Jill Dailey McIntosh has always been intrigued by the human body and how it moves—so much so that she graduated in 1991 with a kinesiology degree and soon thereafter decided to open her own Pilates teaching studio. But it wasn't until years later that this curiosity would manifest itself in a single question: "How can one aggressively transform the shape of their body while still maintaining proper alignment of the spine?" Eventually Jill began to examine her diverse fitness background, pulling low-impact movements from ballet, Pilates, and even orthopedic-exercise routines to create the basis for her fitness style, The Dailey Method.

Now, 15 years after it was founded in San Francisco, Dailey's fitness routine has ballooned into studios sprawled across more than 10 states and gained praise from Self, Allure, FitPregnancy, and InStyle magazines. Regardless of the location, instructors remain true to Jill's mission of offering unique fitness classes that combine ballet barre work, core conditioning, stretching, and orthopedic exercises. The classes work to effectively strengthen and tone the entire body, with movements that are controlled, focused, and safe. Each set of exercises is focuses on students' entire body and mind, and is followed by a series of active stretches to help develop more sculpted and supple muscles.