Beyond the Reformer

"Until you do that, you're not a brand, you're just a transactional product within their life."
In this episode, we are joined by Georgia Testa, founder of Studio 281, a fast-growing Reformer Pilates and functional fitness brand with five locations across Bedford, Milton Keynes, Ampthill, and Olney.
They explore what it really takes to build a genuine community in a Pilates studio, from why customer loyalty can never be built on a transactional relationship, to the mindset shift needed to stand out in an increasingly saturated market.
They unpack the current state of the Pilates industry, including how modalities like Reformer, strength training, and wellness concepts can work alongside each other rather than compete, and why brand now matters more than the product itself.
They also go deeper into the realities of running and scaling a multi-location studio business, from leadership and hiring the right instructors, to the honest, unfiltered challenges of balancing motherhood, burnout, and growth.
Timestamps
00:00 Meeting Georgia and the origins of Studio 281
00:47 Why community has become central to the studio
04:12 Georgia's journey from dance to personal training to Pilates
10:34 Why every modality should own its own lane
13:52 Competitors vs. inspiration in a saturated market
20:07 The consultant framework: building real community from scratch
33:50 Scaling across multiple locations
45:08 Brand over product in a crowded Pilates market
47:36 Motherhood, burnout, and finding your own balance
59:03 Where to find Georgia and Studio 281

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Connect with Georgia:
Georgia's Instagram
Studio 281 Instagram
Studio 281 Website
281 Training Academy
Interested in joining the September Teacher Training intake? Find all the details and book a call here.

"They create a business that worked for them ten years ago and they forget to move their business to work for them for the future."
In this episode, Nic is joined by Caroline Copp, a Pilates teacher turned business coach for wellness entrepreneurs. Having opened and sold two studios, Caroline now helps wellness professionals build scalable businesses through her Scaling Wellness Accelerator and weekly Scaling Wellness Podcast.
Together they explore one of the most common traps in the Pilates industry: accidentally building a demanding job instead of a business that supports your life. They get into why so many teachers hit a revenue ceiling, the real state of studio saturation across the UK, and why in 2026 nobody is paying for content anymore - they're paying for transformation.
Caroline also shares what she would do differently opening a studio today, why your equity is the one thing you can never get back, and her framework for building and scaling a digital product the right way - test before you build, know your Island A and Island B, and stop competing with free content by adding more content.
Timestamps
00:59 Have Pilates teachers accidentally built a job, not a business?
02:55 How Caroline came into Pilates and why it changed everything
05:41 Why the Pilates industry is losing its lane
11:52 Opening and selling two studios - what she learned
17:44 Should you go into a business partnership?
20:16 The first online product that failed and why
27:18 Nobody wants your content anymore — they want transformation
36:02 Teaching other teachers: the untapped opportunity
37:11 How to test and scale a digital product without wasting six months
42:11 Pricing for transformation, not just what feels right
48:54 Why most studios are unprofitable and what to do about it
52:18 Studio saturation: 6 studios to 25 in one city
53:56 What Caroline would do if she opened a studio today
56:36 Best business advice: most people don't get what they want
58:21 Biggest mistake Pilates business owners make
01:00:12 What success looks like now
If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following along so you don't miss future episodes. And feel free to share this one with someone you think would take something from it.
Connect with Nic:
Beyond the Reformer Instagram
Soul Pilates Instagram
Soul Pilates Education
Nic's Instagram
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Book a Pilates Class
Sign up to Our Newsletter
Connect with Caroline:
Caroline’s Instagram
Caroline’s Website
Caroline’s Scaling Wellness Podcast
Interested in joining the September Teacher Training intake? Find all the details and book a call here.

"We're not gonna cue muscles to cue a movement."
In this episode, Nic is joined by Shelly Power, Director of Curriculum for Polestar Pilates and one of the most respected educators in the industry. Shelly has been teaching Pilates since 1992, has led teacher trainings since 2000, and has examined and mentored Pilates teachers all over the world, including Nic herself.
They explore why great teaching has no finish line, and why the best Pilates instructors stay curious long after they're certified. Shelly breaks down why cueing individual muscles ("tighten your core," "shoulders down") often works against the body instead of for it, and shares the story of a professional ballet soloist whose chronic knee pain disappeared the moment her cueing changed.
They also get into the current state of the Pilates industry: the "trickle down" effect that turns founders' teaching into rigid dogma a few generations later, the pressure of the online "Pilates police," and why rushing to defend a method matters far less than actually helping the person in front of you.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro to Shelly Power
04:17 The "trickle down theory" of Pilates dogma
13:31 Teaching without shame: the "climb a tree" story
17:05 Nic's exam story and what it means to be an empowering teacher
29:57 Belief over anatomy: the ballet soloist's knee pain
48:55 Why we need to stop cueing muscles to cue a movement
1:17:56 Curiosity, beginner's mind, and Shelly's closing advice
If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following along so you don't miss future episodes. And feel free to share this one with someone you think would take something from it.
Connect with Nic:
Beyond the Reformer Instagram
Soul Pilates Instagram
Soul Pilates Education
Nic's Instagram
Join Soul at Home
Book a Pilates Class
Sign up to Our Newsletter
Connect with Shelly:
Shelly’s Instagram 
Shelly’s LinkTree
Polestar Pilates Website
Interested in joining the September Teacher Training intake? Find all the details and book a call here.

"I've been lied to my whole life. This just feels relaxing, and yet my body is starting to change."
In this episode, Nic flies solo to unpack a question she gets asked constantly on her teacher trainings: why isn't harder always better?
She explores what conditioned so many of us, especially in the fitness world, to believe that pushing more, harder, and faster is always the goal, and shares her own burnout story from the corporate world that led her to Pilates in the first place.
Nic unpacks the difference between a Pilates instructor and a Pilates teacher, why the classical repertoire is built on mastering the fundamentals with ease before adding intensity, and why some of the most common cueing in Pilates today (think "engage your core," "zip up and hollow") doesn't actually hold up to what we now know about the body.
She also reflects on lessons picked up across a year of guests on the podcast, and makes the case for why efficiency, not effort, is the real skill Pilates teaches - both on the mat and in life.
Timestamps
00:06 Intro: why harder isn't always better
08:44 Nic's own burnout story and how Pilates changed her life
12:45 Getting "practiced" at being busy, and the cost of always pushing
17:32 Pilates instructor vs. Pilates teacher
27:04 Adrenaline, burnout, and "I came for my bad back and stayed for my mental health"
33:31 Why we shouldn't be cueing "engage your core" (and the "zip up and hollow" story)
40:24 Why the end of class matters as much as the start, and closing thoughts
If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following along so you don't miss future episodes. And feel free to share this one with someone you think would take something from it.
Connect with Nic:
Beyond the Reformer Instagram
Soul Pilates Instagram
Soul Pilates Education
Nic's Instagram
Join Soul at Home
Book a Pilates Class
Sign up to Our Newsletter
Interested in joining the September Teacher Training intake? Find all the details and book a call here.

"The technique is less important than the person."
In this episode, we are joined by Alan Herdman - the man widely credited with bringing Pilates to the UK, opening the country's first Pilates studio back in the early 1970s. After training in New York under Bob Fitzgerald, Alan returned to London and has spent the last 55 years shaping how Pilates is taught, practiced, and passed on.
They explore what real teacher training looked like in the early days of Pilates, from months of apprenticeship to learning tactile cueing on real bodies, and why Alan believes the explosion in demand for teachers has made standards "a little suspect."
They unpack the difference between being an instructor and being a teacher, the gaps emerging in fast-tracked training courses, and why Alan still believes you cannot learn to teach Pilates without a body in front of you.
They also go deeper into the evolution of the industry, the rise of group reformer classes, the misunderstood role of flexion in modern training, and the client stories that have kept Alan teaching for over five decades.
Timestamps 
00:00 Alan opens the UK's first Pilates studio
 03:11 How "Pilates" got its name
 09:57 Training as an apprentice in New York
 13:35 Bodies first, technique second
 24:14 Why Alan built a network outside Pilates
 25:27 Is teacher training broken?
 27:53 The truth about tactile cueing
 36:11 How far is too far for Pilates on social media
 40:13 What Joseph Pilates would think of Pilates today
 45:16 The flexion problem in modern training
 48:16 What it really takes to teach a group class
 57:10 Why group reformer classes aren't really teaching
 58:56 The client who's been coming for 50 years
If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following along so you don't miss future episodes. And feel free to share this one with someone you think would take something from it.
Connect with Nic:
Beyond the Reformer Instagram
Soul Pilates Instagram
Soul Pilates Education
Nic's Instagram
Join Soul at Home
Book a Pilates Class
Sign up to Our Newsletter
Connect with Alan:
Alan Herdman Pilates Website
Alan Herdman Pilates Instagram 
Alan Herdman Pilates LinkedIn