In this YouTube monologue, Kelly Alhooie—who has 22 years as a Pilates instructor and 16 years as a physical therapist—explains how Pilates and physical therapy share the same core principle of "controlology" (using abdominal muscles with limb movement). She argues that the perceived divide between the two professions is largely semantic and that both can be combined into a single therapeutic approach. Alhooie critiques the traditional model where PT sessions and Pilates classes are sold separately, noting that therapists often lack confidence in selling either service and that separate sales lead to low conversion rates. She recommends bundling Pilates with PT under a high‑ticket, all‑inclusive package (e.g., a $4‑5K offer) that includes unlimited Pilates access, preferably via an AI‑enabled reformer machine that eliminates the need for a dedicated instructor. She weighs the pros and cons of instructor‑led classes versus AI machines, emphasizing staffing costs and utilization efficiency. For sales, she suggests either a dedicated sales team or a low‑ticket trial ($250) to build trust before upselling to the high‑ticket bundle, citing her own conversion rate observations (≈70‑75% for $250 trials, 40‑50% for high‑ticket offers). Alhooie also encourages expanding the wellness suite with passive modalities such as vibrating plates, red‑light therapy, cold plunges, saunas, and vagus nerve stimulators, which can be managed by front‑desk staff without additional specialized personnel. The overarching takeaway is to integrate Pilates seamlessly into PT/OT practices as part of a comprehensive wellness package rather than as a separate service.
Chapters
Pilates and physical therapy. Let's talk about how to actually integrate it so that it makes sense. So here we go. Number one, I have been a Pilates instructor for 22 years, a yoga instructor as well, and a physical therapist for 16 years in that realm. And so I have experienced what the Pilates world does, and I have experienced what the therapy world does, and how I actually coach my, uh, patients is a combo of all of them and how to actually combine it all. And I really think it boils down to this in very simple terms. All Pilates is, is like, it's controlology. That's what it means. And it's just working your abdominals with limb movement. That's all Pilates is. Well, guess what therapy is? It's knowing how to work the 4 abdominal muscles with limb movement and how to control pressure and basically how to control your core with you moving your arms and your legs. It's the same thing, it's just coined differently. And so I think more often than not, I think therapists think it's different. I think instructors think that therapy is at like a higher level, and I think it's actually all the same depending on the actual therapist and depending on their training. And so I'm here to tell you today that there's different pathways from a business perspective of how you can integrate Pilates. And yes, it's on the rise, it's been on the rise, and, um, you know, make sure that you put it in your clinic or your online business. I think that's, that's huge. So let's get started, let's get into it. So number 1, there is kind of the old school way where it would be like you have therapists, you have your full plan of care, and then, and they basically— patients come in like once a week to see the actual therapist. And then you have where you have a Pilates instructor there, and they come in once a week to see the Pilates instructor. And like it's a separate sell. So like you sell the 12 sessions or the full package of therapy, and then you also sell a full package of Pilates, and you say that you need both, and the client buys into that. Here's the problem. The therapist, in my experience with this, have a very hard time just selling therapy. So why the heck do we believe that they can also sell Pilates? Or why do we believe that they could sell massage? I don't have confidence in them. I don't. And I've had like over 30 people that I've hired in a brick and mortar to try to sell therapy, okay? Um, and by the way, I've hired chiropractors, I've hired massage therapists, um, I was a Pilates instructor, so I had a Pilates on staff, um, it was a yoga instructor, like I've kind of— I've done the gamma, okay? And, and we had personal training. Like, we, we did it and saw it all, okay? Um, and I can tell you that it's just going to be— if you have therapists, let me just say this, if you have therapists selling your plans of care, which I do recommend, okay, physical therapy plans of care, which I do recommend because it's— if it's coming from an actual doctor, it's more believable and reliable. Okay, comparatively, if you have a, um, if you have an admin trying to do that, your sales will go down, just so you know. Um, but here's the thing, the therapist is not gonna also then want to try to sell Pilates. So please do not make the therapist also try to sell Pilates as well. So here's what I would recommend doing, okay, is you package it all underneath one umbrella. So it's like, by the way, this is a 4K offer and you're going to get unlimited Pilates. And by the way, there's a machine— there is a Pilates reformer machine that now has an AI built into it. And it literally will be like an instructor and it can do the thing for you, just so you know. So you could literally buy that machine. I don't know how much it costs and literally just have unlimited Pilates on the reformer by a— what is it— by a machine that doesn't have instructor, you know, that doesn't have— it's not a class. It's like the machine, like I think Peloton, but like for reformer. Okay. It tells you what to do on the reformer without a physical instructor having to be there, which is amazing. Don't have to handle staff, awesome. And they can come and go and use it whenever, fabulous. They would just have to sign up for it. By the way, love that, okay, love it. Um, comparatively of having like set Pilates classes in your actual clinic, you have to staff it with a person. If 1 or 2 show up, you're not making, um, payroll to even pay the Pilates instructor because you can't charge there's only so much you can charge. Um, and so you just have to be mindful of that. However, some people will justify that cost and say, well, it's for people that don't come into therapy first, and so we get them in through the Pilates class and then we get them into therapy. That could be true, and if that's the way you're using it as like kind of like a lead magnet, then great, okay, that's good. Um, however, I would just be cautious of of, you know, having classes at a specific time, a specific day, and all the things, because I think it is slightly, um, outdated a little bit. Uh, people still want it. I mean, trust me, these Pilates classes here in California are packed, okay? They still want it. So I'm not saying don't do it, but I'm just thinking, saying if you're limited on resources, it might— may be better off to have the machine that has no instructor attached to it. You buy it once, you pay the cost up front, and then it's unlimited use as a more wellness service that goes along with the 5K package deal, that they have unlimited use to that. Okay, so you basically— what I'm trying to say is don't make Pilates a separate sale. Don't make Pilates a separate sale. Don't make massage a separate sale. Um, I would have it all part of the actual package in getting the person the actual result. So if you believe that they need Pilates to get X better, well then put Pilates in there and package it together and not a separate thing like here, there, all different things. It's too much. People won't People will not do it. But if you give them one offer that says like, this is the thing that's going to get you better, then they'll commit to that offer better. What else do I have to say about Pilates? Um, I think therapists get to about 9 visits with the client and then like give up on the client thinking that they're like all good. And a lot of times visit 9, 10, 11, 12 is basically like a Pilates class that I would teach hardcore to see if their core can actually handle it. I put their core to a test, and it is just straight up— it's not manual, it's straight up of me just drilling their abs for, for a full hour straight to see, can their— are their muscles ready to handle load? And a lot of times the answer is no. But many therapists feel that that's not skilled therapy, and I 100% know that that's skilled therapy because I'm looking at how the muscle is activating. It's not just like an exercise class. It's completely different than what a Pilates instructor would look at it. The Pilates instructor would be like, uh, is just keep pressing your abs down to the mat. Like, that's the level of a Pilates instructor. Comparatively, we would look at, are certain abs overfiring in one position compared to the other? What's, um, are they able to breathe here? Are they able to— how far are they able to move this limb movement until we have loss of pressure here? All of that makes a difference, and that's the difference between skilled therapy and Pilates. Um, and I think also therapists have a hard time defining that, and I think it's very clear from being in both worlds for so long, at least in my head. So, um, what else do I want to say about incorporating this? Do you have a Pilates instructor under your roof? Well, if it's in your model, if it's in your method, then yes, they can be an employee Um, they just have to be all part of the model. I would not have it two separate services. Um, and yes, I do understand where you could attract people from like, let's say, a massage therapist or a Pilates instructor and then get them into your actual practice, but I feel like that's fewer and far between. And is it really worth the separate sale? The other thing you could do is if The therapist and the Pilates instructor have a very hard time with selling. You could also just have literally a full-blown sales team where when the client calls in, that they fully explain like what treatment's like, all the different things, and what it's going to take to get better. They explain the price up front, that it's a $5K offer, this is what's included. You'll get the results and like just really, you know, do it over the phone and sell it then so that the therapist doesn't have to worry about selling and that the, you know, Pilates instructor doesn't have to worry about selling. However, to get someone in from not knowing you to a straight up $5K offer is typically a very hard sell. And so you're— again, let me give you an example. My conversion rate of just saying, hey, it's $250 the first session, and just they're only losing $250 if all else fails. And like, you know, someone sucks, great, or they hate the appointment, great. And you can even do a money-back guarantee where you're like, you're not happy, then we'll refund you for the first visit, whatever. Like, to just even get them in, to just get them to try you. My point is this: if you went out and tried to buy something for $5,000 versus— or even $3,000, let's just say, to make it more realistic, right? And not do the wellness thing. Well, if it's the wellness thing, maybe it's $4,000. So like, for $4,000 versus $250 a session, which— and you don't know really much about the company, you haven't tried them out— which one would you take? I guarantee you 99% of people would take would take the, the $250 just so they can test it, right, and see. So this is why personally I don't promote a lot of selling over the phone unless you have an insane sales team, because a lot of times the patient's going to be like, uh, no, no thank you, and they have to come in and experience it themselves to then understand, oh yeah, this is something I like to do. Oh yeah, Oh yeah, this is great, they are going to solve my problem. I now understand from my doctor, the authority figure, oh yeah, this is something that is going to take me there. So just be mindful of that too. Like, don't think that an amazing salesperson is just going to be able to just convert right away. They might convert at 40 to 50% comparatively, maybe even less than that, maybe 40%, I would say, um, from my experience. And then I would say if you're at $250 a session, you're probably going to be converting at 70 to 75% over the phone that, that way. So I would rather convert at 75% of the phone knowing that if they come in, the likelihood of them buying a whole package or staying for, you know, all their visits is 80, 90, 95% chance that they're going to do that. So again, it just depends on what kind of model you want to run. Different options here today, but incorporate— the biggest takeaway today is incorporate Pilates into your actual whole method is how I would ideally do this, especially because wellness is on the rise and there's other wellness services. And so if you can also not only incorporate Pilates but incorporate a vibrating plate, red light therapy, if you have room, cold plunge and sauna, great. If you don't, then don't do it. Um, maybe a vagus nerve stimulator. Like, all this is passive modalities that your front desk person could set them up on and not worry about, you know, something happening. I mean, hopefully they wouldn't fall off the vibrating plate, but like, very slim chance of something happening that would be safe and that you don't have to recruit another human to, um, administer or rely on to to, to do it. So, um, hopefully guys, this is a great lesson on Pilates and how to integrate it into your OT or physical therapy practice.
