I would hazard to say that most "pilates bodies" are "dancer bodies". A huge amount of trained dancers also do pilates, and many become certified to teach pilates as a way to supplement their almost non-existent dancer income. So, if you're talking about people who have seriously trained in ballet and/or contemporary dance for 20+ years and they are performing at a certain level, a lot of them are going to have this "long, lean" body. (ugh, I hate that phrase) These are the same people that you are seeing in pilates classes and teaching pilates classes, and they did not get those bodies by doing pilates exclusively. I think pilates can be great for core strength and balance, and any type of exercise that someone can commit to regularly and makes them feel good about themselves, fantastic. But it is foolish to think that doing pilates alone will create that result. Same goes for barre class. It makes me die a little inside every time I see a barre class marketed as a way to get a "ballerina body". It's a con.
yeah exactly! this goes for other types of exercise, too -- a lot of CrossFit people I know are former/current military or were D1 college athletes or whatever; they have a tremendous strength background so they excel at/look yoked from CrossFit not *just* bc of CrossFit. Ofc you *can* get yoked as hell doing CF (ask me how I know lol) but it's like anything else -- depends on how dedicated you are, if your strength routine makes sense, if you're eating right, etc. It's not only the exercise BRAND itself that's got some kind of magic in it
Fascinating! I'd never thought of that before, re: Crossfit, but it makes total sense to lean into a mode of exercise that may already feel good for the way your body has been previously conditioned. I'm someone who has been taking dance classes my entire life and as a result I *have* to take a class in order to exercise - whether that's ballet, yoga, or aerial yoga. After years of programming, I literally need to be told what to do. Or as one of my friend's put it, we are "exercise subs". I have some weights gathering dust in my apartment. But I think my plan is for a friend and I to go in on a shared session with a personal trainer who will do weight-training with us. Because we've both been saying for months that we need to lift weights, but we both need to have someone tell us to do it. The mind is 95% of all exercise regimes!
This 1000x times- former dancers, cheerleaders, yoga + barre cross over- I always joke that Pilates is for people that are already thin. It’s just enough to keep a thin body limber and not flabby. And that’s a minority of people. I love pilates, barre, yoga and do it 3x weekly still but at nearly 50 it’s not enough to give me the arms and abs I want(for that I lift heavy now with a trainor)-30 years ago Pilates and yoga was all I needed tho. Def see it as a supplement for most people now.
Former dancer who has been an aerialist for the past decade and this mentality has drifted over into our corner of the world, too.
I love aerial and circus so much because I hated the culture of regular gyms and Pilates studios, but looking long and lean in the air has now become a goal over/ alongside artistry and technique.
Pilates is amazing cross training for aerial and really helps develop insane end range control, but I will probably never go back to a studio because all of the dog whistles of thinness.
There’s a big difference between contemporary Pilates and classic Pilates. The former has hijacked what was always meant to be a supplementary practice. All the classic Pilates instructors I follow lift and encourage it.
But as you’ve aptly suggested, there’s money to be made from “many women’s desire to look like they work out (but not too much!!!).” So that means positioning Pilates as the one and only thing women need to be healthy and strong-ish.
This is my beef with pilates, too: I'm convinced that it doesn't do what it says on the box. I'm in my early 40s, and have worked out regularly since I was a teenager, so I've done a *lot* of different exercises over the years, from HIIT, to spin, to Les Mills Body Attack, hot yoga, regular yoga, circuit training, weight training, running - and yes, pilates on and off since I was 16. Of all those types of exercise, pilates has been the one I've seen the *least* aesthetic results from.
I am convinced that the only people for whom pilates creates a "pilates body" are the naturally thin. Regarding its claims to strengthen core and alignment, that might be true (although I haven't experienced that either), but as you say - it's not a good exercise for fat loss, and compared to weight training (or even body weight based HIIT, I'd argue), it's not great for building muscle, either.
A new Club Pilates opened within walking distance to my house in April so I figured why not give it a shot. Rightly or wrongly, I’ve enjoyed Pilates precisely because it’s not that strenuous. I don’t like intense exercise and opt for more walking and regular, low intensity movement. Walking in blind, I would never in a million years presume it would give me a Pilates body based on the intensity of the exercises. In fact, none of the instructors have it, and neither do the participants, most of whom are 40+.
Because I’ve been enjoying it, I recently tried one of the more intense transformer workout gyms. It was way harder, louder and more intense. I hated it! The age skewed much younger (mid 20s to early 30s) and everyone was in a black spandex set and more or less had a Pilates body.
I’m continuing to do Club Pilates because it’s better to do something I’ll do consistently, than something I’ll quit. It may not give me the benefits of progressive strength training, but I do notice a difference in my core strength, stability and balance.
I started Reformer Pilates out of sheer desperation and the recommendation of a trusted physical therapist to reduce pain… and it is the only thing that’s worked for me once I “graduated” from physical therapy (ie, my insurance ran out.) I’m super grateful that I walked into my first session and my new instructor asked me what my goals were and that I was able to say living pain free, and also disclose my history with disordered eating and all the other body image shit that usually comes with exercise for me and that I’m still/always and forever working through. I’ve really turned a blind eye to the Pilates girly stuff, but when I do tune in for a minute, I just have to laugh. I do Pilates twice a week and I…definitely do not have that body. Like. No way no how. Except internally, because my pain free existence is proof that it works FOR ME AND MY BODY AS IT EXISTS NOW. Only that. I’ll never defend the systemic oppression and the capitalist drivers of diet culture, but I’ll always defend a person’s right to exercise the way it works for them, without the dumb noise of all that gross stuff. I wish Pilates could just be Pilates, another thing you can do to move in the world.
1000000%, thanks for leaving this comment. I'm very glad it works for you for the reasons it works for you! That's why it's a particular culture around it that I take issue with, not the modality itself. Very very glad it's helped with your pain <3
I took my first pilates class and then read a bunch of studies about it cause that's the kind of person I am. It was surprising how non-evidence based it is. For just about every fitness goal, a different exercise would be better whether that's strength, cardio, or flexibility.
It's better than doing nothing. I'll probably do another class sometime but only cause it's offered at the gym I already go to and it was fun. I wouldn't add it to my regular routine.
Agree, any movement (that doesn't cause you pain, distress, disorder, etc.) is better than none! I'm with ya. Sometimes I'll take a Pilates class if I can get a deal or something.
I agree and would add (don't shoot me) -- yoga. The few people I know who do yoga for exercise are people who are already have naturally toned, thin bodies. Yoga is fantastic for so many reasons, but "exercise," weight loss, and muscle building are not those reasons.
I have not, but I did do a weighted abs course in the Spring (weights in arms and on ankles), and found it to be reasonably effective! My fitness priorities are elsewhere at the moment, but I am still doing the exercises once per week and may increase again once my other goals are met.
something funny to me is that for basically my whole life my (very untrendy and offline) parents have done pilates, so to me it’s always occupied the same place mentally as like… “water aerobics.” which is not a slander on either pilates or water aerobics i just cannot imagine the pilates influencer aesthetic even if i try lol
lol i was just talking to someone who wanted to write a piece like "how come the young people are all doing old people stuff" (this, pickleball, etc.). One does wonder...
i did do pilates for a bit recovering from pancreatitis and it helped me quite a lot but where we are the nearest pilates place is like a ~forty minute drive so my dedication to pilates proved… conditional lol. i was however in a stretch class with a bunch of old men and they were all soooo much more flexible than me… it was kind of humiliating
btw i can imagine that this is a well you feel you've drained dry, but in the latest round of "celebrity bodies do not exist to make you feel good about yourself," i present… "ripped gracie abrams" https://x.com/hotmessjunk/status/1839537320766386603
I started doing pilates 11 yrs ago after sustaining a foot injury from cycling. Quitting cycling was heartbreaking! It was such a huge part of my life. But I needed something low-impact that would prevent muscle atrophy while in waxing/waning levels of pain. I loved how it forced me to pay attention to my posture. It continues to be a really great complement to PT for me. It sucks to see the discourse go this way when there are so many different reasons to integrate pilates into a larger routine of healthy movement. I'm seeing more instructors on social advocate that banded/glider mat sequences at home can be just as effective as cost-prohibitive boutique reformer classes which is great. I know I'm not alone in this line of thinking!
Mikala, I know you’re already recommended/mentioned Casey Johnson’s She’s a Beast column/newsletter, but for anyone else curious about lifting I cannot recommend it enough. Casey is extremely accessible to anyone of any level. Also, thanks for this newsletter. I love lifting and am constantly encouraging the women in my life to do it. Almost none of them have, yet, because there is still a persistent intimidation factor with how male dominated weight training spaces are at gyms, but that’s a hurdle worth getting over. It is so empowering to feel physically capable of carrying heavy shit. Even the gratification of my cardio improvements pales in comparison to my lifting gains. I do really wish more women only lifting gyms existed though (do any? Idk).
There was a women-only gym in my town when I was in college, actually, called Ladies' Workout Express. It looks like it's closed. I have no idea if more exist, would love to know if any other commenters know of any.
I love pilates. It definitely makes me feel more connected with my body. For me, it's lots of stretching and improving flexibility. I don't have a pilates body! And all my pilates is free online. I lift weights as well but I'm always travelling so I use resistance bands instead of weights and I find it hard to get the technique right. But I find pilates a good supplement to that and to walking a lot. I'm in the UK - maybe we don't have the same kind of culture around Pilates as you?
Yeah I don't know. I feel like most of the pilates classes I've seen have been older women, women with disabilities, overweight etc and it's a way of gently stretching and exercising that is doable and feels not too judgey. At the moment I'm following classes online with a physiotherapist who just does the classes for free. She is a normal looking, strong woman. So I don't see the side of it you're describing. I also really like to think it’s not a waste of time, fitness-wise! It's the one thing I can manage to fit in nearly every day and it makes me feel stronger. I do other exercise as well but I can't be as consistent and keeping up pilates makes me feel like I'm still paying attention to my body even when I can't do anything else.
American in Edinburgh here. I've done reformer classes for decades, fell in love with 'dynamic' classes while living in Melbourne and go to a dynamic studio in Edinburgh where the instructors (who are not lithe and tiny but are super strong) encourage us to focus on our individual progression. I lift weights at home on off days and jog, and this combination is getting me through perimenopause feeling strong and balanced.
I can only comment on the culture I'm in, which is working mum with young kids and not a lot of personal time, but I'm the only one in my friend group, male or female, who makes time for reformer and none of them do mat pilates. I've also found it refreshing that in the 8 years I've lived here, I've had maybe three conversations that involved anyone commenting on their or another's body. We have other things to talk about. I find it so much healthier for my young daughters to not hear women complaining about their bodies.
Side note that my husband does reformer classes too, which have a knock on effect on his tennis game.
This culture you speak of in the piece is more vocal with the Peloton and CrossFit sets - that's the Kool-Aid that seems to resonate up here. Peloton is waning post-Covid. But my pals who do CrossFit talk mostly about the community around it, the encouragement they feel from others, and that strength is important too. I'd echo that with my reformer studio; it's my "Cheers", where it's noticed if I don't make my weekly classes, and there's lots of chatter before and after class. If we're moving our bodies in places where the instructors celebrate our achievements and encourage us to challenge ourselves, surely that is the sweet spot?
Thanks for this piece - really enjoying reading the comments too.
I am a mat Pilates instructor (as well as a CPT) and found myself nodding vigorously throughout this excellent post. I saw an IG ad recently (I'm not even sure what it was for) that prompted viewers to imagine what their lives might be like if they had unlimited time and resources, and one of the possibilities they offered (along with things like "cooking gourmet dinners every night") was "going to Pilates every day." I find this so puzzling! Pilates is an excellent complement to so many other things — lifting weights, running, cycling — and you can get a lot out of it in terms of developing your mind-body connection, building core strength, supporting your posture, improving pelvic floor function, and generally building a solid and supported foundation for other activities. But I cannot imagine doing it more than about twice a week. A strength training program that involves progressive overload can pretty much be a whole meal, but going to Pilates every day would be like eating nothing but, IDK… beans. Sure, beans are great for you, but they're not ALL!
In any case, when people come to my class and say they've never done Pilates, I almost feel like I want to have a whole conversation with them about why they're here, what they're hoping to get out of it, etc. Like, let's clear up some things! I became a Pilates instructor because I used to take an incredible weekly mat class at Crunch that made me feel so much better in my body as I worked through the rest of my fitness routine — CrossFit, yoga, a little cardio. Only through the process of training (which is a whole other elitist, insane can of worms) and through observing the development of "Pilates culture" over the last few years did I even realize this ridiculous side of things existed.
It's also worth mentioning that MANY, MANY Pilates instructors are dancers or former dancers. The thin-but-muscley body type so many people associate with Pilates may stem more from the prevalence of dancers than from any aesthetic effects of the modality itself.
Anyway, so much more to say. I've been drafting a whole post about this for a while myself and will be linking to yours heavily! Thanks for doing this.
Thank you SO much Anna. Was very much looking forward to your thoughts on this. I'm glad we're on the same page, since you would know!
"A strength training program that involves progressive overload can pretty much be a whole meal, but going to Pilates every day would be like eating nothing but, IDK… beans. Sure, beans are great for you, but they're not ALL!"
When I was dancing professionally in my 20's (which was a loooooooong time ago), I was an anomaly amongst all of my dance friends in that I didn't teach yoga or pilates as my "money" job. I worked in retail - I guess I liked having the clothing discount more!
Thank you for writing this! The Pilates marketing is beyond powerful. As a 50 yr old I am finding such better results with weight training. I hope to see weight training marketed more towards women, I think it’s starting to be. I do like pilates. It’s just not enough. What I notice is that so-called results from Pilates probably get mixed up with youth. Anything I did under the age of 36 “worked”.
I agree with most of what you’ve said here about Pilates. I do think that all of the general workouts (strength, cardio, circuit, etc) that are said to be good for women/or yield results…they come with pressure to achieve…achieve muscle, eat more protein, lose fat etc. I think Pilates/yoga/walking removes all that noise. For me it’s the noise the other modalities come with which feeds into diet culture in some ways. When I travel outside America, I noticed that all of the praise for “general workouts” just aren’t there in other countries. The focus is on walking, hiking, moving on bikes instead of cars, carrying groceries for longer distances, and Pilates/yoga like classes instead of strength training. I dunno but I think the big conversation is how do we make movement practices an integrated part of our lives without all of the noise.
This is so interesting, thanks for the comment Janet. You're definitely right, the achievement thing is huge and a kind of noise I'm still grappling with a lot. If Pilates etc. doesn't have that for you, that's amazing. Fascinating that the exercise focus is different outside of America. I'd really like to learn more about how other countries think/talk about exercise.
One thing I think is missing here is another reason why people work out: mental health. I'm not motivated by weight loss, muscle toning, or strength (I don't even know what the scale for strength would be). I work out because it's like an SSRI for me, and bc I know it's good for me.
I don't have an athletic background and have found that exercise that I *like* to do is the exercise I will do—for me that's pilates (at home, with the peloton app), cycling (again with peloton), yoga, and walking. I hate gyms (the feeling of them and also the aesthetic). I've wondered if pilates is so popular because they are typically beautifully designed spaces with chill music and natural light. I also like that classes are structured as a flow, as I hate doing circuits.
Oh mental health for sureeeee. I've written about this in various other posts. I totally agree that people should do the exercise they like, and maybe you're onto something re: the beauty of the space. I actually had a graf in here about how the "luxury" of the Pilates experience is a big part of it for some people
I don't enjoy pilates - but the gatekeeping of weight training by men and societal expectations of women in general is a travesty. One of the absolute best ways to get healthy and age well is weight training.
Pilates is good as a companion to strength training - it helps stabilizer muscles (as does yoga) and can isolate weaker areas that will support you during weight training. On its own it isn’t effective for weight loss or strength. It boggles my mind that anyone JUST does Pilates.
"Those are Pilates arms, like right away, that was my first reaction to this photo," she said in the video, referencing a full-body photo of Cyrus. "I teach a ton of classes a day, like every single day, and so many people in my classes have these exact same arms."
selection bias goes crazy lmao.
i wonder why barre never got big in the same way, when they had a lot of similar pseudoscience marketing claims about "long lean muscle" and getting "toned." was barre just too boring? i really like how the reformer FEELS. there's something fun about the tool.
Because barre is harder than just exercising you have to have specific form ! I think people have turned some Pilates classes into a mix of CrossFit and other exercises and taken away it’s proper reason for its existence
Thanks for this article, and I agree with you about the culture!
And while I fully acknowledge that this wasn’t the focus of this post in particular, one thing that I don’t hear discussed enough about pilates is its effect on performance. I realize probably a majority of people aren’t doing pilates for performance. And I realize also that my pilates studio is kind of extraordinary in how they teach it since they serve a lot of athletes. But having been a collegiate and professional athlete, and having done a ton of supervised training, I’ve found pilates to be one of the most beneficial systems of training for performance and endurance. The focus on alignment, and building that alignment from the core, is central to any kind of controlled movement.
That said, I in no way do pilates exclusively, and my routine includes a blend of everything you described—weight training, pilates, cycling, and yoga.
As someone who’s loved Pilates since 2007 when it saved me from insane back pain, this still resonated so much. Pilates is awesome AND we need more to be strong.
This especially resonated:
There are professional bodybuilders who have the same “long, lean” look as top Pilates influencers, and their entire lives revolve around lifting weights. Even if you think they look too muscular, you’d have to lift the same way they do [hours a day, every day, while adhering to strict nutrition/recovery/supplementation protocols] to come close; a standard normal-person lifting routine ain’t gonna do it.
I decided to really take strength training seriously this year at 40 by hiring a PT and had ambitious dreams of a full body transformation by Dec. It’s Oct now and LOL… My body has changed so much but I have not built as much muscle as I dreamed I would (which my PT told me from the start…). Building muscle is important AND honestly hard especially as we get older so we need to start now!
yes! it's not easy to build muscle! when people worry they're going to suddenly hulk out, i'm like .... babe all the bodybuilders/powerlifter/strongmen WISH it was that simple
I would hazard to say that most "pilates bodies" are "dancer bodies". A huge amount of trained dancers also do pilates, and many become certified to teach pilates as a way to supplement their almost non-existent dancer income. So, if you're talking about people who have seriously trained in ballet and/or contemporary dance for 20+ years and they are performing at a certain level, a lot of them are going to have this "long, lean" body. (ugh, I hate that phrase) These are the same people that you are seeing in pilates classes and teaching pilates classes, and they did not get those bodies by doing pilates exclusively. I think pilates can be great for core strength and balance, and any type of exercise that someone can commit to regularly and makes them feel good about themselves, fantastic. But it is foolish to think that doing pilates alone will create that result. Same goes for barre class. It makes me die a little inside every time I see a barre class marketed as a way to get a "ballerina body". It's a con.
yeah exactly! this goes for other types of exercise, too -- a lot of CrossFit people I know are former/current military or were D1 college athletes or whatever; they have a tremendous strength background so they excel at/look yoked from CrossFit not *just* bc of CrossFit. Ofc you *can* get yoked as hell doing CF (ask me how I know lol) but it's like anything else -- depends on how dedicated you are, if your strength routine makes sense, if you're eating right, etc. It's not only the exercise BRAND itself that's got some kind of magic in it
Fascinating! I'd never thought of that before, re: Crossfit, but it makes total sense to lean into a mode of exercise that may already feel good for the way your body has been previously conditioned. I'm someone who has been taking dance classes my entire life and as a result I *have* to take a class in order to exercise - whether that's ballet, yoga, or aerial yoga. After years of programming, I literally need to be told what to do. Or as one of my friend's put it, we are "exercise subs". I have some weights gathering dust in my apartment. But I think my plan is for a friend and I to go in on a shared session with a personal trainer who will do weight-training with us. Because we've both been saying for months that we need to lift weights, but we both need to have someone tell us to do it. The mind is 95% of all exercise regimes!
This 1000x times- former dancers, cheerleaders, yoga + barre cross over- I always joke that Pilates is for people that are already thin. It’s just enough to keep a thin body limber and not flabby. And that’s a minority of people. I love pilates, barre, yoga and do it 3x weekly still but at nearly 50 it’s not enough to give me the arms and abs I want(for that I lift heavy now with a trainor)-30 years ago Pilates and yoga was all I needed tho. Def see it as a supplement for most people now.
Former dancer who has been an aerialist for the past decade and this mentality has drifted over into our corner of the world, too.
I love aerial and circus so much because I hated the culture of regular gyms and Pilates studios, but looking long and lean in the air has now become a goal over/ alongside artistry and technique.
Pilates is amazing cross training for aerial and really helps develop insane end range control, but I will probably never go back to a studio because all of the dog whistles of thinness.
There’s a big difference between contemporary Pilates and classic Pilates. The former has hijacked what was always meant to be a supplementary practice. All the classic Pilates instructors I follow lift and encourage it.
But as you’ve aptly suggested, there’s money to be made from “many women’s desire to look like they work out (but not too much!!!).” So that means positioning Pilates as the one and only thing women need to be healthy and strong-ish.
yes 100%!
Pilates as a supplementary practice makes so much more sense!
This is my beef with pilates, too: I'm convinced that it doesn't do what it says on the box. I'm in my early 40s, and have worked out regularly since I was a teenager, so I've done a *lot* of different exercises over the years, from HIIT, to spin, to Les Mills Body Attack, hot yoga, regular yoga, circuit training, weight training, running - and yes, pilates on and off since I was 16. Of all those types of exercise, pilates has been the one I've seen the *least* aesthetic results from.
I am convinced that the only people for whom pilates creates a "pilates body" are the naturally thin. Regarding its claims to strengthen core and alignment, that might be true (although I haven't experienced that either), but as you say - it's not a good exercise for fat loss, and compared to weight training (or even body weight based HIIT, I'd argue), it's not great for building muscle, either.
A new Club Pilates opened within walking distance to my house in April so I figured why not give it a shot. Rightly or wrongly, I’ve enjoyed Pilates precisely because it’s not that strenuous. I don’t like intense exercise and opt for more walking and regular, low intensity movement. Walking in blind, I would never in a million years presume it would give me a Pilates body based on the intensity of the exercises. In fact, none of the instructors have it, and neither do the participants, most of whom are 40+.
Because I’ve been enjoying it, I recently tried one of the more intense transformer workout gyms. It was way harder, louder and more intense. I hated it! The age skewed much younger (mid 20s to early 30s) and everyone was in a black spandex set and more or less had a Pilates body.
I’m continuing to do Club Pilates because it’s better to do something I’ll do consistently, than something I’ll quit. It may not give me the benefits of progressive strength training, but I do notice a difference in my core strength, stability and balance.
Good!! Whatever is the thing you'll stick with is good. That's the "goes without saying" thing I should probably say in every post lol
I started Reformer Pilates out of sheer desperation and the recommendation of a trusted physical therapist to reduce pain… and it is the only thing that’s worked for me once I “graduated” from physical therapy (ie, my insurance ran out.) I’m super grateful that I walked into my first session and my new instructor asked me what my goals were and that I was able to say living pain free, and also disclose my history with disordered eating and all the other body image shit that usually comes with exercise for me and that I’m still/always and forever working through. I’ve really turned a blind eye to the Pilates girly stuff, but when I do tune in for a minute, I just have to laugh. I do Pilates twice a week and I…definitely do not have that body. Like. No way no how. Except internally, because my pain free existence is proof that it works FOR ME AND MY BODY AS IT EXISTS NOW. Only that. I’ll never defend the systemic oppression and the capitalist drivers of diet culture, but I’ll always defend a person’s right to exercise the way it works for them, without the dumb noise of all that gross stuff. I wish Pilates could just be Pilates, another thing you can do to move in the world.
1000000%, thanks for leaving this comment. I'm very glad it works for you for the reasons it works for you! That's why it's a particular culture around it that I take issue with, not the modality itself. Very very glad it's helped with your pain <3
I took my first pilates class and then read a bunch of studies about it cause that's the kind of person I am. It was surprising how non-evidence based it is. For just about every fitness goal, a different exercise would be better whether that's strength, cardio, or flexibility.
It's better than doing nothing. I'll probably do another class sometime but only cause it's offered at the gym I already go to and it was fun. I wouldn't add it to my regular routine.
Agree, any movement (that doesn't cause you pain, distress, disorder, etc.) is better than none! I'm with ya. Sometimes I'll take a Pilates class if I can get a deal or something.
I agree and would add (don't shoot me) -- yoga. The few people I know who do yoga for exercise are people who are already have naturally toned, thin bodies. Yoga is fantastic for so many reasons, but "exercise," weight loss, and muscle building are not those reasons.
Have you tried solid core? I think it’s way better
I have not, but I did do a weighted abs course in the Spring (weights in arms and on ankles), and found it to be reasonably effective! My fitness priorities are elsewhere at the moment, but I am still doing the exercises once per week and may increase again once my other goals are met.
something funny to me is that for basically my whole life my (very untrendy and offline) parents have done pilates, so to me it’s always occupied the same place mentally as like… “water aerobics.” which is not a slander on either pilates or water aerobics i just cannot imagine the pilates influencer aesthetic even if i try lol
lol i was just talking to someone who wanted to write a piece like "how come the young people are all doing old people stuff" (this, pickleball, etc.). One does wonder...
i did do pilates for a bit recovering from pancreatitis and it helped me quite a lot but where we are the nearest pilates place is like a ~forty minute drive so my dedication to pilates proved… conditional lol. i was however in a stretch class with a bunch of old men and they were all soooo much more flexible than me… it was kind of humiliating
I've worked in some gyms with some reeeeealll stretchy People of a Certain Age and I was like ok drop the routine!!!
btw i can imagine that this is a well you feel you've drained dry, but in the latest round of "celebrity bodies do not exist to make you feel good about yourself," i present… "ripped gracie abrams" https://x.com/hotmessjunk/status/1839537320766386603
Haha I love this
I started doing pilates 11 yrs ago after sustaining a foot injury from cycling. Quitting cycling was heartbreaking! It was such a huge part of my life. But I needed something low-impact that would prevent muscle atrophy while in waxing/waning levels of pain. I loved how it forced me to pay attention to my posture. It continues to be a really great complement to PT for me. It sucks to see the discourse go this way when there are so many different reasons to integrate pilates into a larger routine of healthy movement. I'm seeing more instructors on social advocate that banded/glider mat sequences at home can be just as effective as cost-prohibitive boutique reformer classes which is great. I know I'm not alone in this line of thinking!
i'm really glad it's helping you, and awesome to know about the banded/glider stuff!
Mikala, I know you’re already recommended/mentioned Casey Johnson’s She’s a Beast column/newsletter, but for anyone else curious about lifting I cannot recommend it enough. Casey is extremely accessible to anyone of any level. Also, thanks for this newsletter. I love lifting and am constantly encouraging the women in my life to do it. Almost none of them have, yet, because there is still a persistent intimidation factor with how male dominated weight training spaces are at gyms, but that’s a hurdle worth getting over. It is so empowering to feel physically capable of carrying heavy shit. Even the gratification of my cardio improvements pales in comparison to my lifting gains. I do really wish more women only lifting gyms existed though (do any? Idk).
Thank you, and yes, Casey is awesome.
There was a women-only gym in my town when I was in college, actually, called Ladies' Workout Express. It looks like it's closed. I have no idea if more exist, would love to know if any other commenters know of any.
I love pilates. It definitely makes me feel more connected with my body. For me, it's lots of stretching and improving flexibility. I don't have a pilates body! And all my pilates is free online. I lift weights as well but I'm always travelling so I use resistance bands instead of weights and I find it hard to get the technique right. But I find pilates a good supplement to that and to walking a lot. I'm in the UK - maybe we don't have the same kind of culture around Pilates as you?
I would be interested to compare the UK + US points of view on this! Maybe it's more popular here.
Yeah I don't know. I feel like most of the pilates classes I've seen have been older women, women with disabilities, overweight etc and it's a way of gently stretching and exercising that is doable and feels not too judgey. At the moment I'm following classes online with a physiotherapist who just does the classes for free. She is a normal looking, strong woman. So I don't see the side of it you're describing. I also really like to think it’s not a waste of time, fitness-wise! It's the one thing I can manage to fit in nearly every day and it makes me feel stronger. I do other exercise as well but I can't be as consistent and keeping up pilates makes me feel like I'm still paying attention to my body even when I can't do anything else.
American in Edinburgh here. I've done reformer classes for decades, fell in love with 'dynamic' classes while living in Melbourne and go to a dynamic studio in Edinburgh where the instructors (who are not lithe and tiny but are super strong) encourage us to focus on our individual progression. I lift weights at home on off days and jog, and this combination is getting me through perimenopause feeling strong and balanced.
I can only comment on the culture I'm in, which is working mum with young kids and not a lot of personal time, but I'm the only one in my friend group, male or female, who makes time for reformer and none of them do mat pilates. I've also found it refreshing that in the 8 years I've lived here, I've had maybe three conversations that involved anyone commenting on their or another's body. We have other things to talk about. I find it so much healthier for my young daughters to not hear women complaining about their bodies.
Side note that my husband does reformer classes too, which have a knock on effect on his tennis game.
This culture you speak of in the piece is more vocal with the Peloton and CrossFit sets - that's the Kool-Aid that seems to resonate up here. Peloton is waning post-Covid. But my pals who do CrossFit talk mostly about the community around it, the encouragement they feel from others, and that strength is important too. I'd echo that with my reformer studio; it's my "Cheers", where it's noticed if I don't make my weekly classes, and there's lots of chatter before and after class. If we're moving our bodies in places where the instructors celebrate our achievements and encourage us to challenge ourselves, surely that is the sweet spot?
Thanks for this piece - really enjoying reading the comments too.
I am a mat Pilates instructor (as well as a CPT) and found myself nodding vigorously throughout this excellent post. I saw an IG ad recently (I'm not even sure what it was for) that prompted viewers to imagine what their lives might be like if they had unlimited time and resources, and one of the possibilities they offered (along with things like "cooking gourmet dinners every night") was "going to Pilates every day." I find this so puzzling! Pilates is an excellent complement to so many other things — lifting weights, running, cycling — and you can get a lot out of it in terms of developing your mind-body connection, building core strength, supporting your posture, improving pelvic floor function, and generally building a solid and supported foundation for other activities. But I cannot imagine doing it more than about twice a week. A strength training program that involves progressive overload can pretty much be a whole meal, but going to Pilates every day would be like eating nothing but, IDK… beans. Sure, beans are great for you, but they're not ALL!
In any case, when people come to my class and say they've never done Pilates, I almost feel like I want to have a whole conversation with them about why they're here, what they're hoping to get out of it, etc. Like, let's clear up some things! I became a Pilates instructor because I used to take an incredible weekly mat class at Crunch that made me feel so much better in my body as I worked through the rest of my fitness routine — CrossFit, yoga, a little cardio. Only through the process of training (which is a whole other elitist, insane can of worms) and through observing the development of "Pilates culture" over the last few years did I even realize this ridiculous side of things existed.
It's also worth mentioning that MANY, MANY Pilates instructors are dancers or former dancers. The thin-but-muscley body type so many people associate with Pilates may stem more from the prevalence of dancers than from any aesthetic effects of the modality itself.
Anyway, so much more to say. I've been drafting a whole post about this for a while myself and will be linking to yours heavily! Thanks for doing this.
Thank you SO much Anna. Was very much looking forward to your thoughts on this. I'm glad we're on the same page, since you would know!
"A strength training program that involves progressive overload can pretty much be a whole meal, but going to Pilates every day would be like eating nothing but, IDK… beans. Sure, beans are great for you, but they're not ALL!"
yes yes yessssssssssss
I see that @Tmendez made the same point above about the dance element. Well said!
When I was dancing professionally in my 20's (which was a loooooooong time ago), I was an anomaly amongst all of my dance friends in that I didn't teach yoga or pilates as my "money" job. I worked in retail - I guess I liked having the clothing discount more!
Thank you for writing this! The Pilates marketing is beyond powerful. As a 50 yr old I am finding such better results with weight training. I hope to see weight training marketed more towards women, I think it’s starting to be. I do like pilates. It’s just not enough. What I notice is that so-called results from Pilates probably get mixed up with youth. Anything I did under the age of 36 “worked”.
Oh yes youth is a biggg part of it I think
I agree with most of what you’ve said here about Pilates. I do think that all of the general workouts (strength, cardio, circuit, etc) that are said to be good for women/or yield results…they come with pressure to achieve…achieve muscle, eat more protein, lose fat etc. I think Pilates/yoga/walking removes all that noise. For me it’s the noise the other modalities come with which feeds into diet culture in some ways. When I travel outside America, I noticed that all of the praise for “general workouts” just aren’t there in other countries. The focus is on walking, hiking, moving on bikes instead of cars, carrying groceries for longer distances, and Pilates/yoga like classes instead of strength training. I dunno but I think the big conversation is how do we make movement practices an integrated part of our lives without all of the noise.
This is so interesting, thanks for the comment Janet. You're definitely right, the achievement thing is huge and a kind of noise I'm still grappling with a lot. If Pilates etc. doesn't have that for you, that's amazing. Fascinating that the exercise focus is different outside of America. I'd really like to learn more about how other countries think/talk about exercise.
One thing I think is missing here is another reason why people work out: mental health. I'm not motivated by weight loss, muscle toning, or strength (I don't even know what the scale for strength would be). I work out because it's like an SSRI for me, and bc I know it's good for me.
I don't have an athletic background and have found that exercise that I *like* to do is the exercise I will do—for me that's pilates (at home, with the peloton app), cycling (again with peloton), yoga, and walking. I hate gyms (the feeling of them and also the aesthetic). I've wondered if pilates is so popular because they are typically beautifully designed spaces with chill music and natural light. I also like that classes are structured as a flow, as I hate doing circuits.
Oh mental health for sureeeee. I've written about this in various other posts. I totally agree that people should do the exercise they like, and maybe you're onto something re: the beauty of the space. I actually had a graf in here about how the "luxury" of the Pilates experience is a big part of it for some people
I don't enjoy pilates - but the gatekeeping of weight training by men and societal expectations of women in general is a travesty. One of the absolute best ways to get healthy and age well is weight training.
that's why I like to summon all my courage and blast into the weights area like I own the damn place. no man shall strike fear into my heart!
haha yesss. I am old enough (35) to give zero fcks about men in the gym
Pilates is good as a companion to strength training - it helps stabilizer muscles (as does yoga) and can isolate weaker areas that will support you during weight training. On its own it isn’t effective for weight loss or strength. It boggles my mind that anyone JUST does Pilates.
"Those are Pilates arms, like right away, that was my first reaction to this photo," she said in the video, referencing a full-body photo of Cyrus. "I teach a ton of classes a day, like every single day, and so many people in my classes have these exact same arms."
selection bias goes crazy lmao.
i wonder why barre never got big in the same way, when they had a lot of similar pseudoscience marketing claims about "long lean muscle" and getting "toned." was barre just too boring? i really like how the reformer FEELS. there's something fun about the tool.
lol right?
Re: barre i wonder if it's legit just that more celebrities did pilates for some reason and talked about it?
Because barre is harder than just exercising you have to have specific form ! I think people have turned some Pilates classes into a mix of CrossFit and other exercises and taken away it’s proper reason for its existence
Thanks for this article, and I agree with you about the culture!
And while I fully acknowledge that this wasn’t the focus of this post in particular, one thing that I don’t hear discussed enough about pilates is its effect on performance. I realize probably a majority of people aren’t doing pilates for performance. And I realize also that my pilates studio is kind of extraordinary in how they teach it since they serve a lot of athletes. But having been a collegiate and professional athlete, and having done a ton of supervised training, I’ve found pilates to be one of the most beneficial systems of training for performance and endurance. The focus on alignment, and building that alignment from the core, is central to any kind of controlled movement.
That said, I in no way do pilates exclusively, and my routine includes a blend of everything you described—weight training, pilates, cycling, and yoga.
Thank you for these insights, Danielle! Totally agree w/you on the alignment benefit :)
As someone who’s loved Pilates since 2007 when it saved me from insane back pain, this still resonated so much. Pilates is awesome AND we need more to be strong.
This especially resonated:
There are professional bodybuilders who have the same “long, lean” look as top Pilates influencers, and their entire lives revolve around lifting weights. Even if you think they look too muscular, you’d have to lift the same way they do [hours a day, every day, while adhering to strict nutrition/recovery/supplementation protocols] to come close; a standard normal-person lifting routine ain’t gonna do it.
I decided to really take strength training seriously this year at 40 by hiring a PT and had ambitious dreams of a full body transformation by Dec. It’s Oct now and LOL… My body has changed so much but I have not built as much muscle as I dreamed I would (which my PT told me from the start…). Building muscle is important AND honestly hard especially as we get older so we need to start now!
yes! it's not easy to build muscle! when people worry they're going to suddenly hulk out, i'm like .... babe all the bodybuilders/powerlifter/strongmen WISH it was that simple
INDEED!! 3x/week at the gym + protein and I have 2 little mice instead of big guns...