From Mont Blanc to the Pilates Studio – Interview with Marta Dubrow from Re:forma Pilates & Yoga Studio

Marta Dubrow connects two extreme worlds: the adrenaline-filled television production during football matches and the precise movement in Pilates and yoga. Her Warsaw studio Re:forma pilates & yoga was created out of the need for recovery for a body burdened by stress and fieldwork. It is a place where the experience gained from climbing Mont Blanc translates into daily business management and community building. The following conversation reveals the behind-the-scenes of creating a concept that integrates various movement disciplines within the historic walls of the old mint.

[Iza Wiśniewska from Balanced Body Polska]: Hello. Welcome to the Warsaw studio Re:forma. We are today in a place where yoga and Pilates create a cohesive whole, and my conversation partner is the founder of this concept, Marta Dubrow.

[Marta Dubrow]: Good morning, I welcome everyone to my studio.

[Iza]: Marta, your journey to opening your own studio is a combination of passion for movement and immense determination. I know you climbed Mont Blanc. And I would like to start from that peak, as it is such a symbolic summit. Is running your own studio in Warsaw a bigger challenge than climbing this highest peak of the Alps?

[Marta]: Wow, I am actually shocked that – we connect these passions – and you are the first person to ask me a question in this context of combining my passion for the mountains, my climbing with my passion for movement and this studio. So, to answer your question, climbing Mont Blanc was very difficult, extremely difficult, the preparations were very tough – both physically and mentally, and reaching the summit was extreme for me. I think it was one of the greatest experiences and achievements of my body and mind in my life so far. But Mont Blanc, like any other peak, is a summit, it is an action to achieve that goal, to reach that peak. Then the descent also matters, because that is the second most important thing in high-altitude climbing. Running a studio is step-by-step, it is making decisions every day. Every day we reach another peak, another achievement, and it is definitely a level of decision-making regarding the team, regarding the people who trust us, that is as high as reaching that summit. That’s how I see it.

[Iza]: You also work in the television industry on a daily basis, and in a rather unexpected way, as you deal with football, which is a very masculine world. Tell me, how did you find a place for Pilates in all of this?

[Marta]: Well, exactly, so working in television broadcasts, in football, requires me to make a lot of quick decisions. It is a job in an environment full of adrenaline, testosterone, very masculine energy. And after such exhausting weekend trips, I often had to meet with a physiotherapist who would come to my house, because we were fighting my back pain. So at the very beginning, she redirected me to Pilates classes, and it was supposed to be a form of rehabilitation, taking care of my body, taking care of my spine, so that I could survive another trip, another kilometers spent on the bus. And after a while, that Pilates, which at the very beginning was a form of rehabilitation for me, became a moment when I felt good in this body, more grounded, much…It was stable, quiet, and after a few series, I had this feeling of a wow effect. That, oh, finally I feel nothing, I don’t feel pain, but I feel satisfaction from this training, and it really gives me a lot of peace, calmness, what I needed for balance. So, Pilates appeared in my life as a counterpart to what I had been doing so far, to my world full of adrenaline, typically masculine sports. So, it probably went quite smoothly with Pilates.

[Iza]: And when did you start thinking about creating your own place, your own studio? What did you want to achieve with it?

[Marta]: My intention was to create a place where I would like to be, where I would like to spend time. And this coincided with the moment when I was attending Pilates as a form of rehabilitation, rehabilitation in movement. And the thought came up that maybe Marta should create something of her own, for her own needs, since I already know what it looks like from the client’s perspective, what my expectations and needs are. And certainly, for me, a significant determinant was who I am, what my needs are, what I would like to create and offer to clients. And I definitely did not want to create a facility that would be a service location with a storefront, with an entrance from the street, without a sense of comfort, some intimacy. Hence, this place was meant to provide a sense of experience, an experience greater than just the training itself. So that was my intention. Therefore, I put a lot of work into making this place have its own unique scent, which can be felt from the moment you enter, so that clients have time to enjoy a coffee with us, that it is calm, soothing, without any rush. So yes, I think those were the main reasons and intentions that emerged at the beginning of creating this studio.

[Iza]: Well, you also approached this in a very proper way, because I know that you developed your path, among other things, through training with the Reformer with our Balanced Body Master Trainer, Ania Tytus.

[Marta]: Yes, yes, definitely. Yes, that training was also a transition for me from passion to responsibility and became the foundation for creating this place. It gave me the feeling that I know what I am doing, I know how I work, I know who I want to work with. It also taught me that it is not just a sport, that it is biomechanics, precision, control. And the choice of training with Ania Tytus was not accidental; I simply wanted to train with a Master Trainer, an educator, and Ania was the natural choice.

[Iza]: And what do you think about that training?

[Marta]: The training was very intensive, it gave me a lot of knowledge, really a huge amount of knowledge, incomparable to anything else, and I know that we need to work, learn, train, and Ania conducted it very, very wisely as a trainer. The training was very high-quality and valuable.

[Iza]: So you recommend it?

[Marta]: Definitely.>

[Iza]: Listen, Re:forma has been operating since June 2024, right? It will soon be almost two years. From this perspective, what has been the biggest surprise for you in running this business?

[Marta]: No one told me when I was setting up the studio, starting my business, that it would be very emotional. And for me, it was a surprise that working in such a place with clients who come here with some package of experiences, with some baggage, whether it’s the baggage of the week or the day, causes so many emotions. That one day we can be joyful, the next day we can be disappointed, surprised, full of gratitude. There are a lot of emotions; it’s a rollercoaster that no one told me, “Marta, be careful, pay more attention to your emotions and those of your clients.” And I also know, and I have experienced, that my emotional state and how I feel has a big impact on the studio. That when I am calm, there is also calmness in this place and an atmosphere of tranquility. So I put a lot of work into maintaining that atmosphere in that context. But I will also tell you an anecdote, a story that happened just six months after opening the studio, which was our first New Year’s Eve. And by total chance, I left the evening classes on the reformers in the schedule, completely unaware, it was my mistake, but I left it, someone signed up. So I said, “Okay, we’ll keep it, because I have an instructor who is available, has no plans, so she said she can lead the classes.” So I left those classes, not paying attention later to how the sign-ups were looking. The sign-ups filled up, the schedule filled up. I was also in the studio on New Year’s Eve. And what did I see? I saw the girls who had been with us for six months, who were our loyal clients, who came to our studio on New Year’s Eve. It was their choice to spend that New Year’s Eve evening with us, to train with us. And that really caused a great sense of emotion and awareness in me that this is what I wanted to create, that we are building a community, that these are the girls who come here because they like this place. It is their choice on New Year’s Eve to come and have champagne with us after training, to record a reel that they initiated themselves, a funny reel with champagne, they were in glitter, they brought sequins. So it was so lovely and really gave me such a thought, which was a big emotional surprise for me at that time, that what I wanted to create, such a community, for friendships to form here, that actually happened. And I really had a lot of gratitude and faith that what I am doing is good and that the goal I have chosen is right.

[Iza]: Great, that’s such a beautiful story and you really have something to be proud of. Your studio is also located in a historic tenement house, an old mint. Why did you choose this place for your studio?

[Marta]: When looking for a location, it took us a while to find the right place because I had very high requirements. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t want it to be a service location, so I completely rejected such offers. I was looking for a place that would have soul, that would have history. History in the walls, history in the foundations. Something that would carry not only the fact that it is a location but also an emotional aspect. So I was looking for a tenement house. And I remember my first impression when I walked in here with the owner of the property; it was in a raw state. There was a lot of dust, dirt, but the weather was like today, the sun was shining, and that sun was coming through the windows, and there were those high ceilings that were greate, the stone walls looked beautiful. And I had this effect within me, like wow, everything fits here, this is the place. Besides the fact that it was a location that architecturally suited us, it was designed as if tailored to our needs and to what we planned to do here in this studio, without the need to tear down walls or move walls, because we couldn’t do that, as it is a monument, there is a conservation officer here, so those walls that are over a meter wide are untouchable. So this tenement house was simply love at first sight for me. That’s what I think, that’s how I feel. And it still is, I like being here, I like this place, I like the high ceilings, I like the rosettes on the ceiling, the light, the space. Yes, I like this place.

[Iza]: Well, as we heard, you are not the only one who fell in love with this place, because your clients did too. In these walls, you have really enclosed Pilates and yoga. How do these two activities complement each other in terms of business and scheduling?

[Marta]: Well, I have to say that at the start of this business, I heard a lot of opinions that yoga cannot be combined with Pilates, that it completely contradicts, that absolutely, why am I doing this. But I went with the thought that yoga and Pilates are sports activities that complement each other, do not contrast with each other, do not compete, but complement. And that’s a bit what happened with us, because we also created classes in the schedule called Yogalates, which are mat classes that combine yoga and Pilates on the mat. And I have the impression that today our clients are not looking for a compromise in decisions, but want comprehensiveness in these services, they want to experience the whole. They want to have an intense workout on the reformer, and then find a moment of solace and calm on the mat with yoga. And for example, we were also one of the first studios in Warsaw to create yoga classes led by Marina. And Marina plays at the end, during savasana, relaxation, on the handpan. There is live music. And these classes, just like Yogalates, are hugely popular to the extent that we have to add these classes to the schedule. And client satisfaction is enormous, so combining this seems right to me.

[Iza]: Have you noticed whether yoga clients transition to reformers, or is it rather that these are two separate target groups?

[Marta]: No, listen, it’s like this, these groups migrate, clients migrate between one room and another. And I absolutely have a lot of situations where yoga clients come to us here for reformers and combine it with their practice. We even have created combo passes, where we have several entries for reformers and several entries for the mat. And these are passes that sell very well, the girls use them, our clients, and they combine these two practices, migrating between one class and another.

[Iza]: Is Re:forma just yoga and Pilates for you, or is there something more?

[Marta]:<span data- Re:forma as a studio is not just about physical activity. It is not just Pilates, it is not just yoga, it is not just stretching. Re:forma itself – we should look at it from the perspective of its very beginning and the creation of the logo and the name of our studio. Because Re:forma, the prefix RE with a colon, is something we see in response to an email. And here we have the answer “forma”, meaning something we want to build and create here. But Re:forma itself is not just an answer to building form, but we are also an answer to the needs of our clients, to what they want to experience here, what they want to touch, to obtain, whether they want tranquility, whether they want to sit quietly and drink coffee, or whether they want to build friendships here. So for me, Re:forma as a studio is not just this building, not just this property, it is primarily the clients, whose names I know, I know the names of their children, I know where they go to school, I know where they go on vacation. And that is a value for me, what has been created here as our community. And I believe that this is our strength as well, that we simply build very strong relationships and friendships.

[Iza]: Okay, let’s move on to business a bit. More and more companies are offering their employees MultiSport cards. I know you honor them as well. From the perspective of a studio owner, how do you view this? Do you see a real impact from such programs, and do you actually have more clients from this program who regularly come to training?

[Marta]: Well, yes, the MultiSport card, partner cards in general, because we collaborate with PZU Sport and Medicover Sport, really lower the barrier to entry. The entry to classes, the purchase, they reduce the fear that I will spend money and not like it. So that already provides the first gateway to visit our studio. We make sure that every client who comes to us, whether they are a client with a partner card or our client, feels very comfortable here, not alienated, but still part of this community. Does it affect the schedule? No, it does not affect the schedule, because those clients who have partner cards regularly sign up for training. What does this translate to in reality? It translates to the fact that when they actually feel that they are taking care of themselves, it is a form of training for them, it is also a form of rest, relaxation, in the end, they will not be making the decision “do I have a partner card”, but “how do I feel about this, what do I feel after the classes and does it make sense to me”. And usually, the answer is that it makes sense.

[Iza]: So maybe let’s move on to the equipment.

[Marta]: I warmly invite you to the private room.

[Iza]: It is clear that the Cadillac holds a special place in Re:forma. Tell me, what fascinates you about this machine from the perspective of an owner?

[Marta]: Well, yes, the Cadillac is the heart of our studio, and the most fascinating thing about this machine is that it is a very complete machine. You can do a gentle, more therapeutic workout on it, only to switch to a very demanding, intense workout. And certainly, the Cadillac is a machine that reveals every disproportion, asymmetry in the body, and it comes out immediately, and you can work on it precisely on this machine. Additionally, the Cadillac is a piece of equipment that I experienced very, very yesterday, which I will tell you about, that forces presence here and now in this training, cutting off just the head from the other issues we came to the studio with. And yesterday I had a training session, here the instructor led my class, and in the meantime, the studio was being cleaned. And the only thing I heard was the first time the vacuum cleaner was turned on in our studio. Then for the entire hour, for a full 60 minutes, I didn’t hear a single sound coming from the studio during the cleaning. So yes, I confirm that the Cadillac forces and very much motivates the mind and body to be fully present in that training at that moment of the day.

[Iza]: Many people are afraid of the Cadillac because of its monumental appearance. Tell me, how do you demystify it for such beginner clients?

[Marta]: Well, yes, first impressions can vary. It is a monumental machine, it is large, it seems very raw. The associations can be very different that resonate here when the girls enter this room. We try to demystify this machine in various ways. Among other things, recently we had a series of training sessions that were during the day at a reduced price, so clients came, tried the Cadillac, tried those forms of training. And most of them, of those girls who came, stayed with the Cadillac and attend individual classes because they simply loved it. Maybe not at first sight, because they felt fear at first, but on the second contact, they felt very comfortable with it.

[Iza]: You also organize themed classes, for example, preparing for winter sports. Where did the idea for such seasonality come from?

[Marta]: Ah, well, I will explain this from my own experience, and the story was that I went to Zakopane in January for skiing, for mountain climbing, but I was skiing, which I hadn’t done for many, many years. And it was three days of skiing, there was beautiful weather, a lot of snow, so from morning to evening skiing. And I really felt it in every part of my body. Despite regular training, I felt my knee joints, ankle joints, thigh muscles, even during the descents on those skis. And immediately after returning, I decided that okay, we will add to the schedule those classes that will strengthen the joints, leg muscles, and prepare the girls for winter sports, whether it’s snowboarding, skiing, or skating, to protect them from injuries. And indeed, it was during the winter holidays, and it really sold very well and was very popular. The girls were very satisfied with those trainings.

[Iza]: So Pilates really affects the safety of skiers and snowboarders?

[Marta]: Definitely yes. Strengthening the ankle joints, knee joints, muscles, yes, you can prepare very well for that sport.

[Iza]:[Iza]: And do you think that such seasonal classes focused on a specific sport are a great magnet for men who tend to avoid Pilates?

[Marta]: I think so, because when we talk about what this training specifically gives us – it strengthens muscles, it strengthens the ankle and knee joints – it gives us a language of function, not a language of aesthetics. So men, who are used to getting specifics, are more inclined to say, “Okay, let’s try,” when they hear this language of specifics, the language of function. And yes, men definitely attended these classes more often than the others.

[Iza]: Besides that, you also have a form of gamification introduced in the studio, because you have a challenge board, as I would call it. Tell me, how does that affect your clients?

[Marta]: I think people need competition, they need to have deadlines set, they need and like to check off tasks that have been completed. They see how much is left ahead of them, and they also see how much has already been done. It’s a bit like climbing a mountain, where we have our training laid out, we have preparation, we know what we need to do. Recently, we had a 60-day challenge with 30 workouts, and these were workouts specifically on the mat – Pilates on the mat, stretching, yoga – to choose from. And this builds training regularity, it creates in our clients’ minds the necessity to complete this task. Satisfaction from themselves, because they check off another workout that has been completed. And in the end, there is that goal, which is achieving this challenge, completing this challenge. I won’t even mention the fact of physical rewards, gifts from us, gift bags that were handed out, but I think the biggest reward for the clients of our studio is that they complete the entire challenge. They come, they do it from start to finish, they complete these tasks within a specified time, and this builds regularity that then translates into the following months of their training and setting up their workouts.

[Iza]: So do you think that today, to retain clients, just having great exercises is enough, or do you need to create an atmosphere?

[Marta]: It seems to me that today, just the training itself, the form of training as Pilates, is not enough to keep that client in a given studio. Quality matters too, meaning the equipment we work with. Hence our choice of Balanced Body equipment, and it was not a compromise; we did not go for any compromises, it was a rational decision, focusing on quality, not bending to compromise offers from the market. So primarily the quality of the equipment we work with, the quality related to training, meaning the quality of the trainers’ work, which is why we focus on trainers who are highly qualified and continually train, they are a strong and capable team and leave no doubt for the client that this instructor does not know something. But I think that experiencing that atmosphere in this studio, meaning the scent, which I mentioned earlier, that you can have great coffee, that I made sure there was high-quality coffee equipment, so that the coffee really tastes good, and the whole experience here translates, in my opinion, into the client wanting to come back, to sit with us, to drink…ć champagne on New Year’s Eve and just be here with us. 

[Iza]: You are also building a very broad accessibility, as classes in your studio are also held in English. Is this part of a planned strategy or more of a response to market needs? 

[Marta]: I don’t think of it in terms of strategy; I think of it in terms of Warsaw as a capital that has become an international capital. Today, most of our instructors speak fluent English and are able to conduct classes in both Polish and English, adapting to the needs of our clients who come here. We have a lot of clients from abroad, and we also have many clients who come to Warsaw for the weekend and end up in our studio. So I think we are simply responding to people’s needs; we are not closing ourselves off; we want to be a studio open to every client. 

[Iza]: And finally, let’s return to the metaphor of peaks. Tell me, what is the next peak you want to conquer here with Re:forma in the coming years? 

[Marta]: Well, yes, I think that peaks in the studio happen every day; we achieve something every day, we conquer something every day, we make decisions. But as we know, this is the year of the galloping horse, and I also feel that since January we have really jumped on and are galloping, but we are galloping in the context of very specific planned actions, both marketing and related to events around this studio. And it is not chaos; it is a very organized strategy and action plan for this year. I hope and believe that this year will be very crucial for us and will help us grow in the Warsaw market and achieve the goals we have set. 

[Iza]: Great, I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for you, and I know that you will succeed. Re:forma shows that it is indeed possible to combine the world of adrenaline, great emotions with great calm and strength. So if you are looking for a place that will prepare you for working at a desk but also for conquering Mont Blanc, you already know where to go. We also warmly invite you to our website balanced-body.pl to check out our equipment. Be sure to subscribe to our channel as well. Thank you very much. 

[Marta]: Thank you as well; I warmly invite you, our doors are open to everyone. 

What is the key to customer loyalty? According to Re:forma pilates & yoga studio, it is uncompromising quality of equipment and authentic relationships. The studio focuses on specific benefits: from physical preparation for winter sports to learning presence “here and now” on machines such as the Cadillac. By being open to international clients and having a strategy based on regularity, this place sets standards in the Warsaw market. It is a space for anyone looking for strength that comes from the balance between the dynamics of life and regeneration. 

If you want to experience firsthand the wonderful energy that accompanies this place, be sure to visit: Markowska 20/8 in Warsaw. 

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