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Expat Kiwi Yvette McGaffin, co-owner with husband Neal of the new ReformRX “connected” pilates machine, says the machine can tell you how many calories you are burning during a workout.
Expat Kiwi Yvette McGaffin and Irish husband Neal have launched a special pilates fitness machine with the backing of hit television series Game of Thrones’ producer Bernadette Caulfield.
The pilates ReformRX machine was the world’s first “connected” reformer pilates machine, the McGaffins who live in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said.
The machine, costing about NZ$10,000, had live and on-demand classes led by industry professionals and had built-in data tracking capabilities that could record information about the user’s performance and send it to a screen including how many calories the user was burning.
Caulfield, an Emmy-winning executive producer of hugely popular mediaeval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, was a client of Yvette McGaffin’s at her Reform Studio in Belfast.
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The McGaffins have launched the ReformRX in Northern Ireland and in the United Kingdom, selling through their e-commerce site, and are aiming for the United States market in the second year of business.
They are also planning distribution in Australia and New Zealand, possibly late 2022.
Caulfield did one-on-one reformer pilates training with McGaffin while Game of Thrones was being filmed in Northern Ireland.
Born and bred in Hamilton, McGaffin said Caulfield would train three times a week starting at 5.30am.
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Bernadette Caulfield, executive producer of hit television series Game of Thrones, is a significant investor in ReformRX.
”She became a mentor really. She’s the hardest working person I have ever met. She knew about our concept when it was just an idea.
”Pilates changed her life. I know I can speak for her when I say that. She lost, I understand, a total of probably 20 kilos and really reshaped and changed her life. You can imagine her hours filming and just the demands on her.”
Caulfield saw the benefits of having the reformer at her home in Los Angeles during lockdown and trained with McGaffin over Zoom.
She offered to invest “significantly” in the connected reformer pilates equipment and is the second biggest investor behind the McGaffins. The other investor is designer of the equipment and engineer Austin Owens.
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Yvette and Neal McGaffin, owners of ReformRX, are planning to distribute the machines in Australia and New Zealand, possibly late 2022.
Caulfield’s “amazing network” in the US would help their move into that market, McGaffin said.
The target market was working professionals and people with young families who want to include fitness in their lifestyles. The specific demographic was females from 25 to 50 years with relatively high discretionary spending.
They have been developing the reformer pilates machine for three years and decided to pursue that rather than roll out reformer pilates studios in the UK. They have two studios, one in Belfast, where they live, and the other in Edinburgh, Scotland.
They will be moving back to London to support their new business where they have set up a point of sale studio showcasing the new equipment.
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Low-impact pilates is carried out on a mat whereas reformer pilates uses a resistance sprung machine.
The global at home fitness equipment market was a growing segment of the fitness market before the Covid-19 pandemic, but lockdown restrictions and gym closures accelerated demand for training alternatives at home, they said.
The British pilates market was worth NZ$788 million, and in the US the pilates and yoga market was worth US$12.5 billion (NZ$18.12b) in 2020, they said.
They acknowledge that competitors could introduce similar equipment, but the machine was complex with many moving parts, so competition would take time, and they were ahead of the game, they said.
The McGaffins intend to launch another round of equity raising next year to support the expansion of the business.
McGaffin went to the performing arts school in Sydney at 18 and then worked in the United Kingdom for several years as a professional dancer. At the same time she trained in pilates with that becoming her great love.
HBO
Game of Thrones, a mediaeval fantasy about warring noble families, has been a huge television hit.
”It’s my passion really. I love movement especially with my dance background,” she said.
A dynamic-style of reformer pilates had taken hold over the last decade.
“It’s a replacement for the gym. It’s a whole body workout, you work every muscle and the sequence is done relatively quickly that you keep your heart rate up.
“Celebrities, athletes, you see them on their reformers.”
