Medicine and Pilates Underwater – Interview with Julia Rudnicka from The Recipe Pilates & Yoga Studio

Medicine, graphic design, and… her own Pilates studio in Wrocław. Sounds like a plan for three different lives, but Julia Rudnicka managed to squeeze it all into one. And with quite the result! Her studio “The Recipe Pilates & Yoga” just turned one year old, and she’s already managed to stir up quite a bit of buzz there — including throwing girls with their mats… underwater in the Africarium. How do you run a business on your own terms when everyone around you is telling you how to live? Where did the idea for training among sharks come from, and why did skipping the classic reception desk turn out to be a bullseye move? Settle in comfortably on the couch (because you won’t find a reception desk here) and see what a business built on pure passion and an absolute no-complaining policy looks like.

[Iza]: Can you combine medical studies, a passion for graphic design, and running a Pilates studio in Wrocław? It turns out you can, if you have the right recipe for it. Today we’re joined by Julia Rudnicka, owner of The Recipe in Wrocław, an instructor, and someone who literally took Pilates underwater, which we’ll get to in a moment. Hi Julia.

[Julia]: Hey.

[Iza]: Your path to your own business in the Pilates industry took quite a few different routes, because you actually started with graphic design, interior design came up somewhere along the way, you used to dance, now you’re studying medicine… that’s a lot going on. How did you connect all these dots and open this place?

[Julia]: So I started studying graphic design, and during those studies, and even long before them, I always really wanted to study medicine, so that was kind of an… unfinished business that I knew would eventually happen — that I’d eventually get into that program, that I’d go, and no matter what happened, I would just go, period. I trained Pilates, and that was the sport I actually stuck with the longest, because a lot of them passed through my life. And that Pilates was there. As a client, I’d already been to a lot of places before, and in general, not even just talking about Pilates itself, I always wanted to have something of my own, something that would just be mine and would be very much in line with who I am. So even while I was studying to retake my final exams to get into university, I decided I wanted to open The Recipe. Did that surprise anyone? No. Was it because I wanted to have something of my own? Also yes. It was also tied to the fact that I really loved training Pilates, and it was also because I wanted it to be a place that, as I mentioned, would be very consistent with who I am, but would also have everything I felt was missing in other places I’d visited, and everything I’d been looking for as a client in various places. So how did it all come together? Honestly, I have no idea (laughs), but I guess it works, and I guess I’m managing reasonably well.

[Iza]: The interior here is very aesthetic. You can see a bit of your interior design background that you picked up along the way. Tell me, what are you most proud of here, and what gave you the biggest headache?

[Julia]: Are we talking about what gave me a headache finishing this place, or while running it? Because that’s…

[Iza]: You can answer both questions (laughs).

[Julia]: Microcement! (sighs) Don’t do it… well, actually — do it if you want it to look nice, obviously, because I wanted it too and it does look great, it makes an impact. Is it practical? No! (laughs) Does it look nice? Yes! And that’s the thing that gives me a headache, because when I see a little speck on that floor, my blood just boils. But it does make a wow impact. But I think that’s just a thing with people who want everything to look consistent, nice — even before this studio opened, I already had a whole plan in my head of how I wanted it to look. Nobody had any right to tell me how anything should look — so everything here is exactly how it was in my head, it was all ordered before the opening, and it had to match. And it turned out it did match. And it was that microcement that ended up delaying the studio’s opening by a month and a half.

[Iza]: Oh, that’s quite a delay.

[Julia]: Yep! It is, but that’s just how it is. That’s what happened, and… well, yeah, that’s just how it is, what can you do. So I guess that gave me the most headaches, so to speak, but anything more than that? I don’t think so.

[Iza]: And what are you proud of?

[Julia]: Here, of the place, of The Recipe in general? The ZOO event. That’s probably the thing that I just… that’s something I came up with one evening, lying on the couch, and I texted Matylda and Grzesiek, who do marketing with me, saying we have to do this. And they didn’t really have any other choice after that. So yeah, I think that’s what I’m most proud of — that we actually managed to pull it off. Yeah, I think that’s it.

[Iza]: And since you brought up that ZOO event, tell me, how did that actually happen and where did the idea come from? I mean, sharks, the Africarium, and Pilates?

[Julia]: Honestly, I have no idea where the idea came from. I know nobody had done it before — I’m talking here about Wrocław, as far as I could tell — so I genuinely don’t know where it came from. It just popped into my head, and I decided I wanted to do it, because it hadn’t been done, and I knew it would be something different — so I really don’t know where it came from.

[Iza]: Because you’ve already had two editions of it.

[Julia]: Yes.

[Iza]: Are you planning a third one?

[Julia]: Tomato. (laughs)

[Iza]: And that’s a great answer — so you definitely need to keep an eye on what Julia comes up with next, and there’s probably going to be a lot more of it. Tell me, what do events like this give your brand?

[Julia]: Let’s start with the fact that when it comes to my brand, I wouldn’t even call it just… well, obviously, I may have created it, but I’m not the only one building it — my girls are involved too, and I feel like we all build this brand together. So these events don’t just give something to me, and not just to our brand, but I hope — and I actually know this is the case — they give something to my girls too, because they get noticed, and they notice The Recipe too. So what do they give us? I think they also show that we don’t just stay confined to the place where we run our classes, but they also show that we’re open to creating different things, and… we don’t limit ourselves, as I mentioned, just to classes here — we also want to do things outside the studio and reach new people, and do something that might cause a bit of a stir, because I think the ZOO event did cause a bit of a stir, and I don’t think anyone expected that we’d actually manage to be underwater like that. So I think they just open us up to new challenges, new clients, and new places. That’s probably how I’d put it, honestly.

[Iza]: Mhm. Let’s go back for a moment to the décor and the interior, because it’s quite distinctive too. There’s no reception desk like you might know from other studios. There’s a couch, a spot to just chill, and tell me — was that a deliberate choice?

[Julia]: Mhm.

[Iza]: Why?

[Julia]: Yes, it was a deliberate choice, and at the beginning, while we were still opening The Recipe, everyone kept trying to push their opinion on me. Everyone — I don’t mean literally everyone, but everyone I talked to about The Recipe opening would ask why there’s no reception desk. And for me, it’s a deliberate choice. A reception desk makes me think of something super formal, something that’s basically just a dust collector, and totally unnecessary for me. Sorry, but that’s just how I see it. We live in times where you can really take care of everything through Insta or over the phone. So cluttering up the space with a reception desk seemed pointless to me. And putting a couch there instead was a deliberate choice, because honestly, I see how it works — whether it’s the ladies after class, or even me myself, I just like coming here, sitting down, doing my own things on my laptop, or I see the ladies after training just sitting down with a coffee and chatting with each other. And I noticed that right at the studio’s opening — it was like a magnet. The ladies would grab a matcha, a coffee, and just sit on the couch chatting with each other. So skipping the reception desk was deliberate, and putting in that couch was deliberate too. And would I get rid of it? No way, it was a great idea! (laughs) I love it and I definitely wouldn’t trade it for any reception desk.

[Iza]: Tell me, besides Pilates, you also run yoga and stretching classes here. Do these classes attract the same clients as the reformers, or are they different people — do they cross over from one type of class to another?

[Julia]: Yes, besides reformer Pilates, we also run stretching and yoga, and that was also my plan from the very beginning — not to stick only to reformer Pilates, because yoga and stretching sometimes attract a different type of client. And I didn’t want to limit myself to just the reformer. So yes, with those clients, it’s often the case that a client comes in specifically for yoga or specifically for stretching, and ends up staying for the reformer too. And it works the other way around too — someone comes for the reformer and then decides to try yoga or stretching, maybe because they meet someone on the reformer who also does yoga and convinces them to join — so word of mouth plays a role here too. So it was a great combination, and I think it works really well. Completely different women come for each — and not just women, men too! Men also come for yoga, stretching, and reformer Pilates. And it draws in all sorts of different clients for us. And these classes kind of connect with each other — people try one, then check out the other — so I think it was a great combination of one with the other, and actually with a third too, since there are three.

[Iza]: Well, to sum up, that’s a bit of a recipe for a loyal client (laughs).

[Julia]: Yes, I love my clients. I really think we have amazing clients, seriously.

[Iza]: Okay, let’s move on to the equipment, because you have Allegro 2 reformers here, jumpboards, Magic Circles, and even those rarely-seen foot correctors. I’d like to talk about those a bit. Tell me, why did they end up in your studio?

[Julia]: Why did they end up in my studio? Okay, let me put it this way. I’m very hypermobile myself, just to mention that. But I know a lot of people struggle with their posterior chain. I noticed that even at home with my partner, who has a constant issue with, for example, not being able to reach the ground with his hands, his hands, his hands… I don’t know. Anyway, he couldn’t touch the floor. So I had this foot corrector during a training course, and I was talking with Krzysiek: “Do you guys have this foot corrector?” And I decided I had to have one in my studio, because I knew my girls would use it, and that’s exactly what happens. Even during stretching, where we have men too, or even during yoga, or even on the reformers themselves, it happens that the girls use it before training just to loosen up that posterior chain a bit. That’s why I think it’s a small piece of equipment that doesn’t take up much space, but it’s really worth investing in, because it’s not hard to use, you can’t really hurt yourself with it, and it can genuinely help.

[Iza]: So it’s a bit underrated.

[Julia]: No. I don’t think it’s… well, I do think it’s underrated — it’s this small, funny little device, and sometimes when I bring it out, everyone wonders what on earth it even is, because I don’t know how to describe it, I don’t know, something for nuts? I don’t know, it just looks weird — but it really is an underrated piece of equipment, and I think it’s worth having even two in your studio, or even just one, as long as you have one.

[Iza]: Mhm. You also mention jumpboards a lot on social media.

[Julia]: Mhm.

[Iza]: What does that platform bring to a Pilates workout?

[Julia]: Let me put it this way too. As someone who trains in Pilates myself, I don’t do classic Pilates — I lean more toward the contemporary side, so my reformer workout, speaking personally, is quite exhausting. It leans more toward the cardio side, though I don’t want that to sound like I’m saying it’s some super trendy workout or anything, because that’s not what I’m going for. But I felt like something was missing — a piece of equipment that adds to that training, and you can even build a whole workout around it. And in fact, we do have a class specifically built around the jumpboard on our schedule. Meant to be intense, so you can really jump around and let it all out. So I think the jumpboard is a great piece of equipment, one you can really use for that kind of training. And I know our clients… we have women who come in and just say they’re going to spend an hour jumping and letting off steam, and it really works. That’s why I think the jumpboard is a great piece of equipment.

[Iza]: Tell me this — you’re kind of living between two cities, because you have your studio here in Wrocław, but you’re studying in Zabrze, so you’re often not here, yet the quality at this studio stays at a very high level. How do you manage to balance it all?

[Julia]: Again, I’ll go back to the fact that it’s not just me — all of this happens together with my girls and with my Michał, because I get a lot of help from them. How do I manage to balance it all? Honestly, it’s very hard. It is hard, I won’t pretend to you that it’s super easy for me, because it’s not — but I knew this would happen once I started this program. I knew it would be hard to split my life between two cities. It happens, and I try my best to make sure nobody feels my absence during those few days a week that I’m away. But like I said, I owe a lot to my girls, and to the trust I put in them, and to what they are for me and what I am for them. And I think that’s why it works the way it works.

[Iza]: There are a lot of new places opening up on the Wrocław market right now. You’re currently celebrating your first anniversary.

[Julia]: Yes.

[Iza]: Happy anniversary, by the way.

[Julia]: Thank you so much, a year has just gone by.

[Iza]: Yes, may there be many more years like that, full of sunshine and amazing clients. Tell me, what advice would you give to people who love Pilates but are afraid of the competition when opening a studio?

[Julia]: Let me put it this way. If a place opens for the right reasons, there’s nothing to fear from competition, because clients will find their way to it and stay there, as long as it was opened for the right reason, and the people running the classes there truly love what they do. So personally, when I opened The Recipe, I wasn’t really afraid that it wouldn’t work out. I didn’t even consider the possibility that it wouldn’t work out — I think that’s just my stubbornness, that once I decide on something, that’s just how it’s going to be, period. So if a place is opened out of genuine love — and I consider The Recipe to be that place for me, one I absolutely adore and pour my whole heart into — then there’s no way it won’t work out. But it’s still hard work, and you have to actually keep pushing toward that goal and not give up, because a lot of these places open up, and they’ll keep opening all the time. But as I said, if it’s opened for the right reason and it’s taken care of, people will really notice that it’s a great place, one they want to keep coming back to. So what advice would I give? Just don’t give up, honestly, and definitely don’t worry that because another studio is opening, yours is going to close — because that’s just not how it works. It just won’t happen that way (laughs).

[Iza]: Julia, thank you for this dose of inspiration. Around you, every excuse just disappears.

[Julia]: Definitely, one hundred percent (laughs).

[Iza]: You really just have to get to work and take action. This place shows that Pilates isn’t just about movement — it’s really about building a whole experience and relationships with clients. And it’s beautiful that you managed to create that. I wish you many more years in such a wonderful atmosphere. So if you’re from Wrocław, or even just passing through, and you’d like to do some Pilates with such wonderful…

[Julia]: Then we invite you here, we invite you here!

[Iza]: We invite you to The Recipe in Wrocław. Be sure to follow their Instagram profile. And if you’d like to equip your studio with the kind of gear you see here…

[Julia]: Allegro 2, Allegro 2 and the foot corrector, because it’s underrated, seriously! Get yourselves a foot corrector for your studio! And jumpboards too, actually — those would come in handy as well.

[Iza]: You’ll find all this equipment on our website, balanced-body.pl. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more inspiration like this. See you soon!

[Julia]: Bye! (laughs)

A lesson from Julia? If you’re doing something out of genuine love and you have people you trust around you, then you don’t need to be afraid of competition. “The Recipe Pilates & Yoga Studio” clearly shows that in business, you don’t have to be some stiff, spreadsheet-obsessed type. Sometimes it’s enough to follow your intuition (even if it’s telling you to train at the ZOO) and just do your own thing, taking care of the people who come to you.

If you’d like to chat over coffee or really wear yourself out, the doors in Wrocław are open for you. And for a daily dose of energy and behind-the-scenes tidbits, drop by their Instagram:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/therecipe.studio/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/therecipewroclaw/

P.S. If you’re dreaming of opening your own studio and looking for equipment that can survive any cardio session, check out our offer. And be sure to hit subscribe on our YouTube — we promise you won’t find boredom there 🙂