What’s the Deal with the Buzz Around Pilates?

If you’ve spent any time on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube this summer, you may have noticed an influx of Pilates content. After Lori Harvey revealed Reformer Pilates “changed her life” and helped her sculpt the defined abs we all saw at this year’s Met Gala, it seemed like everyone on the Internet was flocking to this revered workout. Some Pilates studios even reported seeing an uptick in class attendance this summer that they attributed in part due to the social media buzz. 

By mid July 2022, Pilates related content had more than 1.4 billion views on TikTok with the term “Pilates girl” growing in popularity. Just a few weeks later, The New York Times published a piece all about Pilates, saying, “the strength and flexibility workout is having a moment.” 

The piece, written by award-winning multimedia journalist Danielle Friedman, explored all the reasons behind the Pilates buzz, including the role the pandemic has played in changing fitness trends. Forced to find new ways to care for their mental wellbeing during the challenging last two years, many people have gravitated away from higher-intensity cardio workouts to exercise modalities with a mind-body connection. With its emphasis on core strength and flexibility, and praise from celebs and athletes like Jennifer Aniston and David Beckham, it’s not surprising Pilates has climbed to the top of people’s exercise interest lists. \

And yet despite the growing popularity of Pilates, the full benefits of the practice have been for the most part, pretty inaccessible until now.

Transforming the Way Pilates is Practiced 

Walk into any gym across North America and you’ll likely find familiar landscape: A cardio section with treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, stair steppers, and rowing machines; a resistance section with chest press and leg extension machines; free weights; a functional training area, and a studio space with classes that range from Zumba and Tai Chi to HITT, kickboxing, and even belly dancing. But nowhere will you see a Pilates Reformer machine. 

From budget-friendly facilities like Planet Fitness, to luxury fitness clubs like Equinox, fitness gyms have stayed pretty much the same for the last 50 years. Sure, some fitness clubs offer mat Pilates classes and these classes are increasingly available online through virtual platforms and on social channels like YouTube and Instagram, but Reformer Pilates is a different practice. While mat Pilates is at the core of the practice and a great place for beginners to start, the Reformer allows you to add resistance to your exercises that help you build greater strength and further tone your muscles. 

Until now, Reformer Pilates has only been available through classes at Pilates studios, or via private instruction. There’s never been a brick and mortar gym or studio where you could go in and use the Reformer on your own! 

FRAME is disrupting that. 

Dubbed the “the Peloton of Pilates,” our at-home Reformer is changing the way people practice this powerful modality. We’re making Reformer Pilates accessible from the comfort of your own home, with a tool so beautifully designed it’s more like art than a piece of fitness equipment. That’s only the beginning of our vision though.

We see a future where you can walk into your local gym and use a FRAME Reformer machine, just like you can walk in and use a treadmill or leg press machine. Each and every person on our team has experienced the power of the way Pilates not only helps your body build strength and flexibility, but also the way it helps us form a deeper relationship with our bodies, reduce stress, and develop a mindfulness practice that supports us in all areas of our life. 

That’s the kind of transformation we’re creating, and we’re so grateful for all the early adopters who have joined us in being among the first to help us bring that vision to life. 

Our PreOrder will be closing soon, so if you want to be among the first to receive the FRAME Reformer, confirm your order here. 

Thanks for helping us transform the industry and build something incredible together.