WATCH: Andrea Metcalf: From TV news health expert to full-time Pilates instructor

Pilates instructor and CEO of Heat 3.0, Andrea Metcalf (light pink tank top), teaching a reformer pilates class. (Kennedy Chase/MEDILL)

By Kennedy Chase
Medill Reports

Former television news health expert Andrea Metcalf is now the founder and owner of Pilates studio Heat 3.0 in Lincoln Park, Chicago. She now brings her health and fitness expertise to her studio as the head Pilates instructor. 

 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

[Andrea Metcalf’s Workout Wednesday archived video]

Kennedy Chase: HEALTH

[Metcalf being interviewed on TV]

Chase: LIFESTYLE

[Metcalf show archive]

Chase: AND FITNESS

[Metcalf Pilates reformer workout video]

Chase: ARE WHAT FORMER TV HEALTH EXPERT AND CURRENT PILATES INSTRUCTOR ANDREA METCALF ARE KNOWN FOR.

Andrea Metcalf, founder and owner of Heat 3.0: My background has always been in health and fitness exercise science. So I started teaching back in the day when we wore thong leotards on the outside, headbands and Reebok high-top gym shoes were the only thing you wore.

[Metcalf archive show]

Chase: HER PASSION FOR HELPING OTHERS ACHIEVE THEIR FITNESS GOALS AND HER EXPERIENCE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA IS WHAT LED HER TO ONE DAY CREATE HER OWN SHOW.

Metcalf: So I went to the president of NBC at the time, Larry Burt, and I said I want to do a show. And he said, “You’re out of your mind.” But lo and behold, I created a show that became “Living Healthy Chicago” that ran for 15 years on a media network here in Chicago.

Chase: NOW, YOU CAN FIND METCALF NOT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA BUT 

[Metcalf teaching class]

Chase: STILL PURSUING HER PASSION THROUGH PILATES AS THE FOUNDER AND OWNER OF HEAT 3.0.

Metcalf: I just like when they can tune in to their body and feel movement. You never know when that’s really going to happen, but you see it on their face when it does. 

Chase: ALONG WITH HER CAREER IN TEACHING FITNESS CLASSES AND WORKING IN TV NEWS, METCALF ALSO WROTE A BOOK ENTITLED “NAKED FITNESS” THAT APPROACHED HEALTH IN A MORE HOLISTIC WAY.

Metcalf: There was a nutrition element to it that was very exciting to teach people how to eat more fruits and vegetables and look at their fiber counts as opposed to just calories. There was alignment and movement, like if you have pain, let’s get you out of pain. 

Chase: ALTHOUGH METCALF HAS HAD MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, SHE CAN’T DO IT ALONE. HER BUSINESS PARTNER AND FRIEND SUE HAS BEEN BY METCALF’S SIDE SINCE THE INCEPTION OF HEAT 3.0.    

Sue Dolan, Metcalf’s business partner: It’s been so great. We opened the studio in May, but we started everything in March. So we had two months to get everything ready to go.

Chase: THE PROCESS TO GET WHERE THEY ARE WAS NOT EASY. 

[Metcalf and Dolan talking]

Chase: BUT THEY WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR GOALS BY WORKING TOGETHER.

Dolan: We are a great team. Most days.

[Metcalf teaching class]

Chase: METCALF BELIEVES HER SUCCESS IN THE HEALTH AND FITNESS WORLD BOTH ON AND OFF THE CAMERA COMES FROM HER ABILITY TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE THROUGH MOVEMENT 

[Metcalf teaching Class]

Chase: AND MAKE SURE PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND THEY CAN TRULY ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. 

Metcalf: Almost every other week I was on “Good Morning America” and really talking to people about health and fitness. I think in a way that made it really understandable and achievable, and it wasn’t from a bodybuilder point of view.

[Metcalf teaching Class]

Chase: IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO, KENNEDY CHASE, MEDILL REPORTS 

 

Kennedy Chase is a video and broadcast graduate student at Medill. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter