Rhinebeck Pilates is fully equipped with Gratz apparatus, which is well known for being the original manufacturer of pilates equipment and the only pilates equipment still made today with Joseph Pilates exact specifications and measurements. Our equipment was handmade for our studio in Long Island City, NY (some of our newer pieces were made in Gratz’s new factory in Philadelphia).
The original owner of Gratz Industries, Frank Gratz, was commissioned directly by Joseph Pilates to manufacture his equipment in metal, as opposed to wood, which what Joseph Pilates was previously making his own equipment out of. In the 1960s, Frank Gratz’s son, Donald Gratz, continued the relationship with the pilates legacy by working directly with Romana Krysanowska, the keeper of the Pilates method.
The differences in Gratz equipment versus any other type of equipment are quite apparent, not only in looks but especially in feel while exercising. Gratz reformers are well known for the drag of the carriage, weight of the springs, and tension of the straps. Students truly have to become one with the equipment, and work with it, during each and every exercise. The equipment offers assistance, as well as strong resistance. This duality is present throughout the whole pilates method- again and again. It starts with the equipment. Then, translates into the exercises, and then into the body.
Our studio is fully equipped with a Universal Reformer, reformer/tower combination units, a wall unit, Cadillac, Wunda Chairs, a High Chair, an Arm Chair, Ladder Barrels, Small Barrels, a Spine Corrector, foot correctors, magic circles, toe correctors, and Ped-o-pul.