Daily Times, St. Cloud, Minn. - September 16,
1983
Cutting fat The Feminine Way is no sweat
"It started out to be an easy approach to exercise.
You work right along with he machine so you don't resist it. You
don't build muscles. It tones, firms, and actually builds elasticity
into the skin." — Kathy Pihlaja, Inventor
of "The Feminine Way"
Some women want to be strong and muscular. some want to be trim
and toned without the muscles. Some women like to work hard and
sweat while losing weight and staying fit. Others simply want to
lose their extra pounds.
Kathy Pihlaja, Daytona Beach, FL, did not want to become a body
builder to trim down from the 192 pounds she weighed after having
her second child. And she did not like feeling embarrassed by her
weight when she went into a health or diet center.
To solve her problems. the St. Cloud native invented five machines
that help women lose inches and pounds, quickly and privately. Called
The Feminine Way, the exercise equipment costs $27,500. Obviously
not intended for home use, the fitness salon Pihlaja designed provides
women with private places to exercise. "It started out to be
an easy approach to exercise," Pihlaja said. "You work
right along with the machine so you don't resist it. You don't build
a muscle. It tones, firms and actually builds elasticity into the
skin."
Basically each machine is a metal table covered with an upholstered
pad. motors in each base move the equipment, raising the legs or
arms over a thousand times in a 10-minute session. The customer
lies on the table, wearing her street clothes if she wants, and
the machine moves her in the appropriate places. She does a little
work, usually holding in her stomach and buttocks. Because she does
not have to use her own muscles, the client can tolerate more repetitions
of the exercises than she could when doing calisthenics, for example,
where she resists gravity with her own power, according to Pihlaja.
The sandbag machine trims the pad of fat that hangs where the top
edge of bikini pants would rest, and firms up the buttocks while
ridding thighs and legs of cellulite. The vibrator "increases
blood circulation and helps flush out cellulite and gets rid of
excess water, "Pihlaja explained."We have dozens of women
that come in just to get rid of cellulite," she said. "The
gentle action of the machines jiggles that stuff loose and flushes
it out." The other three machines work on the waist, hips,
legs, stomach and buttocks
In 1977 the St. Cloud Tech and St. Cloud State College graduate
began building her idea. She started with a knack for inventing
she picked up from her father and a knowledge of body movement gained
from years of physical therapy to treat her juvenile arthritis.
"I grew up with my parents always inventing and designing things,"
Pihlaja said. Her father, Alex Weber, is manager of quality control
at Franklin Manufacturing. As owner and operator Pihlaja opened
her first salon in 1978 with five prototype machines. At that time,
she designed the salon concept that she has sold to 19 other women
around the country.
"You would walk in the door and see a wall of curtains, each
machine is surrounded by curtains," she said. Offended by what
she called insensitivity, pihlaja wanted to five women the chance
to lose weight without being ashamed of having gained it. "I
never hire anybody who is a toothpick," she said. "You
should hire employees who have a weight problem because customers
see the employees coming down, too." The curtains can be left
open at the customer's request.
In the privacy of the rooms, attendants measure each client in
eight different spots: ankle, calf, lower and upper thigh, abdomen,
waist, upper back, and upper arm. Then the client undergoes on 10-minute
treatment on each machine. "The person is more of less hand-carried
through the steps to make sure they do what they're supposed to
be doing," Pihlaja explained. When she first beings a program,
a customer should visit the salon twice a week. "Two hours
(on the machines) equals 14 hours of exercise, floor exercise, Nautilus
or a workout," Pihlaja said. but once she has reached her goal,
the client should return once a week to maintain that trim figure,
the inventor recommends.
"It's like dyeing your hair. if you quit, your roots show
through," she said. "I definitely go on once a week."
Pihlaja said."It comes to one and a half because of all the
testing we do." Pihlaja did not franchise her salons. Rather
she sells the equipment and with it the design and plans for the
salon. "I strongly recommend that they charge $5 per visit.
The longer I've been at this, the more I push that," she said.
She has sold all of her shops since 1980, most of them in the eastern
United States.
This summer Pihlaja began expanding in two new directions. All
summer she and her staff of specialists have been working on five
machines for men. "Since men seem to have the majority of their
problems in the mid-section, (the machines) get rid of love handles,
flattens the tummy, and works o the arms and chest," Pihlaja
said. She hopes to open uni-sex salons featuring the Feminine Way
and the new Exec-U-Toner. Pihlaja's company Allied Associates, has
been approached by companies in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador.
She expects to have sold the machines to new shop owners in those
countries within the next year. "We're not a fly-by-night outfit.
Not a little jump rope or a spring on the door," she said.
"People should have a choice. What we're offering is an alternative.
There are people out there who don't want to work to lose weight."
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