“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”

—Joseph Pilates

Jan is a consummate trainer, customizing programs for people of all abilities and walks of life. She is also experienced in working with people wanting to look and feel great. One of her strengths is working with people who are extremely weak and for whom physical therapy is too strenuous.* For these people she works with extreme care and patience.

Jan has been an athlete her entire life and it is the foundation of her happiness. As a girl she competed in figure skating until fourteen when she picked up jogging (she was one of the first out there!), tennis, swimming, hiking and bicycling. In her lifetime she has been competent in 26 sports, all of which contribute to her teaching.

She is a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Human Biology with and emphasis in Exercise Physiology. She started teaching “Conditioning” to her fellow students as a sophomore. As part of her studies she taught exercise classes to every group of people imaginable: Cardiac Rehab and Back Care at the YMCA, top executives from around the world at the Stanford STEP program, high school and elementary students, seniors at day care centers, women only groups, tennis players, men and women employees at Xerox and more. She discovered that teaching exercise is her “gift”.

Upon graduating she became one of the first ten Fitness Directors in Business and Industry at Xerox. She oversaw Xerox’s fitness program. After 3 years she became the Athletic Director of the Seattle Athletic Club. She was responsible for the hiring and management of fifteen sports professionals and created fitness and wellness programs for the Club.

When she moved to San Diego she was studying Traditional Chinese Medicine and practicing Personal Training until finding Julian Hessel (a famous Master Trainer and former dancer with Martha Graham) and his studio in Del Mar. She was hooked and began doing three sessions a week. After two months the excruciating pain in her neck disappeared (brachial plexus impingement) as her ribs were pulled down and into place. After six months she discovered Rael Isakowitz (a penultimate leader in the Pilates world) and his first certification course. After hundreds of hours of training, Rael passed his seal of approval on her as a talented teacher.

Moving back to the Bay Area she opened her studio “Full Circle”. After 16 years of teaching she changed her studio to “Jan’s Pilates Fitness”. She incorporates her knowledge of gross anatomy (studied at Stanford as a graduate), exercise physiology and kinesiology with traditional and new, modern concepts of Pilates.

*She does not replace physical therapy. It is only after trying physical therapy that she will take on a client.