Peak Pilates Is Acquired by SPIN Fitness
Peak Pilates President Julie Lobdell talks about what the acquisition means for the company and the Pilates industry.
By Amy Leibrock
The news of any corporate acquisition in this dicey economic climate can lead to doomsday conclusion-jumping. So when a press release was sent out last week announcing the sale of Peak Pilates to SPIN Fitness (aka Mad Dogg Athletics), Julie Lobdell, Peak Pilates’ founder and president, quickly got emails saying, “I heard Peak Pilates was taken over.”
The deal, which puts the 12-year-old Pilates equipment and education company under the umbrella of a much larger fitness company, was anything but hostile, according to Lobdell, who will stay on as president. “This was a choice—it was a planned, deliberate choice, and I’m very happy about it,” she said.
“It’s all positive things that this will bring to Peak Pilates, to the Pilates community and to the wider fitness community. That’s why we’ve done it,” said Lobdell. She stressed that nothing about Peak Pilates’ current products and services will change, only that they will be able to build on what’s in place, which she reiterated in a personal letter posted on the Peak Pilates home page. The company and staff will remain in its Boulder, CO, location.
SPIN Fitness bills itself as the “world’s largest equipment-based education company.” Founded in 1994, the company manufactures the popular Spinning line of indoor cycles and also owns the Resist-A-Ball brand. It has trained more than 200,000 instructors worldwide through a network of more than 35,000 fitness facilities. It’s also closely aligned with Star Trac, a distributor of fitness equipment.
SPIN Fitness had been developing its own line of Pilates equipment, and when Lobdell saw their version of a Wunda Chair about a year ago, she told CEO John Baudhuin that she thought it was infringing on her patent. The two started talking. “At the time, I had been talking to different people about strategic alliances and partnerships, and it just led to this natural conversation about what if we joined together instead of [him] developing [a Pilates] division,” said Lobdell. “We started to look at both organizations and see that there was this really interesting fit between our talents and literally just all kinds of synergies, from operations to distribution, and clearly their roots as an education company. Those were things that fit very well with our growth plans here at Peak.”
In addition to the operations, finance and distribution benefits the new ownership can provide to Peak, Lobdell also mentioned SPIN Fitness’s technology platform for instructor support. “Right away we’re going to see some increased opportunities on the Web side for connecting with instructors, with those who are interested in our certification and workshop program and just ways to streamline and make more efficient our processes here at headquarters,” said Lobdell. She is also looking to provide more business support for Peak’s current and future customers. “Your equipment and education provider should be a good partner to you,” she said. “They should be able to do and offer things to you that will make your life easier and help you create a stronger business, so there’s an aspect of that that we will be focusing on more.”
Lobdell became smitten with Pilates 15 years ago after selling a company and moving to Boulder. She enrolled in a teacher-training program and studied with teachers around the country. “I really came into it just because of my love for it and passion for it, and I thought this is something I’d like to do for the rest of my life,” she said. She learned about the equipment from her teacher, who built his own apparatus, and in 1996 married her business background with her new Pilates passion to found Peak Pilates as a manufacturer of Pilates equipment. She expanded the company into the education arena in 2002, and now the company offers comprehensive Pilates teacher-training certification programs around the world, as well as workshops.
One of Peak Pilates’ innovations that attracted the attention of SPIN Fitness is the MVe (Maximum Versatility Exercise) program, an equipment-based group exercise program, based around a portable Reformer and Chair, that is now offered in both health clubs and Pilates studios. “We view their revolutionary MVe program as an unmatched group exercise solution that is fun, challenging and gets results,” said Baudhuin in a press release.
It’s this expansion of group Pilates exercise into the general fitness community that concerns some in the Pilates community. With the industry’s growing number of workshops and less comprehensive certification programs, some worry that the quality of Pilates instruction is suffering. Lobdell said she thinks Peak Pilates is the right company to bridge the gap between Pilates and the wider fitness community. “Because of our classical background, our serious nature of training, we’re constantly educating our clients and the gyms that we’re working with, and the studios, to continue to evolve their education and to start a program right and to do it with good training and continue to add training on to their instructors as they develop the program,” she said.
Lobdell stresses that the MVe program is not a Pilates certification program. It’s designed as a workout that incorporates some classical Pilates moves. By exposing new people to Pilates in this way, Lobdell said she sees some gym-goers move into the Pilates studio and is also laying the groundwork for fitness professionals to learn more about Pilates. “I think the important thing is to get them on the pathway; get them started with a good foundation, with a company they can trust, and keep educating them,” she said.
The Pilates community will have to wait and see exactly how this acquisition will change Peak Pilates and the greater Pilates industry, but one thing is certain: Lobdell isn’t slowing down now that she’s sold her company. “Innovation is an elixir,” she said. “I think if you’re not innovating on a certain level, you’re standing still. And I don’t stand still a lot.”
Amy Leibrock is the Editorial Director of Pilates-Pro.com.
Amy Leibrock
in Education, Equipment/Resources, MVe, News/Research, Peak Pilates
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Reader Comments (11)
Thanks for the update! It was good to hear Lobdell's comments on Pilates equipment training continuing its expansion into the gym atmosphere. The train is moving -- they're not the first, and they won't be the last, to push into the fitness-facility market.
This may be good news for the PMA. As more Pilates equipment pops up in fitness facilities, Elite-level Pilates trainers (600 training hours + apprenticeship + 1000’s of teaching hours) will need to clearly differentiate themselves from the newly exposed trainers. This is where some feathers get ruffled – it does help the Pilates industry when more of the public becomes exposed to Pilates training, yet there is a difference between learning from someone with extensive Pilates experience and learning from someone with general fitness knowledge.
I have to ask Christine how does it help the Pilates industry when more of the public becomes exposed to Pilates training when it is marketed as another "fitness class" with instructors who are not well trained, who don't really understand the idea of Pilates and who are doing the workout with the class?
My background before Pilates was as a fitness director in 3 health clubs and so I know how these training programs take place The gym owners are only interested in getting the new "hot" workout in their facility as fast as possible, so the training takes place over one weekend, if that and then the classes start immediately with instructors who have not really had a chance to practice on the equipment.
You know, my first knee-jerk reaction was -- I don't like this...it's going to lead to large-scale classes, it'll be unsafe, and people will get a distorted view of Pilates.
Then, my marketing background kicked in. Exposure is Good, because it increases market size. The larger our qualified and interested market-base is, the more business we’ll all have. Even bad exposure can ultimately lead to good results, as the market becomes Better Informed.
That's what I meant when I mentioned that highly trained Pilates professionals will need to differentiate themselves from the more general fitness trainers who begin to offer Pilates in a large group setting.
For instance – say, your local Big Box Gym begins offering group wunda chair classes, and you’re the smaller Pilates studio in the area. How about putting some press releases together pointing out the difference between the training styles? How about getting some free publicity through your local newspapers, regional magazines, and local TV, all because of that new, gym-based class? The potential clients who can afford private instruction will make the mental leap – this is a case of ‘you get what you pay for.’
A little controversy just greased the PR wheels, and brought you some new clients.
LA
This was bound to happen sooner or later as businesses need to merge in order to survive.The MVE chair is a horrifying piece of equipment the same as the "Malibu chair" and the "Pilates Performer" that they sell on QVC. Like most things, there are those consumers that will seek out excellence and some that are just happy with what the gyms are willing to offer.
The novelty will wear off in the gym when the consumer realizes that there is a difference between doing Pilates moves and actually doing Pilates.
Stacey Hopefully that will happen but I think that people are not really savy about what Pilates is and what it does and are swayed by the tight buns and abs influence the gyms adverise than doing what is really good for their body. The big gyms ahve more money and offer thses classes either as part of the membership fee ot alot cheaper than a private studio can. I speak from experience as in my area, there are now 3 gyms offering pilates mat work as part of the membership fee and I have recently had to cancle all but one of my morning mat classes as the attendance dropped significantely, since some of the attendees told me that they could no longer afford to pay separately whenb their gym offers it for free. They evern admitted that the quality of the class was not great, but they took what they learned from me and apply it there. Samll consolation.
LA
I have had the same situations here, including the gyms sending their instructors in to my studio to see what they could learn from me. I have thrown more than one aerobics teacher out of my studio when I see their goal is to learn the "routine."
When reformer classes started popping up in the gyms in the area,I restructured my studio.I started offering classes that you can't get at the gym including my mat classes.
Develop signature workouts. I have a killer arm workout that even makes the men whimper. I also developed combination classes using tower, chair, mat,towel and circle exercises.
Understanding Pilates gives you an edge and the ability to create new workouts. The people that think they are teaching Pilates in the gyms can't even come close to the studio experience.
Get creative. Mix things up. My clients never know what to expect when they come to class because I never teach the same class twice.
Instead of losing clients to the gym, the gym will be losing clients to you.
Aaaahhhhh Stacey in a perfect world. I too market circuit classes, including a cardio component on an eliptical machine, standing power mat with weighted bars, Reike energy Pilates combo, Tai che, etc, but the cost are not comparative as the gyms offer, Pilates, yoga, Zumba, kick boxing, Body Pump, baby sitting, showers, etc, etc.....
all for a 55.00 per month membership fee. I charge 25.00 per class and yes I do offer packages and incentives.
Listen i am not a novice, I have been in the fitness business for 28 years, as a gym owner and then as fitness director for a small chain of Health clubs, in fact that's where I first opened my studio. And here's is an ironic twist, I was still working for the club as the "new" Pilates director and was going to bring Peak Pilates in to do a mat cert, but Peak wanted too much money and we couldn't get enough instructors to sign up. ( this was before the Mve equipment and Peak was not doing weekend certs, they were charging like $1500.00 for a 30 hour course)
I have never taught a group fitness class or worked in a gym environment, so I can't relate to you at that level. I thought you could use some suggestions from someone that is having success marketing to the "anti-gym sector." It is a much bigger market share since only about 25% of the country goes to the gym.
Sounds like you've got a handle on it. Sorry for offering suggestions.
Stacey, I really appreciated your input and I actaully don't have a handle on it or I would not have had to cancle classes, so sorry if I sounded like I was not taking your suggestions ernestly. I guess I am just venting at the situation of the big equipment companies taking over and directing the focus of our profession toward group fitness.
I always look forward to your posts as well as your personal e-mails to me and you will be hearing from me shortly as I have been working on something for our area you might be interested in.
here, here, love the comment about mixing it up...I too have developed mixes with all of my equipment in my studio. It rocks and clients love it! Anyone a renegade? Anyone curious enough?
I'm curious -- tell us about a renegade mix!