How pioneering Pilates studio in Hong Kong lasted the course and stretched to expand

It is no easy feat for a fitness studio to have survived years of Hong Kong’s high rents, the 2019 anti-government protests and a pandemic, but that is exactly what Heather Thomas’ Flex Studio has done.

Flex Studio opened in 2005 in Stanley, in the south of Hong Kong Island. Today the Pilates studio has two Hong Kong branches, in Wong Chuk Hang and Central, and one in Singapore. Around 900 clients visit one of the three studios two to three times a week.

When Flex Studio first launched, Pilates was virtually unheard of in Hong Kong.

“I had to constantly explain to people that it is not yoga,” Thomas says. Back then, there were only three other centres in the city offering Pilates classes.

Heather Thomas is the founder of Flex Studio in Hong Kong. Thomas earned her Pilates certification in 2002. Photo: Edmond So
Heather Thomas is the founder of Flex Studio in Hong Kong. Thomas earned her Pilates certification in 2002. Photo: Edmond So
Pilates was created in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates. He developed the eponymous exercise regime during the first world war for his fellow internees at an internment camp.

It gained popularity in the 1920s in New York after Pilates was introduced there. His original teachings, which consist of specific movements done in a sequence he devised, are referred to as “classical Pilates”.

Source link

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

High Island Reservoir is another popular spot on the tourist trail. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong welcomes 213,000 mainland tourists as ‘golden week’ break starts

More than 213,000 mainland Chinese visitors flocked to Hong Kong on the first day of the Labour Day “golden week” holiday on Thursday, looking forward to some hiking, treating their taste buds at street food stalls and restaurants, and enjoying a dazzling drone show in the night sky above Victoria Harbour. Immigration Department data showed

1 May 2025
High Island Reservoir is another popular spot on the tourist trail. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong welcomes 213,000 mainland tourists as ‘golden week’ break starts

More than 213,000 mainland Chinese visitors flocked to Hong Kong on the first day of the Labour Day “golden week” holiday on Thursday, looking forward to some hiking, treating their taste buds at street food stalls and restaurants, and enjoying a dazzling drone show in the night sky above Victoria Harbour. Immigration Department data showed

1 May 2025
The public has been urged to remain alert and not accept any monetary return for drug trafficking activities. Photo: Handout

Man arrested over arriving in Hong Kong with HK$5.4 million of cannabis

Hong Kong customs officers have arrested a man after he allegedly arrived in the city on a flight from Thailand with cannabis buds worth about HK$5.4 million (US$696,200) in his suitcase. The Customs and Excise Department said on Thursday that the 49-year-old had flown into the city from Bangkok the day before. During customs clearance,

1 May 2025
Popular Hong Kong clinic chain in hot water amid suspected closure

Popular Hong Kong clinic chain in hot water amid suspected closure

Hundreds of customers, including young parents, have taken to online platforms to complain about a popular clinic chain in Hong Kong suspected to have abruptly closed down earlier this week. Parents who had paid thousands of Hong Kong dollars in advance for their children’s vaccination at clinics under Alliance Medical Group scrambled to arrange jabs

1 May 2025
Tourists flock to the High Island Reservoir during the Labour Day “golden week” holiday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong’s East Dam buzzes with mainland Chinese tourists during ‘golden week’

Hong Kong’s High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung was packed with hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists on Thursday as the five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday began, with a heavy police presence deployed to maintain order. The reservoir’s East Dam, which has become a hotspot among mainland visitors after being promoted on various social media

1 May 2025
At least 16 people were injured when a bus crashed on Thursday. Photo: handout

Bus driver arrested, 21 passengers taken to hospital after Hong Kong crash

Hong Kong police have arrested the driver of a double-decker bus that smashed into barriers on a highway on Thursday, with 21 passengers taken to hospital for treatment. Police said the Citybus vehicle was travelling along West Kowloon Highway towards the airport when it crashed at a slip road near Hoi Lai Estate in Cheung

1 May 2025
Hong Kong’s Labour Day drone show attracts hundreds of early birds to waterfront

Hong Kong’s Labour Day drone show attracts hundreds of early birds to waterfront

Hundreds of early birds have gathered at Hong Kong’s Wan Chai Temporary Promenade hours ahead of the Labour Day drone show, which is expected to include colourful tributes to the city’s coming festivals. The 12-minute show will start at 8pm on Thursday, with 1,000 drones to weave through the skies above Victoria Harbour, forming shapes

1 May 2025
Mainland tourists treat their taste buds in Hong Kong, from egg waffles to fish balls

Mainland tourists treat their taste buds in Hong Kong, from egg waffles to fish balls

Hong Kong’s signature street food such as egg waffles and fish balls, as well as restaurants with local characteristics, are among popular catering choices for mainland Chinese tourists visiting the city at the start of the Labour Day “golden week” holiday on Thursday. Mainland visitors were found queuing up at traditional noodle shops, the city’s

1 May 2025
Tourists flock to the High Island Reservoir during the Labour Day “golden week” holiday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong’s East Dam buzzes with mainland Chinese tourists during ‘golden week’

Hong Kong’s High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung was packed with hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists as the five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday began, with a heavy police presence deployed to maintain order. The reservoir’s East Dam, which has become a hotspot among mainland visitors after being promoted on various social media platforms, was

1 May 2025
Greater Bay Airlines cancels Hong Kong-bound flight from Taipei after bird strike

Greater Bay Airlines cancels Hong Kong-bound flight from Taipei after bird strike

Greater Bay Airlines has apologised to passengers after it was forced to cancel a Hong Kong-bound return flight from Taipei on Wednesday night after a bird collided with the aircraft. A spokesman for the carrier said on Thursday that flight HB704 experienced a bird strike just as it was arriving in Taipei, forcing the airline

1 May 2025
At least 16 people were injured when a bus crashed into a junction near Hoi Lai Estate in Lai Chi Kok. Photo: handout

Bus crash on Hong Kong highway leaves driver, 15 others injured

At least 16 people have been injured after a bus crashed on a highway in Hong Kong. Police said the bus was travelling along the West Kowloon Highway towards the airport when it crashed into a junction near Hoi Lai Estate in Cheung Sha Wan at around 12.28pm on Thursday. The force added that the

1 May 2025
Hong Kong police arrest man over scams involving impersonation of mainland officers

Hong Kong police arrest man over scams involving impersonation of mainland officers

Hong Kong Police have arrested a 20-year old man suspected to be linked to at least eight telephone scams in which he allegedly swindled victims of a total of HK$1.36 million (US$175,300) by impersonating mainland law enforcement officers. Police revealed on Thursday that they had arrested the local man, surnamed Pang, in Tsuen Wan two

1 May 2025
Tourists arrive in Hong Kong to spend the Labour Day “Golden day” holiday. Photo: May Tse

More departures than arrivals in Hong Kong as ‘golden week’ kicks off

Hong Kong has recorded more residents leaving the city at the beginning of the five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday than mainland Chinese tourists coming in, even though many inbound visitors still favour sightseeing, shopping and hiking. As of 10am on Thursday, nearly 63,000 mainland Chinese tourists flocked to Hong Kong while more than 80,000

1 May 2025
Explainer | Who is better off after MPF mechanism abolition, Hong Kong workers or bosses?

Explainer | Who is better off after MPF mechanism abolition, Hong Kong workers or bosses?

Three years after Hong Kong’s legislature passed a long-awaited labour bill to stop bosses from raiding staff pensions to cover severance and long-service payments, the cancellation of the so-called offsetting mechanism finally took effect on Labour Day on Thursday. The abolition marked a milestone for the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), which came into operation in

1 May 2025
Pandas and Bun Festival among Hong Kong’s ‘golden week’ trends for mainland tourists

Pandas and Bun Festival among Hong Kong’s ‘golden week’ trends for mainland tourists

Hong Kong businesses have made extensive efforts to entice mainland Chinese visitors during the five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday, but many tourists will opt to take recommendations from social media platform RedNote. The government anticipates around 840,000 mainland visitors between Thursday and Monday, about 10 per cent more than last year during the same

1 May 2025
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x