We love working with likeminded people & businesses doing amazing things in the community & Peaches Pilates is the perfect example of that. Not just a Pilates studio, Peaches is a community of likeminded people who love to support each other on their journey to health & happiness. We're so pumped that we had the opportunity to chat with Founder of Peaches Pilates, the lovely Tori Clapham for our 'Talking Straight' series. Here's Tori.
SUPR: What does your morning routine look like?
TC: My morning revolves around Pilates and coffee! If I am teaching the first classes of the day, I am up super early and getting my Peach to the studio by 5.45 am. If I’m not, I generally roll into Peaches social media and emails before I am even out of bed. I am religious about my little wake-up routine whether I am out of bed before the sun rises or not. I scrape my tongue, brush my teeth, and drink a huge glass of warm water before I do anything. Especially drinking coffee - I aim to rehydrate before adding any kind of diuretic.
SUPR: What does ‘health’ mean to you?
TC: Health, to me, is usually defined by happiness - and often a product of discipline.
Health is happiness in your job, happiness in your routine, happiness in your relationship, and happiness in your connection with your own body.
Discipline comes into play at the start, when you’re forming routines and cutting out toxic habits or cycles. Once you’ve established healthy customs - they become a lifestyle. But to get there, you’ve got to practise the willpower it takes to reach your goals. That might be ensuring you: move regularly, stop eating crap, remove yourself from toxic people or form a better relationship with sleep.
Basically, we’re all just plants with complex emotions; once we’re getting enough exercise, sunshine, nutrition and gratifying connections in our life, the rest kind of falls into place. You can’t be happy without health, and vice versa.
SUPR: What are five things you’ll always have in your fridge / pantry?
TC: PASTA. X 5.
LOL. While that’s true - I always have at least 3-5 varieties, from wholemeal, spelt and penne to fresh egg pappardelle, I also ALWAYS have broccolini, apple cider vinegar, zucchini and red wine.
SUPR: What’s your favourite form of movement?
TC: Pilates always, always, makes my body sing. I love how you can strengthen and tone AS you lengthen your body, and that you can completely isolate your favourite body parts to work on. For me, I love targeting the booty and the waist - and that has filtered down into the Peaches Method. Aside from Pilates, I really enjoy boxing and weight training.
SUPR: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
TC: In all honesty, you can’t beat Australia. I’ve travelled around the world and lived overseas, and while there are places I simply ADORE - such as Italy and New York City - the food, safety, weather, natural beauty and opportunity this country provides is second to none. I love to travel for extended periods, but eventually coming home is always nice. That said, I’d take a 6-12 month stint overseas any day - especially if it was in NYC or basically any European city.
SUPR: What is one fun fact most people wouldn’t know about you?
TC: I was a very unusual child. There’s a lot of stories… I insisted on being called by boys names for months, if not years at a time. The names also needed extravagant descriptors to go along with them - such as ‘Peter The Bad Boy’ or ‘Bluey The Unicorn’. You’d best believe I committed to these titles with unwavering devotion, and wouldn’t let anyone get away with calling me by my real name. I also used to stuff my pants to give a ‘phallic’ effect, and often developed extremely intense and equally inappropriate crushes on older male suitors. My poor mother.
SUPR: Have you ever struggled in the past with being your true self?
TC: I’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to my relationship with myself. I’ve always known who I am, and had a clear vision of where I want to go; even if the goalposts have shifted significantly over the years, I’ve never struggled with identifying my many passions and over-zealously committing to them - haha!
I think accepting myself - with allllll the strange idiosyncrasies - stems from having simply incredible parents, who always supported me and never made me feel like a weirdo (even when I very clearly was).
Of course, we all struggle with being true to ourselves, and I think continually redefining my idea of success helps to keep me grounded and happy. Ultimately, my goal is always to be happy in - and proud of - my relationships. From my partnership with my beautiful husband to ensuring my staff feel empowered, or keeping the special connection with my parents and best friends. If you can master that, nothing else really matters.
SUPR: The health industry isn’t perfect. If you had the power to change one thing about it, what would it be and why?
TC: My motto in the Peaches studios, particularly when it comes to female health and fitness, is this: YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO CRAZY SH!T TO LOOK GOOD.
You don’t have to starve yourself. You don’t have to jump up and down from boxes. You don’t have to run for miles. You don’t have to eat insane amounts of animal fat and no carbs. You don’t have to cut out ANY food group. You don’t have to never enjoy a drink and a wild night out. You don’t have to exercise so much that you injure yourself. You don’t have to feel guilty about a rest day.
If you’re asking me, you just have to do three things *consistently* to look and FEEL good.
Move regularly (commitment is key). Eat real foods (not too much, mostly plants...thanks Dr Karl). PRIORITISE REST and sleep (sleep quality is the missing link in our obesity epidemic IMO).
All the other fancy, restrictive, crazy high impact or guilt-ridden ideologies will ultimately fail to serve you. The sooner we can get women comfortable with the fact that they Don’t Need To Do Crazy Sh!t To Look Good, the better.
You can follow Tori on Instagram at @toriclapham and @peachespilates