Kondi Callanetics: The New Hybrid Workout

You'll see your body shrink and you core strength grow with this combination of '80s-style Callanetics combined with Pilates and strength training

Credit: Kondi Callanetics

Lacey Kondi developed Kondi Callanetics, drawing from her personal training, group fitness, Pilates and Callanetics teaching certifications

Kondi Callanetics is a challenging and effective new workout that draws from different methods including classic Callanetics, Pilates and strength training, which you can try in the Vancouver studio or online

“Start with ten minutes a day,” says Lacey Kondi, owner of Kondi Callanetics, about being physically active. “When you feel good you make better choices.”

Kondi has been helping people get fit since she was a teenager living in Victoria. “I purchased a membership at the local recreational centre and began taking classes for aerobics, step, boxercise, circuit and weight training,” says Kondi.

“I was hooked! Over the next 6 months I gained such a passion for fitness that at the age of only 16 I became a BCRPA personal trainer and began working as a co-instructor for various fitness classes at the YMCA in Victoria.”

Not wanting to solely focus on strength training, Kondi became certified in mat and pre-natal Pilates through the Physicalmind Institute after moving to Vancouver.

Blast from the Past

But it was during a visit to her parent’s home in Victoria that the basis for Kondi Callanetics was born. “I was back at my parent’s house in Victoria talking to my mom when she suggested an exercise that she used to do in the ’80s,” says Kondi.

“She went into the basement and came back with a black and white paperback book, Callanetics: 10 Years Younger in 10 Hours. I started right there in the kitchen and within five minutes, I knew I had found my new passion.”

“I was in awe as my body literally ‘shrank’,” says Kondi. “My legs, behind, and waist slimmed and tightened. My core strength, flexibility, and posture all greatly improved.” 

“Friends and family all noticed my new transformation and wanted to know what I was doing to achieve such unbelievable results,” she says. “I knew that I wanted to bring this exercise back to the world and eight months after that day in the kitchen I became a certified Callanetics instructor.”

The Callanetics Exercise Method

The Callanetics Exercise Method was developed by Callan Pinckney, an American woman with classical ballet training who developed the method after suffering debilitating pain in her back and knees.

The method involves “very small and precise movements” – think pelvic tilts, plies, and side leg lifts.

“Having experience in all of those methods,” says Kondi, of her personal training, group fitness, Pilates and Callanetics teaching certifications, “allowed me to build my own method using the best of what I had learned. I used my love of Callanetics as a base and infused it with complementary exercises.”

Next, Kondi was “introduced to TRX for strength training and interval training for cardio and, seeing and feeling the benefits [herself], decided it was something that I wanted to offer to my clients.”

TRX Suspension Training was developed by a former Navy SEAL and uses the TRX Suspension Trainer, a portable apparatus made of nylon straps, to perform body weight exercises.

Over 30 Classes Per Week at the Kondi Callanetics Studio


Participants get their sweat on in a TRX class at the Kondi Callanetics studio. (Image: Kondi Callanetics)

The Kondi Callanetics studio offers half a dozen different types of workouts, in over 30 classes per week, based on Kondi’s unique style of tiny and precise movements paired with powerful strength moves and intense cardio intervals.

Class drop-ins are $20 – first time visitors pay $10 – and packages can be purchased for 10 or 20 classes at $175 and $300. Kondi also offers private and semi-private classes.

Classes at the Kondi Callanetics studio include:

  • Kondi Callanetics: A “hybrid exercise method combining classic Callanetics with Pilates and strength training.”
  • TRX: “A total-body workout using your bodyweight to create a muscle building resistance workout.”
  • Combo: A mix of TRX and Kondi Callanetics.
  • HIIT: Stands for high intensity interval training and alternates intense cardio drills on the treadmill with strength training on the TRX.
  • HIIT Callanetics: Starts with HITT and ends with Kondi Callanetics.

“Our classes have a strong foundation that I am very happy with, but we always need to be evolving while at the same time staying true to what has made us successful,” says Kondi.

“For classes like HIIT and TRX we are always experimenting with new interval sets and moves and for the lower intensity classes like Callanetics, I have been adding in some yoga flow,” she says. “I think the next class I would like to add is a TRX Yoga or Pilates.”

Kondi Callanetics Fitness Video Membership Website

If you don’t live nearby the Kondi Callanetics studio, you can sign up for an online membership, which gives you access to Kondi’s numerous Callanetics videos for $17.50 per month or $99 per year.

“We have online members in Michigan, California, and the Netherlands,” says Kondi, “it’s such a great tool.”

“I am adding many more routine options including TRX and new Callanetics videos,” she says.

“Right now we have 9 Kondi Callanetics routines which are about an hour and work the entire body. I also have 7 target videos which are about 30 minutes and focus on certain areas such as abs or upper body.”

“It’s about bringing it all together,” says Kondi, of incorporating so many different modalities – TRX for large muscles, Kondi Callanetics for small muscles, and intervals for cardio.

“For me, fitness is always ongoing and evolving and you have to keep an open mind. It’s about educating yourself, trying something new, and getting the best out of your workout and your body.”

The Kondi Callanetics studio is located at 1462 West 8th Ave in Vancouver.