"I feel stronger now than when I was 18!" says Plinky, flashing the smile that is one of her best assets. "I don’t even feel like I’m 36!"
Yes, the 5’7" tall, 122-lb. Plinky can admit her age without batting an eyelash, secure as she is with her family, her relationships and of course, her career – which is now going great guns – as a certified fitness analyst in the method of Pilates (she specializes in osteoporosis). And yes, Plinky definitely looks even prettier than when she was 18. Even her body is leaner, stronger.
"I’ve made choices in my life – health, family and career... in that order," Plinky says. "Health is very important to me because without it, how can I attend to all the other priorities?"
After opening her Bodyworks fitness studio in Makati last year, Plinky opened a studio at Ortigas’ Tektite Towers (the latter in conjunction with esteemed orthopedic surgeon and STAR health columnist Dr. Tyrone Reyes, to whom Plinky refers cases requiring orthopedic care). Plinky also continues to be an in-demand corporate host. She runs her own events management group besides being a Pilates instructor. Topping all these is being a full-time, hands-on mom to seven-year-old Armand (Dominguez).
Sure, Plinky admits, "It’s hard being a single mom." She recalls times when – foregoing a yaya for Armand – she would bring her son "everywhere" with her, including TV tapings where she would transform the editing room into a virtual nursery.
"I never rate myself as a mom," Plinky shares, "because that would mean comparing myself to other moms. I believe that each motherhood experience is a unique experience. I just try my best. I try to talk to my son like an adult using terminologies a child will understand." Plinky proudly adds that Armand has been a consistent honor student at the Ateneo where he even skipped prep. He just finished second grade as third honor.
In a way, Armand’s performance is to be expected. He belongs, after all, to the clan of the late illustrious nationalist Sen. Claro Recto, Plinky’s grandfather. But Plinky ventures that not once has she felt that she lived in the shadow of her grandfather, father or even her brother, Sen. Ralph Recto. "I am my own person and we have our own worlds," she explains. "I don’t even miss politics even if it is a ‘family thing’."
One mark of Plinky’s parenting style is that she doesn’t deprive her son of his father’s company. "In fact," she says, "I even told the judge that his father should visit Armand as often as he can." Though she was granted sole custody of Armand, Plinky allows him prolonged stays with his dad. "I want him to have a positive relationship with his dad," Plinky elaborates. "Any issue between my ex-husband and me has nothing to do with my son so why should I punish him for it?" (Solemnized in 1995, Plinky’s marriage was annulled the other year. What she misses most about her marriage, Plinky says, is her in-laws, who she describes as "very nice" persons.)
Plinky admits she is dating again but doesn’t foresee getting married just yet. "I’m very happy with my family right now," she says. "That’s enough for me."
Though rising from her failed marriage was difficult during the first few months, Plinky gratefully notes that her disposition ("I’m always smiling; it’s hard to get me down") carried her through tough times and kept her from becoming bitter. "If you need to be sad," she muses, "allow yourself to be sad. Don’t worry about what others will say. Allow yourself to grieve because if you don’t, you’ll always have a chip on your shoulder and you’ll always remember the (sad) incident. Then you should move on."
Gathering strength and moving forward after that chapter in her life, Plinky has gone all-out in her newfound career. Not exactly newfound, really, because Plinky has consciously striven for physical fitness practically all her life. She studied ballet at four and was a professional dancer at 12. For eight years, she was a scholar of dance at the Julie Borromeo Dance Company. On a visit to an aunt in the US three years ago, she enrolled in the instructor’s program at the Physical Mind Institute. She furthered her studies and had apprenticeships in New York, LA, San Francisco and Santa Fe.
Attesting to her expertise, Plinky is accredited by the Ace American Council on Exercise; Senior Fitness Association; American Kinesiotherapy Association; National Academy of Sports Medicine; Aerobic and Fitness Association of America; International Sports Trainer Association; and National Athletic Trainers Association. "I follow Ernie Baron," Plinky says, revealing her motto. "Knowledge is power. Everything follows after that."
"Pilates," Plinky explains, "is a personalized system designed to condition the body through stretching, strengthening and toning, and to create a more streamlined body. We are not merely after (say, having) a flat stomach or a firmer butt, but a deeper, holistic approach to a sound and balanced life."
Plinky elaborates that Pilates will appeal to those who are "sedentary or are fragile." Unlike other workouts which non-athletes or those who aren’t exercise buffs might find intimidating, three-fourths of Pilates routines, Plinky points out, is done "lying down, either with equipment or on mats."
In her studios, Plinky personally conducts and supervises private workouts. Among those she has taught are Housing Secretary Mike Defensor ("He is delinquent," she jokes, "because he has so much work!"), Lana Asanin and Dina Bonnevie, among many others.
To supplement their workouts, Plinky wrote Pilates to Go for her students. It morphed into a 50-page instructional booklet and a VCD "starring" Plinky and is available in all Toby’s branches.
Pilates and all her other passions have kept Plinky from missing showbiz, which saw her appearing in movies with the likes of Dolphy and Edu Manzano. "I haven’t closed my doors to showbiz, though," Plinky maintains.
Speaking of closing one’s doors, what would Plinky do if a woman approaches her and asks for advice about closing doors in one’s life, so to speak, and forging a new life after a failed marriage?
"I’d give her my number and we would have lunch out," Plinky replies. "People have their own specific problems and I cannot claim to be an expert on what I do not know."
For Plinky Recto, after all, knowledge is power.
(For inquiries on Pilates, contact Plinky Recto at tel. nos. 811-3471, 867-9140 or e-mail: thebodyworker@plinkyrecto.com)