July 2004
Best Pilates Studio — Center of Balance
Nine-time U.S. Champion Natalie Coughlin is the Bay Area's greatest hope for Olympic gold this summer. Her supreme physique is due in part to Pilates training sessions with Tom McCook at Center of Balance in Mountain View. "Tom's really good at specializing [exercises] for me as a swimmer," she tells us. "He's very knowledgeable about everything having to do with the body." Competitive athletes of all stripes — from swimmers to cyclists to golfers—also make regular pilgrimages to the out-of-the-way industrial location just off the freeway for resistance stretching and good old-fashioned yoga.