McDONOUGH, GA. – Club Pilates, the nation’s largest premium Pilates franchise, recently opened a new studio in McDonough. The McDonough location is owned by Krystal M. Harris, an actress, writer, and director.
Harris has appeared in shows and movies such as Tyler Perry’s The Oval, Shameless, Ray Donovan, and BET’s mini-series The New Edition Story. In addition to her acting career, she is an accomplished writer, having written The Wonder Girls, a television film for Teen Nick, and her independent pilot The New Jim Crow: Majority Rules.
Located at 2374 Jonesboro Road, the new studio offers members full-body workouts that improve posture, balance, flexibility, and strength. Club Pilates McDonough is family and veteran-owned, according to Harris.
The bright studio welcomes members into a supportive atmosphere where they can choose from four class levels and eight signature group class formats that use a variety of equipment, including Reformers, EXO chairs, TRX, Trigger Point, springboard, and Barre.
In 2022, Harris expanded her creative ventures by launching the publishing division of her production company, Krystal Muse Incorporated. Through this company, she focuses on developing meaningful content that tells important stories. Harris considers her role as a single mother to be her most significant.
As a Club Pilates member for the last 10 years, Harris says Pilates was something she could still do while she was pregnant. The inspiration behind opening the location in McDonough, she said, is because there weren’t any Pilates in the area.
“It got me snatched after my pregnancy,” she said. “When I moved to Atlanta and moved to McDonough, there weren’t any Pilates studios around, so I had to drive to Decatur, which is like 42 minutes away from here.”
She said she begged to open a location in McDonough, but due to “nothing being in the area,” she found no one was interested.
“I asked for a good six months, and they just weren’t interested. So, I finally looked into myself and saw ‘become a franchisee’ and I found out it was individually owned,” she said.
However, she said realized how much it would cost and was not all the way there yet, so she worked hard to get to that point and enlisted my mom to join me
“I wanted this to be something for our family and she’s [my mom] the one who got me into Pilates, so I got her involved,” she said. “We went through the process, won the bid, and we got the last two territories at that time in Georgia.”
Harris says she’s been a part of the entire process from the ground up and feels great about being open and finally achieving her goal. It took about two and a half years to get to the final product.
“Every day, it’s a business and its work, however sometimes I’ll walk in and look around and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did this,” she said. “It’s a dream come true.”
Harris also chose to open her own Club Pilates location because she found it to be one of the most effective forms of exercise she’s ever experienced.
Driven by her passion for helping others, she saw this opportunity to give back to her community by helping individuals achieve their fitness goals in a welcoming and inclusive environment. With this new location, Harris aims to highlight the profound benefits of Pilates for people of all ages and fitness levels.
“When I was considering bringing a business to my community, I knew I wanted to offer something impactful and beneficial,” Harris said. “As a Pilates enthusiast, it was an easy decision to open a studio in McDonough. I wanted to offer a fitness option where people can work out together, share common goals, and hold each other accountable to achieve them. I’m incredibly excited to turn this vision into reality.”
Additionally, Club Pilates created a proprietary 500-hour Teacher Training Program designed to teach group Reformer Pilates classes thoroughly and safely with TRX, Triggerpoint, and Barre.
Giving back to the community is something Harris takes pride in because she says, “we are not here just for ourselves.”
“People need people and it’s important to me to be service-oriented. My biggest thing is putting smiles on people’s faces, a smile on somebody’s face really motivates me,” she said. “I love bringing things to the community that people want and/or need to fill a gap that may not be there.”
Pilates, she said, is something that allows your body to do what it’s supposed to do and works the way your body is meant to work.
“Pilates retrains you to be efficient in using your body and I’m talking about driving, walking upstairs, and bending down,” she said. “Your entire system is supposed to be involved, but a lot of times, the traditional gyms will work just the major muscle groups and not focus on how all of those connector muscles play a part.”
Harris says her business goals for the year are to open another Club Pilates in Douglasville and to make more movies. With the McDonough location, Harris says they’re building a community.
“I’m going to see a lot of those women, not only being level twos, but they may also move into being instructors
“My first love is acting and making movies, so we’re getting ready to start going into that in 2026,” she said. “I’m going to see a lot of changed bodies and more focus on mindset, positivity, and health. It’s a space for more people who may not want to go to a big box gym.”
As far as advice for staying consistent in your fitness journey, Harris says “progress over perfection.”
“If you fall off a date, that doesn’t mean it is your fault or if you’ve fallen off the rest of the year, keep going. To stick to something, or to really see results, you must keep going,” she said.
She also says it is not about doing something for a brief period with a lot of intensity, it’s about the commitment to do a little every day and to forgive yourself if you miss a day or two.
For aspiring actors/actresses, Harris says if you’re called to do something, answer the call.
“The pieces will fall into place. Find an acting coach and an acting family and please get trained,” she said. “Learn the business of it because the film industry is a business so you’re well prepared.
She also tells other aspiring individuals to go forth in the direction of your dreams.
“We give back to our veteran community and all our first responders; we even have what’s called, ‘Discounts in Place’ for those who put themselves at the front line,” she said.
For more information about how to become a Club Pilates member in McDonough, visit https://www.clubpilates.com/location/mcdonoughwest, or call (770) 769-5848.