Kevin Derella of IM=X Pilates and Fitness Coral Springs

Ready to discover the transformative power of Pilates? We sit down with Kevin Derella, owner of IM=X Pilates and Fitness Coral Springs, who dissects the intriguing world of Pilates for us. He not only expounds the meaning behind IM=X - Integrated Movement Equals Exercise - but also takes us through his personal fitness journey, revealing how Pilates dramatically changed his life. If you're fascinated by the history of Pilates and its unique methodology, Kevin's insights are not to be missed.

We delve deeper into Kevin's struggle of maintaining a corporate job while managing his fitness franchise. He openly discusses the challenges he has faced and the tactics he's used to thrive. He also takes us on a tour of IM=X Pilates and Fitness, highlighting their approach of small group classes on Pilates reformers and private sessions. If you're looking to transform your health,  understand the ins and outs of running a fitness business, or you're just interested in hearing an inspirational story of resilience and passion, this episode is a must-listen.

IM=X Pilates and Fitness Coral Springs
954-708-1088
www.imxpilates.com/florida/coral-springs

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome, welcome everyone to Local Living Community Podcasts for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host for today's episode, and I got to be honest, I was looking forward to this when we got a cool guy with us today. If you're into fitness or if you're not, but you think maybe you should be just a little bit more, this is a good episode for you. We have the owner of IMX Pilates and Fitness, kevin Dorella. Kevin, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:46

David, thanks for having me. I appreciate that intro. I hope I'm as interesting as you say I am.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Well, I did set the bar pretty high for you. I apologize for that, but I got to start. So I just said IMX, pilates. What's the deal with the X in the name? Because I see IMX, I am equals X, pilates. What's the equal sign?

Speaker 2: 1:13

It's a great question and it's always a good conversation starter when people see our logo, because it is IM, an equal sign, and the letter X and it's pronounced IMX. Not IM equals X, so we just say IMX. But the reason that it's an equation is because the CEO and founder of this format, this business, this franchise, actually came out of the Pilates, classical Pilates experience and then she went to college, she went to NYU and Columbia University Her name is Elise McNerney, by the way and she went to NYU and Columbia, got two master's degrees in exercise physiology, so she's kind of like an exercise scientist, right. And so when she developed her program, she named it as an equation and it stands for integrated movement equals exercise and the X stands for exercise. So there you go.

Speaker 1: 2:06

So tell me a little bit more about integrated movement. Equals exercise. Tell me about the business. I said that right, didn't I?

Speaker 2: 2:14

You said it exactly right. And so IMX Pilates and Fitness is a Pilates studio. For those that know about Pilates, they'll know what that means. For those that don't know about Pilates, it's really about movement. It came out of, it was developed by a guy by the name of Joseph Pilates back in World War, I believe it or not, and he actually worked in a hospital where he was helping wounded warriors rehab. So he kind of created a contraption out of a hospital bed with four posts and all kinds of springs and attachments to help these guys who were wounded find ways to rehab their injuries, you know, shoulders, arms, legs, knees, all those kinds of things. And then over the years, when he moved to the United States, that started in Europe. When he moved to the United States and in New York, it kind of caught hold and fire with many of the women in the dance area in New York and Broadway and so forth Ballerinas, ballet, broadway dancers and they started using this system of Pilates to help them with their. So it's a methodology that allows you to strengthen, lengthen, find development for your small muscles that help keep your joints in place. So it's a really great thing.

Speaker 2: 3:29

And then, of course, our business today as a more mainstream franchise here in the Coral Springs area. You know we offer small group fitness classes on Pilates reformers that's the name of the machine we use and ours is branded as the exercise there again back to that big letter X exercise and we also offer private classes to show people you know what, what they can get out of a Pilates experience. So we do reformer Pilates, which on machine. We offer map Pilates, which people would be familiar with, where we do just body weight exercises on the floor. We have another apparatus called a tower and bar. That's similar to traditional Pilates where there's a lot of resistance training with springs along with some ballet bar work. So we offer a full complement of exercise fitness classes for folks of any age and of any activity level.

Speaker 1: 4:24

So I know you have somewhat of an interesting background for someone that is in your industry. Tell us a little bit about that, and how did you get into this?

Speaker 2: 4:36

Yeah, I'm happy to do that. So in my corporate life, my career, for the last 40 years I've been involved in franchising, so in all aspects of franchising, with a couple of fairly large-sized businesses and a bunch of small ones as well. So I have that background and experience and in fact I'm still you know, if I'm being honest here, I'm still working my corporate job while I'm doing this too. So that's a little crazy. But that being said, I'll tell you a little bit about my journey how I got involved in Pilates and then, specifically, this franchise.

Speaker 2: 5:08

I was a pretty fit guy. My whole life I was a swimmer, a runner, always active, and in my late 40s, early 50s, I started getting into more hit training, so you know the CrossFit style kind of things, boot camp stuff, and I was feeling really good about myself. And then I had a little incident in the shower at home, where most accidents occur. I had a little slip and twisted my knee, had a little meniscus tear and said oh crap, I can't. You know I can't do the work that I want to do. I running hurt. All of the lifting that I was doing was hurting me, my hips hurt, everything hurt. And so, you know, I did some rehab on that. I went to the chiropractor, tried a bunch of different things and nothing was really working for me. So over about a period of five years, you know, I got fat. I gained like 45 pounds and David, you've seen me, I'm not a guy. I was about as I am tall, and I was a bit depressed, to be honest with you and a friend of mine I was talking to it with a friend of mine he finally said to me Kevin, stop your whining and complaining, go take a Pilates class. I said Pilates, I don't even know what that is. This is about eight years or seven eight years ago.

Speaker 2: 6:15

So, fortunately for me, I went online, started looking for some Pilates students. I found one, went and took a class. Actually, I dragged my wife with me because I said there's no way I'm going there by myself and we both took the class and we fell in love with it instantaneously. So I said, oh my gosh, this is the kind of work that you can do for the rest of your life. It's fun, it's easy on the joints, you get a good workout, it lengthens you, it tightens you, it gives you everything that you really need from a workout. So that's kind of how I got started in it. Then of course I said to myself after about six months in I said, boy, this business model looks really cool. Right, you sell, somebody wants you get recurring revenue. You're helping people in your community.

Speaker 1: 6:56

Now wait a second. It's a lot of fun. Were you attending an IMX facility at that time?

Speaker 2: 7:02

I was not. I was with a different national franchise and actually was very interested, would have opened one of theirs if there was territory available and there wasn't. So as a good franchise person, I know where there's a McDonald's, there's a Chick-fil-A right On every corner. So I went searching for my Chick-fil-A and I found it in IMX and that's kind of how we started down that road, did my investigation with the business folks there really loved the program that they offered, both from the marketing standpoint and the business standpoint, because IMX brings a little something different to the table than a traditional Pilates studio.

Speaker 2: 7:39

There's nothing wrong with traditional Pilates. I'm all for it. I would take those classes all day long. But if someone's looking for something with a little bit more of a fitness bent to it, a little more activity, this is the place to be. And in addition to that, I think we take a really strong approach in bringing people into our studio of all different sizes, shapes, colors, backgrounds Like this is not your typical Pilates studio. Our machines are even made bigger right, so they're wider, stronger, beefier, so someone maybe a six foot four guy who wants to come in, isn't gonna feel intimidated by getting on a little tiny, what we call maybe a balanced body machine, which are kind of petite and pretty. These are a little bit beefier, so they're good for everybody and that drew me to it as well.

Speaker 1: 8:26

What a cool story. So there's all sorts of information out there about fitness health. Uh-oh, it's something that's good. One day, 10 years later, it's suddenly not Any misconceptions or myths out there. You found about Pilates.

Speaker 2: 8:45

Yeah, that's a great question too. First of all, a lot of people think that Pilates is just coming on the scene, right? Well, I told you the story of how it started back in World War I. Pilates has been around a long time and it's been evolving, and it's certainly much more mainstream today than it ever has been. The other misconception is that people think it's for women only. It's really not for women only, and some people think it's for women who are dancers or who are into ballet.

Speaker 1: 9:12

That's what I always thought. I gotta be honest. That's what I thought, Exactly.

Speaker 2: 9:15

So we like to use the phrase Pilates is for everybody and for everybody right. So no matter your fitness ability, whether you're new to fitness or you've been doing fitness a long time, and whether you're in great shape or you need to lose a few pounds or you wanna just improve your posture and tighten up the body a little bit, this is the place to be. Yeah, I saw you sit up there.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Next time I did. You noticed that I saw you yep, yep, yep. So I know you're an ambitious guy, I know you work a lot, but when you're not doing this, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 2: 9:51

Okay, so that's a. I wish I had a little time for some time.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Simple question. By the way, it's a simple question, not really, you know.

Speaker 2: 9:59

It's simple question. But you know, listen, eight months into the business, right? So still charging hard, getting memberships up and doing our marketing and meeting and greeting our clients on a daily basis, and I really do love and enjoy that. I'm very fortunate my wife and my partner in the business is here with me every afternoon as well, so we kind of share that burden a little bit. But you know, in the old days when I wasn't working two jobs, I just love to sit by the pool, enjoy my backyard, enjoy a little swimming, that kind of thing. Haven't done that in a little while but I expect as we build the business we'll get back to it and eventually, you know, my goal is to retire from my corporate job here in the next couple of years and then you know, we'll have some fun time, you know, playing in the studio.

Speaker 1: 10:43

So my script here, kevin, is to normally ask about a hardship or life challenge that you overcame. I know about falling in the tub, yes, and that obviously led to this, which is amazing. Anything else, maybe on a more personal level, that you've been through, worked through and you consider yourself maybe better for having done it?

Speaker 2: 11:08

Yeah, or having gone through it, yeah, and so I've thought about that a little bit. I, you know I don't want some things you like to talk about you don't not Talk about, but you know I come from a big family up north in the New York area. I've got five brothers and a sister, so there's seven of us. My mom, you know at a young age, was a single mom, you know, and so a lot of us who I was one of the older kids in the family, you know we had to get out and learn on our own pretty quickly, right, you had to get out there, earn a living, start making some money. You know mom wasn't giving you lunch money every day when it wasn't available, so we had some hardships there.

Speaker 2: 11:46

But I do think that those kinds of things that you go through as a young person I'm going up like really kind of create the character that you're gonna be later in life, and so I think it gave me a lot of passion, a lot of drive. I know I've got you got to work hard in life right to make it, and I think that's kind of what it. You know what that experience did for me as young, but and fortunately for me, I had a really great siblings and a great mom who, you know, supported me and all the things that I've done over my over my life.

Speaker 1: 12:14

So I can feel I can hear your passion. I think our listeners can too. If someone is thinking about Trying you out, is there something that you think they should know that maybe sets you apart? I know you mentioned the, the equipment, the inclusivity. Anything else you think takes IMX to the next level?

Speaker 2: 12:35

Yeah. So there's a lot of things. I think people have to kind of experience it right to see what it's really all about. And I really encourage folks to come in for our free intro class. I only do one or two people at a time in my intro classes because I want to really get to know the person and we're gonna work with, kind of get to understand what they're trying to achieve, what issues they might have.

Speaker 2: 12:57

Other places you may find you have to go to a class of 10 or 12 people to get into an intro and you don't really get the workout. So here we give you really good introductory class, really get to understand what you're trying to achieve, give you a good little workout at the same time like we find the balance there and then hopefully get folks to come and try us on a regular basis, whether that's, you know, just for the try, five classes for the next, you know, week or two, or to try us on a monthly basis, on an ongoing basis. So I think if people come in, come into the studio, try us out one time, I'm pretty convinced they're gonna, they're gonna stay with us a while.

Speaker 1: 13:32

So before you give your contact information. So if someone wants to try the free class, do they just call up and say I'm calling for my free class, or how do they do that?

Speaker 2: 13:43

It's as simple as that, david. Give me a call at 9, 5, 4, 7, 0, 8, 1 0, 8, 8 and We'll be happy to schedule. You will find a time that's convenient. I generally run free classes during the week at noon time and then on the weekends We've got three classes each on Saturday and Sunday. But if those times don't work for people, I will find a time that will work for them.

Speaker 2: 14:05

This is kind of very intimate thing, especially for folks who haven't done this before, to come in and kind of not be intimidated in a large group setting Right. So come in, it'll be very personal and we'll be happy to take care of them. Either stop by the studio so we're located at the village shops of coconut Creek, that's on the corner of Wiles Road in 441, right behind the Chick-fil-A and they can stop in and we'd be able to sign. I'm happy to sign them up for a free class or call us. And then I would also suggest anybody interested in learning more go to our website at imxpalatescom forward slash, coral, dash springs and all the information about our particular studios on that site, including our schedule, our Pricing, information about our instructors, everything you pretty much would want to know.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Kevin, I knew from talking to you prior you were gonna be a great guest, and I was right. Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 2: 14:58

Well, thanks for having me, David, I appreciate it and to our listeners.

Speaker 1: 15:02

We appreciate you listening into local living and we look forward to having you back real soon.