Josh Piterman’s new PITFIT studio is a performer’s dream
PITFIT – How fit do Musical Theatre performers need to be, really?
We’ve all been there before:
There you are doing your 6th pirouette atop your partner’s head, when inexplicably, your calf seizes and you fall onto the floor, fracturing your neck.
Lying there motionless while the curtain descends, you think “if only I had had a personally tailored strength and conditioning program to cater to my unique needs as a professional stage performer.”
Well reader, Josh Piterman has got your back, or neck if you would rather. He and his Melbourne-based team at PITFIT are intending to revolutionise the way that stage performers train and think about their training. With holistic and energetic sessions personally tailored towards specific on-stage demands, the industry is responding in droves.
PITFIT clientele spanning the gamut of shows which have graced Australian stages over the recent years: Les Miserables, Grease, Wicked and King Kong to name just a few.
If that cavalcade of glitz was not enough, Piterman himself comes from a Musical theatre background, appearing as Tony in the 2010 Australian tour of West Side Story, as a member of celebrated man-song group The Ten Tenors, the Helpmann award winning (but sadly commercial failure) An Officer and a Gentleman and a recent turn on the West End as Corny Collins in Hairspray.
Indeed it is this unique experience as a professional performer which has allowed Piterman to fill a previously unaspected hole in the fitness industry.
“I’ve witnessed a lot of preventable injuries happen on the stage – including a few close calls myself – simply because performers, although technically trained, haven’t had a specific strength and conditioning program designed to develop their mind-muscle connection. Like the arts, PITFIT is creative and fun. Performers, like all of us, need to be inspired by a blend of competition and fun and that’s exactly what PITFIT is all about,”
In a short time, Piterman has already left a vivid impression upon the fitness world having earned the title of Master Trainer in 2013 through the Australian Institute of Fitness alongside an appointment as Ambassador and INSTITUTE CHAMPION for the same organisation. The details on how exactly one goes about becoming an institute champion are vague, but I would imagine the title to require at least, wrestling a bear while singing high C’s.
If all of this sounds elitist, Piterman is quick to assure that PITFIT’s sense of the theatrical and playfulness is not only for the professional athlete but for anybody at all.
“All people, performers included, are searching for a way to take the chore out of going to the gym and bring back the joy. Remember when you were eight years old and getting sweaty meant having a laugh with your mates? That’s what it should always be like!”
If any of this interests you, PITFIT are hosting an open day from 8am to 1pm, Saturday November 15.
PITFIT by Josh Piterman
2/82 St Kilda Road, St Kilda
Opening Hours: 6am – 8pm, Mon – Fri; 8am – 12 noon Sat
For more information visit: PITFIT.com.au
PITFIT Open Day
8am – 1pm, Saturday 22 November, 2014
