Inspiring Conversations with Madeleine Hasulak of Tonic Method

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Hasulak.

Hi Madeleine, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Aspen, Colorado and was an avid athlete for my entire life. I am incredibly passionate about health and wellness. After graduating from the University of Denver, I spent ten years building a natural foods brand, Love Grown, that is available nationwide in over 11,500 stores and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 as a Taste Maker Redefining Food and Drink. After transitioning out of that business, I immediately knew I wanted to return my focus to Pilates and open a studio in my hometown. I had discovered Pilates in 2007, and fell in love with how it strengthens, lengthens, and tones your entire body while still being low impact. In 2009, I became a Certified Instructor, eager to share this incredible form of fitness with others… the only thing that was missing was the high intensity that I loved about her other workouts like HIIT and TRX. In December 2018, I opened Tonic Method, a High-Intensity Pilates Studio. I developed a method to combine Pilates, strength training, High-Intensity Interval Training, and mindful movement into one incredible workout.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Running and growing a business is never easy… but COVID has been the most challenging, unpredictable, and difficult situation I could have ever imagined. We closed the studios for two months back in the spring, and the first thought I had is, “Will people ever want to come back?” To make things even trickier, we have studios in three different counties, each with different protocols and approaches, so we have also had to navigate through that.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Tonic Method?
The tonic Method is my Method. I wrote over a 250-page Training Manual and personal train each of our instructors. Our mission is to add longevity into your life with a workout that benefits you now and years from now. We incorporate 5 Pillars of Longevity into every class: Breath. Posture. Endurance. Balance. Flexibility. We start and end every class with a Tonic Roll down—which brings a mind-body awareness and focus around the breath. Our lives are so busy and so chaotic, and my goal is that you can come into the studio and have a super effective, super hard workout in 45 minutes, but also have a moment to take a deep breath and be present.

I got certified in Pilates over 12 years ago, so there is a strong focus on alignment, muscle engagement, and posture. The goal is to build long, lean muscle by using incredibly slow—almost painfully slow—deliberate movements, which forces you to use your muscles and not momentum. Then we incorporate bursts of cardio throughout the 45-minute class, which keeps you in your fat-burning zone. Muscles are worked to fatigue before going into the next muscle group, which builds muscle stamina and endurance. We also use spring tension, which creates progressive resistance and builds muscle differently. I am a huge proponent of practicing balance—I often explain that balance is the first thing to go when we get tired, which is often when the injury occurs. Therefore, a goal at Tonic Method is to make you tired, then force you to work on your balance. Our mantra is, “Never easy. Always hard.” Every workout is different—there are so many exercises that you can do and different combinations, which also mean you are sore after every class.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Be passionate. Be resilient. Be persistent.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@tonicmethod.com
• Website: www.tonicmethod.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/tonicmethod
• Facebook: facebook.com/tonicmethod

Image Credits
Tonic Method, LLC