✨ The Myth of the Pilates Body

🎉 Happy Friday, Friends!

It's time to talk about one of the most hyped workouts of the last few years: Pilates. There's nuance to this conversation that I haven't heard talked about online, so let's' get into why the hype around Pilates is troubling.

Here’s the thing. Pilates can be great.

• It teaches deep core engagement, breath awareness, and body control
• It helps you learn how to use certain parts of your body to support others while you lift your body weight. Shifting weight from one part of your body to another is challenging!
• It’s helped a lot of people (myself included!) connect to their bodies in new ways.
• It can be an amazing addition to a strength training practice, because the overlap between Pilates and traditional training is that essential core utilization component.

But here’s where things get murky.

We’ve all seen the Instagram and TikTok content hyping Pilates as the secret to getting smaller, longer, and leaner. The “Pilates body.” You know what I’m talking about.

It’s a thin, ultra-feminized, usually white body in soft neutrals, with a Stanley cup that matches the fit, plus a top knot. And it’s everywhere. Search for “workout outfit” on Pinterest and you get mostly Alo Yoga sets on models with the body I just described.

(If you’re curious, here’s a case study on Alo Yoga’s marketing strategy with a focus on how they’ve saturated social media and even real-life locations with their overpriced clothing.)

Let’s break it down:

Does Pilates make you smaller? Short answer... no. It’s not cardio. It's not a "fat-burning workout." It’s not strength training in the traditional sense, either. You won’t build the kind of muscle that boosts metabolism, supports your joints, or increases bone density, nor will your heart pound consistently the it would during a spin class. If fat loss is one of your goals, Pilates won’t do it.

Is Pilates “bad”? Absolutely not! But the reason so many of us are drawn to it right now isn’t fully about wellness. It's the marketing of that tiny body, plus the celebs who say it's the reason why they look the way they do. And, just like GLP-1s and supplements, the culture is muddled. The vibes are confusing. It’s not that something’s wrong, but something isn’t right.

But why is this a problem? Because when we’re funneled toward exercise that keeps us small, we potentially lose out on the opportunity to get truly strong in a lasting way. Remember that your time is valuable, especially when it comes to fitness.

If you spend all your movement time and energy on Pilates, you will be physically unable to train with heavy weights.

Choosing a mix of movement practices that serve your future self and your present self can be complicated. And calling Pilates a miracle workout (especially if you're Miley Cyrus) can inhibit a person’s ability to build powerful muscle.

Put another way: When you go to three Pilates classes a week, your body could max out on effort, losing the chance to jump, yell, lift heavy, and even the chance to get some sun with friends on a brisk walk or volleyball on the beach. Our fascist, fatphobic, capitalist overlords want us to stay obsessed with appearing delicate. They want us doing workouts that won’t make us louder, stronger, or take up more space so that we don’t do the sweaty, strength-building, community-building stuff.

So, let’s be clear:

• If you do Pilates, you already have a Pilates body.
• There’s nothing wrong with the practice.
• But there’s a lot wrong with the culture.

Movement should feel like freedom, not punishment. Strength is supposed to work for you in the real world, helping you pick up your dog or kid, run to catch a bus, or slam a medicine ball just to get the frustration out. If Pilates serves your goals, great! But if you feel like it might be holding you back from what gets you going and what gets your muscles growing, consider adding something else.

Especially if any part of it has to do with getting that mythical body created by Alo Yoga.

In strength + sweaty solidarity,
Dana