Inside tenreformer
When CEO of tenreformer and Ten Health & Fitness Joanne Mathews first discovered Pilates in the UK, it wasn’t through trend, curiosity, or the growing wave of boutique fitness. It was through necessity.
In 2007, a serious car accident left her with “a rotated pelvis and a lot of soft tissue damage, I could hardly walk,” she recalls. “It was a difficult year. I lost my job. Everything changed.” Having come from a background of sport and team activity, she had never been someone who lived in the gym. Pilates, specifically reformer Pilates, changed everything. “I could get fit, strong, and balanced,” she says and that personal transformation shaped the future of the business she would go on to build.
Fast forward eighteen years and Ten Health & Fitness now stand as one of the most respected multisite, multiservice, brands in the UK, with an integrated clinical approach, one that spans injury rehab, recovery, wellness, and fitness. “We’ve been doing this quietly for 18 years,” Joanne says. “Our physios use Pilates clinically. It supports injury to recovery, then maintenance, wellness, and fitness. It’s a modality that works across the full spectrum of someone’s life.”
Today’s Pilates landscape looks markedly different from when Ten first opened its doors. New concepts emerge at pace, price-point accessibility is reshaping the market, and a younger generation of fitness consumers is discovering reformer Pilates through entirely new formats.
“The world is very different now,” Joanne reflects.
“I want to evolve what we do so it’s far more accessible to a wider group of people - more Pilates for more people, in more places.”
That intention underpins tenreformer, a considered evolution of Ten’s offering. Designed to be both safe and sustainable, the concept meets the modern consumer where they are: energetic, curious, time-poor and seeking meaningful results without compromise.
“I was a bit annoyed,” she admits, with a smile. “Pilates went from something few people were interested in, to exponential growth almost overnight. Ten has the credentials to help make Pilates part of the mainstream - done properly.”
It was this conviction that led Joanne to present the tenreformer franchise concept to her investors. Driven and clear in her vision, she is unapologetically focused. “I’m single-minded,” she says. “I want to take Ten international - authentically - with the education team in place to deliver it. We can scale quickly. We’ve built a new brand and a business-in-a-box to support that growth.”
Unlike many low-cost, high-volume reformer models, tenreformer is grounded firmly in fundamentals. Every instructor follows a rigorous education pathway through TenEducation - Ten’s in-house academy - ensuring depth of knowledge, consistency of delivery and, critically, safety. “Consistency matters,” Joanne says. “It’s how you protect both the client experience and the method itself.”
“It’s hard to find instructors. So, we built a pathway. Our Head of Education is BASI trained and a Balanced Body educator. We’re a Balanced Body accredited centre.”
The philosophy is simple: everyone deserves Pilates done well. And everyone deserves to feel like they belong. This is where Ten has always stood firmly apart from the polished, intimidating aesthetic often associated with reformer studios. Joanne doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the stereotype - and challenging it. “There’s this image of skinny women in Lycra on Instagram. Ten is not about that.
“Ten is a positive (number) and inclusive and educative”
she says. It supports people “post-accident or injury or those going through menopause - this is not about aesthetics. It’s about fitness, strength, sustainability, and being healthy.”
Culture is everything. tenreformer is about Pilates for every body - a non-judgemental environment,” she stresses. We are building a community a place where people feel they belong. It’s about relationship and engagement. It’s a human interface. We invest in people.”
tenreformer classes sit across a structure that empowers everyone to access Pilates at their level - whether they’re beginners, runners, fitness lovers, or seasoned Pilates practitioners. “People are accessing at their level. They’re fit. They’re runners,” Joanne says. The Ten brand pioneered dynamic Pilates in the UK years ago, with a pay-as-you-go structure that welcomed people into the modality in an accessible and modern way. Now, tenreformer deepens that commitment with class styles like Move, Burn, and Focus - supported by warm-ups, cool-downs, mindfulness moments, breathwork, and strong cueing.
Even the studio design reflects care and thought. “We wanted to ground people in the space,” she explains. Light shifts subtly with class intensity, scent is used to anchor people into presence, and music supports experience without overpowering movement. “It tells you to forget everything and be in your space - to look inward.”
For Joanne, Pilates has never been a passing phase. It is something deeper, more enduring - a practice that evolves alongside the body itself. “Pilates is a life-stage product,” she says. “In your twenties, you explore it. In your thirties, it adapts around pregnancy and recovery. Later, it becomes integral - supporting rehabilitation after surgery, playing a role in clinical settings, and offering vital support through menopause.”
It is this adaptability, she believes, that makes Pilates such a powerful modality. Intelligent, precise, endlessly relevant - a system designed not to push the body beyond its limits, but to sustain it for the long term.
Yet Joanne is unequivocal on one point: accessibility should never dilute quality. The rise of low-cost, high-volume reformer studios has democratised Pilates, and she acknowledges their place. But longevity, she says, belongs to those who prioritise expertise, attention and integrity. “Only the brands that deliver real quality will last.”
In an industry that is expanding at speed, Joanne’s perspective is a reminder that true wellness is not about trends - it’s about practices that endure, evolve and continue to serve the body, year after year.
Despite the turbulence the sector has faced - including the loss of more than 80 per cent of her workforce post-Covid - Joanne remains resolutely forward-looking. There is a sense of momentum at Ten, underpinned by a franchise model that prioritises community, accountability and shared purpose.
For Joanne, tenreformer’s success lies in alignment. “Owner-occupied works best,” she says. “It feels like a natural extension of us - shared risk, shared belief.” That philosophy has allowed Ten to grow without diluting its values, creating environments where clients feel supported and staff can build meaningful, long-term careers. “We change clients’ lives every day,” she adds. “And we give our teams careers with real purpose.”
Looking ahead, Ten is leaning decisively into the longevity conversation. Strategic wellness partnerships, deeper community engagement and a continued commitment to bridging the gap between the medical sector and premium fitness are shaping the next chapter. “Ten is beautifully poised to look at longevity,” Joanne says. “We sit between medical and mainstream fitness. The question is no longer just how to move - it’s how to live longer, better. We’re broadening both the space and the narrative.”
One thing hasn’t changed since 2007: Joanne’s belief in Pilates as a life-changing force.
“We can solve a lot of problems,” she says simply.
And with tenreformer, she intends to take that solution to more people, in more places than ever before.
Joanne Mathews is the founder and CEO of tenreformer and Ten Health & Fitness, inspired to launch the business in 2007 after a life-changing car accident led her to reformer Pilates . Nearly two decades on, she has built one of the UK’s most respected Pilates brands, championing expert education and inclusive, accessible movement for every body.