Barbara is FANTASTIC! I have never know anyone so fit, knowledgeable about the body and conditioning, and experienced in helping improve posture, balance and conditioning. Barbara is the BEST, and helped improve all aspects of my physical fitness. She provided inspiration, guidance and creative advice in alleviating my plantar fasciitis. I have never met anyone so experienced in personal training. And I loved her private Pilates sessions. Barbara does it by example. Wow is she fit! She has actually run a marathon on every continent around the globe!! Barbara is dedicated, kind, compassionate and really cares. There’s no one better.
Bob G.
I’m sold on Golf Pilates and Barbara’s ability to customize a great program for each one of us in the class! I’ve found my overall posture is better, my golf swing is longer and I general have more flexibility. In fact, I’m almost back to the hitting distances I had ten years ago because of a stronger core and balance. The best thing is I don’t have any lower back pain! If that’s all Pilates would have done it’s been well worth it. My quality of my life has improved.
Bill T
I really enjoyed taking Barbara Wintroub’s jumpboard course. I find her teaching to be very precise. The information in the booklet is well presented and easy to follow as are the videos. The only thing that wasn’t addressed was why certain clients she worked with wore shoes and others were barefoot. I’m assuming that wearing sneakers would help give clients with fallen arches and other foot or ankle issues more support, but I know that most pilates instructors are used to teaching clients without shoes.
Perhaps something in the booklet could be added to address that. Other than that, there are some audio popping noises on the advanced dvd that are a little distracting. Everything else was perfect.Rini S.
The Sheppard Method Pilates in Westwood, CA
I found the material followed the outline of the manual and was very clear. You were extremely clear and detailed in your descriptions and demonstrations and I easily picked up the new material. Your explanations and safety instructions were also very clear. You explained neutral pelvis and showed each client with a pillow supporting his/her head and neck. Some clients had shoes on and some didn’t which I found to be a little unclear. Are their certain clients you would recommend the shoes for? Is the jumping more effective with shoes on? As a studio owner, I would discourage clients to wear their tennis shoes on the jumpboard as it could damage it. I chose to do the routine without shoes and found it fine without.
As far as the actual material goes, I know many of these moves already. What was unique was the order, dynamic and use of hand weights. This seemed like a great idea, however I didn’t have the proper hand weights to use for the workout, so had to do without. I absolutely loved the idea of the spine corrector/arch as part of the routine. This was new to me and extremely challenging! I found this to be very useful and actually gave it to a client the next morning – she loved it as well! Another new idea that I had not seen before was the jumping off the hands. This was a great arm workout that still incorporated all of the other components of jumping (ab control, balance, stability, etc.).
The information is absolutely ready to use right away. As I stated earlier I gave a new client some of the moves I learned from the DVD. It was easy to pick them up and teach right away. As far as making money goes, as teachers we know that if you do not keep a routine new and exciting for a client, it can get very old, very fast. This information can be used to help keep a routine exciting for all clients and in turn, keep them coming back!
I would have a hard time calling the DVD a class, as it seemed more of an instructional video. To me it seemed too slow to be considered a class. At the very end of the demonstrations, you do the workout yourself at a much faster pace and that seemed fun to me! What I would have loved to see was you doing that and also calling out the moves so a teacher/client could follow along. Overall though, I think the video is very well instructed and states all material very clearly.
Sarah L.
Pilates Place
After reviewing the DVD’s, I feel that I can add to my jump-board repertoire. As a Pilates teacher I’m always looking for new idea’s to keep my teaching fun and interesting. I have taken a few courses in the jump-board, as I love working with the jump-board so I have seen a few of these moves. The one that I had not seen was the spine corrector being involved I liked the new twist, for myself I found this challenging and have a few clients that will love this. These videos would be great for clients who are older or for clients that the jump board is new to them, except for the spine corrector add on I will give this to my advanced clients. I can say that I will defiantly use this material from the video and manual.
A few concerns: I was a bit confused as to why some people where wearing shoes and some were not. I did the workout with no shoes on and found that fine. As a studio owner I would not allow shoes on the jump board. Also I did not have the correct weights so I had to improvise with that.Posted By: Carrie J.
Pilates Place
Barbara’s strong knowledge of anatomy, physiology and Pilates combines to make Retrofit Pilates one of the best Pilates schools around.
Lori E.
I like Barbara’s work because she is always on the cutting edge of research.
Dan S.
Ms. Wintroub has trained five of our top Pilates instructors Every person she has sent to us has been more than ready to deal with all aspects of physical therapy and how it is best incorporated with Pilates.
Matt T.