Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 28, 2011
Bodyline Studio offers new safe, effective ways to exercise
Erica Tuggle
Joanna Zurawek is the owner of Bodyline Studio, which offers TRX training, Pilates and yoga classes, massages, dance classes, physical therapy consultations and a welcoming, healthy and individualized atmosphere that requires no membership or risk of injury. Although Bodyline Studios has only been open since December, they already have clients from age 60 to teenagers joining their group classes and taking advantage of Zurawek and her husband’s years of experience in wellness knowledge.
- Erica Tuggle
Exercising usually brings to mind images of weight lifting, treadmill running or huge exercise classes where the instructor probably can’t see you, let alone make the effort to learn your name.
At Bodyline Studio, exercise comes with the help of fun and simple equipment, or with small group classes that can have a cool down afterwards in a comfortable back room. It’s this approach that Joanna Zurawek and her husband Andrew Werner are using to get everyone moving toward better health.
Zurawek has been active since she was 10-years-old, attending the school of ballet and becoming a professional ballerina in her home country of Poland. When she had her son, she went back to school and graduated from the school of physical therapy.
During all this, she was still involved in fitness, and worked at one of the best facilities in Poland that trained her at the Reebok University, where after she trained others who wanted to become trainers and fitness instructors. She entered the U.S. six years ago, and since she didn’t speak any English, she started education again and graduated from a nursing program.
Zurawek says fitness is where her heart is and she knows she’s found her passion. After graduating nursing school, she wanted to move out on her own, and with her husband, a licensed physical therapist, they opened the Bodyline Studio in December 2010. The space they chose is perfect for what they want to do. It has a relaxing atmosphere, and has a calmly lit yoga and Pilates room. She says, she is also able to keep the size of the classes small so Zurawek can be sure everyone’s positions are correct in order to avoid injury and enhance the workout.
“This way I keep a close hand and eye on the quality, which is the most important. I don’t think it’s beneficial when you go to a class of 30 and the instructor doesn’t even see you in the back of the room,” Zurawek says. “With my background and really knowing the human body from not only the fitness point, but also more of a medical background, that gives me more insight in how to do things correctly.”
She says she is insistent on proper body alignment when exercising, because improper alignment can lead to many chronic or serious issues and injuries.
“We are trying to avoid that by first correcting the posture and creating a very balanced program where you not only have weight, strength and endurance training but also flexibility training. That’s why we are so insistent in creating yoga and Pilates in order to build a functional, healthy body,” she says.
In addition to the gravity resistance machine and the water resistance rowing machine, there are power ropes to put a spin on traditional exercising and TRX, suspension training that allows for almost any type of exercise. This simple equipment consists of a strap that is attached to the ceiling. By placing a hand or foot into a strap, the exerciser can use their body weight as a training tool with gravity. Zurawek says this is really great for building strength, muscle endurance and flexibility for building stabilization and a really strong core. The TRX also lends itself to a variety of workouts.
Bodyline offers massages, consultations and treatments in physical therapy through Werner, and education on eating and living healthy each time their clients visit. The aerobic dance classes Zurawek teaches on Saturdays offer the best way to burn calories in a fun way, she says.
“I’m not a big treadmill or runner person. It was always too boring for me. In dance, you can really express yourself and burn a lot of calories. I usually have people leaving that class dripping wet, but still having fun,” she says.
“Some people say they don’t like exercise, but there are so many more options, some unconventional types of exercise and even walking outside with a pet. Whatever it is, just start doing something.”
For those wanting to lose a few pounds, the most important thing is changing the diet, she says. For those who need heavy weight loss, Werner says he has seen multiple times in his 20 years in physical therapy that the emotional background behind this massive weight gain must be addressed.
“The most successful clients have joined group fitness classes and seen other motivated people who want to change and work hard,” Zurawek says. “You can see much better results, it’s much easier to go through the pain of the workout when you see other people going through the same thing, and it creates camaraderie with people in the group.”
Zurawek says the old slogan of “you are what you eat,” is true, and that eating good, whole, healthy food is essential to well being. Staying away from processed foods that, she says, almost look like a periodic table, and drinking lots of good quality water are other ways to promote health.
With Bodyline Studios, Zurawek says they have tried to establish a place that will not only look different, but will be a little different because of their backgrounds in physical therapy, nursing, many years of dancing and fitness and Zurawek’s constant effort to learn new things.
“This way we created a place where people can safely come and exercise without being injured. We also offer programs for people who have already been injured and would like to recover or are afraid to go to normal gyms because of a bad experience,” she says. “We can help those who are super fit, those who are limited and those who don’t know what to do.”
Zurawek says she exercises not only to get a trim body and prevent heart disease, but also as a way of moving nutrients through her body, and getting the wastes out.
“It’s an essential part of life for me,” she says.
For more information on Body-
line Studio, call 423-305-1064.
|
|