goldlinepilates
Note: Gold Line Pilates offers plenty of free parking for clients. Access the parking lot from southbound Arroyo Pkwy immediately north of the red brick building (Town & Country Party Rentals).
