Why South County Pilates?
There aren’t enough words for me to begin to express my tremendous appreciation, admiration, and amazement, for everything Wally Stothers does for us – his customers – at his studio, South County Pilates. It’s not an exaggeration to say that everything we’ve done in the classes has changed my life for the better, and I’m so very grateful. Working at a laptop all day, and having a bad habit of slouching, I was previously massively internally rotated, had poor body mechanics, pseudo abs, and terrible posture. I was so honored when Wally invited me to be photographed for his website; it’s such a contrast to the lack of muscles, suppleness, etc., from before I started coming to his studio.
Nothing I ever did before – walking, swimming, stairs, tennis, aerobics, different types of work-outs, etc, – did what Pilates and the strength training – and everything else we do in Wally’s classes – has done for me. Previously, I wasn’t able to access my back muscles, didn’t use my hamstrings, and my IT bands (which I’d never even heard of) were so tight my knees were in pain. Before Pilates, I was the same size, but I didn’t have the muscles, cuts, suppleness, flexibility, MUCH-improved posture, balance, and muscle tone that I do now – and I barely used the muscles I did have. I was what you would call “fat skinny”, which is not good. In addition to the aforementioned, I love that Pilates actually builds bone density – because of the machines, weights, etc.
I get more out of the 1-hr. classes than I ever did with anything I did on my own – it’s so focused and specific, and engages even the tiny ignored/seldom-used muscles that make all the difference in the world. The work per minute that you get from it has an unbelievable impact. You can do just 5 or 10 reps, and if you’re doing them correctly it’s more of an impact (the right impact) than if you did something wrong 10 million times every day. It’s beyond cool, and now, the only workout I do is Pilates.
Wally does all kinds of creative things for mobility, facia release, etc.; the facia release lets your muscles get even more out of the workout – which makes the impact even better and faster – a really awesome investment in your health, physical comfort and well-being. Every class is amazing; he always changes it up for us, keeping us engaged, and making sure our muscles don’t get complacent (as they do when doing the same workout day-after-day), and making the experience truly wonderful and fun.
Wally genuinely cares about his customers, and shares a multitude of tips that I’ve applied to my own life, related to work environment, healthy foods, walking barefoot whenever possible (awesome for your body mechanics, stability, balance, etc. – I hate wearing shoes now, and walk barefoot whenever I possibly can!), etc.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, WALLY!!
Josie Y.
It has been our good fortune to have had lessons with Wally for more than 5 years and we can say without exaggeration that the experience has been transformative. Not only are we stronger and more flexible — indeed we are now in better shape than ever before — but gone are the occasional backaches and minor pains of earlier years. As a Pilates instructor, Wally is incredibly responsible and knowledgeable, and a sure grasp of the body and its mechanics lets him perfectly tailor his lessons, which, with a seemingly endless variety of exercises, are never routine or boring. As a person, he is utterly trustworthy, kind, and gentle, in sum, a wonderful person. We can add, again with no risk of overstatement, that we would willingly sacrifice a great deal, including all the “extras” in our lives, sooner than give up our time with Wally. Linda and George Bauer