A 75-year-old Equinox member shares how Pilates has improved his well-being after recovering from cancer.
Forged at Equinox is a series highlighting an Equinox member’s foray into a new workout regimen, with help from an expert coach. The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity
For much of his life, Burt Goldberg, Ph.D., never considered himself to be an exercise buff, despite sporting a strong, burly figure throughout his youth, a result of his required military training. But in 2011, the NYU professor was diagnosed with two forms of cancer — stage two acute myelogenous leukemia and stage four myelofibrosis — and consequently underwent two bone marrow transplants, the first of which failed. The procedures were physically “debilitating,” says Burt.
As he recovered, Burt’s niece, a dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, implored him to try Pilates after he completed physical therapy. At the niece’s wedding, her colleagues continued to applaud the recovery benefits of the fitness method, he recalls. “All the dancers came up to me and said, ‘Uncle Burt, do Pilates. We do it, and when we get injured, we double down,’” he says. “I said, ‘Alright, I'll try it.’ That was a long time ago — I'm now addicted.”
In his first one-on-one Pilates session at Equinox in 2016, Burt could barely touch his knees while performing a forward fold. Now, the 75-year-old is almost able to graze his fingertips on the floor. He religiously sticks to his twice-weekly workouts with Claire Danese, the Pilates Area Manager at Equinox Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, arriving early to the studio to warm up on his own, and he even does exercises from the classes as “homework.” He’s convinced his wife to come into the studio, as well as a neighbor who’s also healing after a bone marrow transplant.
“I can see the changes that [Pilates] has made in my life,” says Burt. “I stand up straight, I can bend over, I can open a jar, I can walk and walk and walk and walk. It’s remarkable.”
Here, Burt and Claire, who have been training together for six years, share the improvements the professor has seen in the studio and his daily life, the value of open communication in an instructor-member relationship, and the impact Pilates can have on longevity.
How do you work together to decide what elements to focus on in your Pilates sessions?
Claire: “It's a constant dialogue, which I do with all my clients. I check in on them and see what their energy levels are like, if they're having pain, what their fitness goals are, and then we adjust the program depending on that. I've been teaching for more than 15 years now, so I see things in the body that maybe [the member] doesn't see. It's my job as an instructor to really see where the weaknesses are or where the range of motion isn't happening in a joint. And so, in combination with that, that's when I start to say, ‘Okay, well, we're going to do this exercise for this reason.’
“But again, it's a constant dialogue because I want to know how they feel in their body so I can make an assessment on the day of what we need to work on. And it's [usually] a mix of mobility and stability. Basically, it's functional exercise that will help that person have a good experience in their body and also in their life. It's very functional — it's really about quality of life.”
Burt: “The conversations that Claire and I have about what we're doing is vital to all of this. Because I come in and say, ‘Claire, my shoulder has really been bad.’ We go right over, and I start working on my shoulder… It's not just going into the gym and doing something. It's going into the gym with the idea of what you want to accomplish that day and what you need to work on because this hurts and that hurts. And for older people, that's vital: The insults of your youth catch up to you when you're in your seventh decade, and you need to constantly talk to your trainer. It's a constant dialogue about how I'm feeling, what's bothering me, what I need, and what I feel I need to work on.”
How has your performance in the studio progressed since your very first Pilates session?
Burt: “When I first started to do hamstring curls, I could hardly move it with one spring. With Claire yesterday, I did 80 hamstring curls with four springs. I put out 50 [reps], and then made it to another 30…I do teasers with a magic circle. [At first,] I could hardly do one. I'm now doing four sets of 10. And I may use springs while doing the Hundred — and I'm not doing it on the cadillac. I'm doing it on the floor.”
Claire: “I remember when Burt first came in, and he could barely get on the cadillac. I mean, [another instructor and I] looked at him and thought, ‘Oh, dear, I'm not sure what we're gonna do with you.’ But he was enthusiastic. And we were like, ‘Well, we're gonna get you on the cadillac,’ and he got on the cadillac. That’s where we started doing very basic things. Over the seven years that he's been doing it twice a week, it's incredible to see the difference. But I have to say, Burt is a very determined person. He's like, ‘I am going to master this. This is going to happen.’ He comes in every single time enthusiastic, ‘Let's get going.’ He gives me more than 110 percent.”
“Old age doesn't mean you have to be old at the age you're at. If you put in just a minimal amount of time, [Pilates] will strengthen you…”
Have you noticed any improvements in your everyday functioning since you started practicing Pilates?
Burt: “I have become an enormous advocate of Pilates. When I got out [of the hospital], I couldn't walk a block. I was so debilitated. I forced myself to walk, but it was hard on me. Pilates has done so much. For one, my core now is getting where I want it to be — it's getting strong. My muscle mass has increased, and I can feel the strength coming back. I know I’ll never be 19 again — I started running when I was 19 in the service, [doing] 20 up, 20 back with a 40-pound pack in the sand with our M14s at port arms — but I will be able to walk and not fall over. I stand erect. I had badly fallen on my left shoulder, and now I can use it. Everybody's remarking about how well I've healed with Pilates and the exercises that Claire gave me. I breathe better…And it's remarkable to my friends, remembering me when I first came out of the hospital. [Pilates] really has made a tremendous difference.
“I've never said it before, but I hated exercise. And now I look forward to being in the studio. I use some of the machines for my legs and my chest, but all of that is to expand my core so that I breathe better. And my breathing is wonderful. I couldn't walk up one flight of stairs, and now I just go up through it with no problem at all. It's made a tremendous difference in my life.”
Claire: “He’s much more flexible, and it's not just bending down; it's also flexibility in back extension, it’s side bends. He couldn't side bend, and now he can actually get his rib onto the barrel as he goes to the side. Even his doctors remark on the range of motion that he has, considering where he was and where he is now. That's what Pilates does, targeting all those planes of movement that we take for granted in our everyday life.”
It sounds like Pilates has really made a difference in your longevity, Burt.
Burt: “Claire and I talk about it all the time — there are people my age, I look at them, and I go, ‘Oh my God.’ It just horrifies me. if they would just go into the studio once a week, they would make such a change in their lives. You know, old age doesn't mean you have to be old at the age you're at. If you put in just a minimal amount of time, it will strengthen you so that you can walk and not saunter along like you're shuffling. It horrifies me to see that because what they need to do — most are retired and have nothing else to do anyway — is get into the studio. Get addicted to it. It'll help you. It will actually add to your longevity. I know that now I am expanding my chest when I'm breathing and so much of my air exchange is going on. And I mean, the breathing exercises that go along with the muscle movements [of Pilates] are so vital, especially the older you get.
“I’m never going to be that 19-year-old monster, but my goal has changed now. It is to not have a walker, to not have a cane, and to add to my life expectancy by increasing my capacity to breathe better.”
Photos: Jared Ryder