Martien does the Teaser with the Magic Circle.

I’m Martien Janssen, 31 years old and completely taken by the Pilatesvirus. I’ve worked fulltime in the fitnessworld for 6 years. As I was trained as a Fitness- and Indoor Cycling- instructor, I directed people with their fitnesstraining, and I taught Cycling- classes, Stepaerobics and Poweryoga. In 2008 I found a new passion to add to my list: Pilates.

My Pilates journey
When I was 18 I was involved in a car accident. I had a complicated arm fracture and dislocated elbow. The fracture healed quickly, but my elbow didn’t, which limited me when I tried stretching my arm. Specialists told me I would never be able to fully stretch my arm again. Even after various sessions with my physiotherapist I still couldn’t do it. I decided to leave it at that. Before I started working in the sportsbusiness I was working in an office, and I worked behind a computer with a wrong posture which resulted in neck- and shoulder injuries. Things improved after every visit to my doctor and physiotherapist but unfortunately that never lasted long. My physiotherapist advised me to try Pilates so that’s when I decided to do that.

Training

In 2008 I started the Peak Pilates Mat Teacher Training with Ernie Prévoo. After 3 consecutive courses I graduated and I’m now a fully certified Pilates Mat Teacher. Since then I also graduated from the PeakPilatesSystem-I training. Recently I took the Chair and Barrel workshops, also at PeakPilates. That training I got from Yves de Moor, in Gent, Belgium and I intent to continue my training this winter. I have participated in many workshops with some of my colleagues that teach PeakPilates and PowerPilates. I also train with Jeroen Vancollie every week, to me this is the right way to keep growing and to be able to teach high quality classes to my clients.
My neck- and shoulderinjuries have completely disapeared

The result of these different courses and intensive training is that I can almost stretch my arm completely, and my neck- and shoulder injuries have completely disappeared. All thanks to Pilates. If you ask me, it’s the best work-out for ‘body, mind and soul’. I love sharing that passion with everyone!
Fulltime Pilates

Until last year me, my boyfriend and his parents managed Sportscomplex ‘De Kaai’. This was a sports center with fitness, squash, indoor cycling, group classes and of course; Pilates. Last year we decided to hand over our business so I could teach and train Pilates fulltime. I love it when you can turn your passion into your job. The previous 2 years have been a time of many changes and new challenges for me!

Pilates Body Center

Since then I have started my own Pilatesstudio in Meeuwen – Gruitrode (Belgium) called Pilates Body Center. I teach both group- and private classes. To teach the private classes I use the foldable reformer MVe from PeakPilates. For the groupclasses on the mat you use small props like the powercircle, weights, foam rollers, sticks and theraband. But all that is going to change…..as of September 2013 I’m proud to say that I can offer an elevated mat with tower for 10 people. This is a unique and multifunctional piece of equipment with storage facilities where all the small props can be stored.

Independant Pilatestherapist

Since April 2013 I also work as an independant Pilatestherapist within GroepSam in the Kim Clijsters Sports & Health Club in Bree. Within the GroepSam practice I work with osteopaths, acupuncturists and a mental coach (www.groepsam.be). I have a PeakPilates Total Workout System in my room there, a PeakPilates High Ladder Barrel and a Wunda Chair that can be transformed into a High Chair by BalancedBody. Being a Pilatesteacher to me is not just a job that takes up a lot of time and money, but it’s a way of life, a hobby, a passion….that gives me a lot of satisfaction. I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world!
Right now I teach 11 hours of groupclasses and about 15-20 hours of private of duo-classes each week. I really like doing both and I wouldn’t be able to choose to do just one of those.

Some kind of ‘mission’

I hope I’ll be able to keep practicing Pilates for the rest of my life. And I hope to reach as many people and get them to do Pilates, with me or my colleagues.  I think of it as my ‘mission’ to get as many people as possible to benefit from Pilates.