24 0n the go REAL BOOT 26 core 28 wellness 30 food ey 5 i 32 beauty { r i > thanks to one classically 34 style 2 q trained reservist, pilates comes full circle to help BY SUZANNE GERBER Tes SEALS and special warfare i combatant-raft crewman are considered the toughest, bravest and best-trained military per- sonnel in the world, While their train- ing is legendary, these alpha males tend to be dismissive of Pilates, writing it off as women’s exercise or the hokey stuff of late-night infomercials. Yet at any given moment, scores of them axe doing advanced mat workouts in undi closed military hot spots across the planet. These special-warfare soldiers all have one thing in common: They learned the classical method from Lt Cmdr. John Mahoney, a 12-year Navy reservist, physical therapist and Romana Kryzanowska-certfied Pilates instructor And when they're deployed, they take their Pilates workouts with them, “Its real different from teaching civil fans,” says Mahoney, whose workout ‘would surely make proud Joseph Pilates, who developed his method with injured soldiers during World War I. “These ‘g1ys spend months on boats and in tanks in remote places. Between their weapons, full-body armor and rucksacks packed with supplies, they might cary aan additional 100 to 150 pounds. So when I see them, they have chronie pain in their low backs and shoulders.” 24 janvary/tebruary 2010 pilatesstyle.com injured servicemen Lt. Cmdr. John Mahoney teaches U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman {SWCC) Pilates to prevent and help recover from injuries. And there isn't the Inxury of time to build th have a guy for a few months, but more likely T get to train him for two weeks,” he says. “I get them either gearing up to leave or returning from deployment, often injured. Either way, its my goal to give them a foundation to build on later.” That’s often easier said than done, however. “T start off putting them through « ‘workout thats rmich harder than they're used to, to show them where they're vweak,” he says. “Many of them are weight lifters or triathletes and want anything that will make them better athletes.” $0 m up slowly. “Sometimes 1‘when they see that Pilates is no wussy -yearold instructor can do circles around them— their competitive spirits kick in, and they tend to get very good very fast. Every morning at 0645 Mahoney sworkout—and that thei leads several dozen special-warfare troops through a brisk mat workout— except there are no mats; these tough guys work out on coneret ‘one asks to learn more, Mahoney takes him to the studio, which is equipped with his own Gratz Reformer, Cadillac, ‘Wanda Chair and Barrel plus several Magic Circles and mats. And the sol diers love it. Mahoney tells of walking in on a guy who'd been doing apparatus When some- work for one week teaching a fellow soldier to do Ballet Stretches on the Cadillac, “If I can hook just one, Tm happy,” he says, Pilates was love at first sight for Mahoney himself, In the early "90s, four years into Mahone traveling physical therapist, a fellow PT told him about the method. “Iwas a weight lifter and thought I was pretty fit,” he says. “But the very first time 1 did Pilates, I got destroyed. 1 became acutely aware very rapidly just how weak m y powerhou lessons were enough to rid Mahoney of his chronic back and shoulder pain— and for him to make the decision to get certified. He spent the next year travel ing back and forth to New York to train with Romana, her daughter Sari Mejia Santo and Bob Lickens, all the while getting fitter and leaner (and pumping less and less iron). Then, the day e was.” Just a few before he was scheduled to fly to New York for his last 200 hours and certify- ing exam, he got a call about a test he'd been sure would come tive. Only it didn’t: It was Stage IV melanoma, “Doe said I wasn’t fying pilatesstyle.com | ‘These elite master mariners are solely responsible for all maritime mobility for special operations forces worldwide. anywhere immediately tured to one of the le University of Pittsburgh, to help himn wage the fight of his life. Three months later he was healthy enough to pick up where he'd left off got certified and opened his own studio, Pilates off the Avenue, in Delray Beach, FL, where business flourished —for half the year. Three years ago, looking to fill the schedule gap left when the snow- birds fly north, he answered an ad for a physical therapist for Navy Special ‘Warfare. They hired him on the spot and now, having licked the cancer that wort, he divides his year as a civilian in Florida and living on base in Virginia Beach, VA. “Just today a guy was leaving for recalls Mahoney, who ling skin cancer centers, at the threatened to cut bis life ve Afghanistan,” he says. “Two weeks ago this guy couldn't do a Teaser to save his life, but he asked me to make a video of the 20-minute workout that T teach everyone. He told me, ‘Where I'm going, there’s nothing else to do, so I'm going to do this workout this every single day.’ I knew he was seri- Then he added, ‘And when I come back next year, Mahoney, I'm gonna kick your butt!” @ uary/february 2010 25