About Fran
My name is Fran and I’ve been teaching Pilates in and around Coventry and Warwickshire since 2003. I combine my Pilates teaching work with home educating my two children (aged 11 & 13)
I truly believe that Pilates can help anyone as there are so many benefits to be gained from it. I tend to teach a slightly gentler, more rehabilitative style of class so my sessions are particularly suitable for those with injuries, back problems or pelvic floor dysfunction. Each Pilates exercise has a modified version and many progressions so once you understand the principles of the technique you can work at your own level within the class. This means that if you wish to progress through different levels you can still do so in my classes.
If you’d like to know more about my background and how I got to where I am today please read on below…
My career in fitness started with my PE A Level which inspired my love for learning about the human body and how it works…however…
…like many people I had actually HATED PE at school prior to this – I could have been good at team sports but the teachers never seemed to pick the shy and retiring kids for team training sessions so I just ended up resenting the favouritism shown to those who were in the school teams.
I loved to move my body though so I did my sport away from school at a local gymnastics club from the age of 6 until I was 18 when studying for my A levels and then moving away to university stopped me.
Having been in a lovely, supportive gym club, growing up in a family of sports fans and studying PE A level at a school that suited me better meant that despite the earlier miserable PE lessons I still developed a love of sport and was fascinated by the way the body works.
This desire to understand the body more meant that my first career choice was to become a sports therapist. At the time the preferred route into this was to first train as a Physiotherapist – however when I did work experience during the sixth form I realised it wasn’t for me BUT all my 8 university choices had been for physiotherapy…
…so, I went through clearing to get a space on a Sport & Fitness Science course and ended up at Luton University studying many and varied topics from bio-mechanics to sports psychology, nutrition to applied physiology. I didn’t really enjoy the white coat lab stuff but loved the more social aspects of the leisure modules so decided during my second year to start developing the additional skills I’d need to work in the ‘real world’.
I did the Exercise to Music (old-school aerobics) course – probably still the most challenging qualification I’ve done even though it is classed as an ‘entry level’ qualification! Then in my final year I wrote my dissertation on injury rates in Box-A-Cise classes, so I also gained that qualification as part of my research.
After uni I got a part-time job as a fitness instructor at a hotel gym and gradually progressed from there to other gyms around Coventry and worked my way up through a variety of roles gaining experience as a Fitness Manager, Studio Coordinator and Personal Trainer. I started teaching Pilates because one of my fitness instructor friends had trained and whilst I was practicing the method with Clare I discovered how great it is for strength & posture and how it helped my back mobility and strength – many years of gymnastics had taken it’s toll on my body! I gradually built up my reputation and my classes grew so that I could be totally freelance, teaching 20 classes a week for a number of years – most of these classes were Pilates with the odd bit of BodyBalance and Aerobics thrown in!
Twenty years ago I lost some of my classes due to Adult Education cut backs and I applied for a full-time role with Boxercise to try a new challenge. I started as their office manager and trained up as a Senior Instructor (they are the teachers who deliver the courses). I was eventually promoted to Assistant Director, working alongside the founder of the company. I continued to teach Pilates in the evenings while I did this job and eventually relinquished the role in 2014 to work again on building my own Pilates and fitness business and to focus on starting a family. I am so grateful for the learning opportunity this job presented me and I’d even go so far as to say it changed who I am as a person - becoming a senior instructor and presenting in front of tens (and occasionally hundreds!) of my peers really, really improved my confidence and coaching abilities.
In the summer of 2016 my husband and I adopted two young children (they were aged 3 years and 18 months at the time) so a large majority of my time is now devoted to them - especially as they both have additional needs and disabilities and are also home-educated!
I now juggle being a home educating mum with teaching a mixed timetable of in-person and zoom Pilates classes and still enjoy working to promote the benefits of Pilates for everyone.
Testimonials from my amazing clients
Sue S, Coventry
My Osteopath advised me to take up Pilates to help with my back. Since taking his advice and joining Fran's classes I'm certainly feeling the benefit. Fran creates a relaxing space with clear instructions. Different areas are worked on in each session so they are not repetitive and there are always alternative options within the different movements to suit your experience.
Liane P, Coventry
I have been taking Fran’s Pilates classes for nearly 10 years now. Pilates helped me to get some fitness back after experiencing back problems and then gave me the confidence to take up running. I can’t recommend the classes enough, not only for physical health but also for mental health and well-being. The classes have helped me through some difficult times over the years and especially these last few months and the strange times we find ourselves in.
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