Janine Tiede instructs students in the SloBody method, which she pioneered with partner Kirk Slobody and recently brought to Delray Beach. Photos by Paula Detwiller/The Coastal Star
By Paula Detwiller
When you’re dedicated to helping people stay fit and your last name is Slobody, it can be problematic. The name, which is Russian and pronounced “sla-BOH-dee,” looks a whole lot like “slow body.”
But former NCAA Division I athletes Kirk Slobody and Janine Tiede have changed the way people look at that name, turning it into a clever trademark for their fitness business.
They teach SloBody, a type of hybrid yoga in which the S-L-O stands for strengthening, lengthening and opening. And the body, obviously, is where it all happens.
After growing their business in Seattle for 13 years, the couple decided it was time to live in the sunshine (he had spent part of his childhood in Boca Raton). So they moved to Highland Beach earlier this year and opened a SloBody studio last month in Delray Beach.
“We are striving to create a welcoming space that is fun but also educational,” says Tiede, 42. “We want to educate people so they can continue to do what they love to do, and have a better sense of their body and how to work with it.”
SloBody classes combine the postures and deep breathing of yoga with other strength-building maneuvers. Each student uses a yoga mat, but instead of East Indian music or chanting in the background, you hear a steady stream of instruction from Slobody and Tiede. They move around the room, helping people in and out of postures, interspersing their narrative with humor, analogy and helpful examples.
“A lot of people want to practice the physical postures offered in yoga, but they don’t want all the other stuff that’s wrapped up with it,” says Slobody, 43.
Slobody and Tiede met while attending George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He was on the swim team. She was a gymnast who later became a professional modern dancer. Both are lifelong body trainers, certified by the National Association of Sports Medicine.
No strangers themselves to athletic injuries, the pair excels at finding safe ways to alter their training to accommodate physical limitations.
“We’ve worked at health clubs and with corporate fitness programs, and we’d get people who sit eight hours a day,” says Tiede. “They’re not athletes, they’re not dancers — so we learned how to amend the yoga postures for back problems, shoulder problems, joint replacements and overweight individuals.”
“And they got so much benefit from it,” Slobody adds. “These folks are completely underserved, and often ignored by the yoga community.”
Gary Abel, a 63-year-old retired teacher from Boynton Beach who usually works out on a treadmill and stationary bike, was never interested in traditional yoga because “it just didn’t seem like exercise.” He decided to try SloBody at the suggestion of his daughter.
“You really do get a workout,” Abel said the day after class. “I left there sweating. You wouldn’t think it would be challenging because it’s just poses and things, but my rear end is telling me about it today!”
Abel and fellow SloBody rookie Eddie Vega, also 63, said they were happily surprised to see other men in the class.
“I like some of the traditional yoga with the ‘om’ and all that,” says Vega. “But Kirk and Janine have Americanized it. They cut to the chase, use the techniques, the breathing, and they’re funny. I think they found a successful formula.”
SloBody is at 209 N.E. Fifth Terrace in Delray Beach. Learn more at www.slobody.com.
Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Find her at www.pdwrites.com.
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