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            Joseph Pilates never had a sex change.  While it remains a popular misconception that Pilates is exclusively for women, its inventor was, in fact, a man.  Not any mere man either, Pilates was a boxer, a circus performer and a self-defense trainer.  He could’ve probably kicked most of our @$$-es if he’d wanted to.  Thankfully, his boxing opponents’ @$$-es were the only ones he wanted to kick in the literal sense.  His Pilates students?  Their @$$-es only got kicked in the anaerobic sense.  And so can yours (in a good way).  Not by its inventor, mind you (Pilates passed away in 1967), but by any number of his living disciples.  Denver’s own Cher Aslor, of Capital Hill’s pH7 Pilates, is among them.      

            Aslor is a true gem.  If Joseph Pilates were alive today, he’d surely be venerated by her obvious commitment to the discipline that bears his surname.  Aslor wasn’t always a Pilates student, though.  Dance was her first love.  Ballet, jazz and modern classes occupied her adolescence.  After majoring in movement in the People’s Republic (CU Boulder), Aslor was awarded a scholarship to Tremaine Dance Center in LA.  Her @$$ was paid to work it for years as a professional dancer, landing gigs in music videos and even an Austin Powers flick.  Once her girlfriend Gin introduced her to Pilates, though, she was hooked instantly.  LA’s Whole Body would eventually facilitate her official certification.  As Angel City was already saturated with gurus, Aslor returned to the Mile High Club to open a studio of her very own.  Glendale was pH7’s original home; the storefront location on Cap Hill opened its doors late last year.  What’s in a name?  Seven is the perfect pH balance of human blood (balance being a core component of Pilates training).  A hundred people are guestimated to have attended the ribbon-cutting soiree.  Injured individuals, preggers, tri-athletes and more go back on a weekly basis.

            “Pilates reeducates your body to work in the most efficient way possible.  It’s basically yoga meets weight training and it benefits everyone, not just women,” explains Aslor.

            PH7 is a fully-equipped studio, offering both foundation-building mat classes and next level reformer ones (on the machines), as well as yoga and gyrokinesis (Tai Chi/dance/yoga/Pilates hybrid that promotes articulation of the spine and range of motion in the joints).  Aside from Aslor, pH7’s staff also features Image Magazine’s own Cameron Dabney, among others.

            “Joseph Pilates used to say, ‘Ten sessions to feel better, twenty to look better and thirty for a brand new body.’   I generally recommend three private lessons before jumping into a class.  It helps you get to know the exercises in a safe environment and we get to know your issues and your body.”   

1409 Ogden

(720) 235.2131

pH7pilates.com