Evolution of the Pilates industry since 2014

Omg!  The evolution of Pilates and the entire Pilates industry in the past ten years is amazing! Pilates is almost unrecognizablel to me anymore! I’ll share more about what I see and my thoughts on pros and cons of this changes.

Things I have noticed with the evolution of Pilates

• Everyone seems to know what a reformer is now.  And everyone wants to try it! 
• Gyms have reformer classes! 
• There is a viable and growing pilates reformer studio franchise and more than one!
• Different ethnicities, ages, sizes, physical abilities and more are wanting to try pilates now. 
• The “boutique fitness” world has grown!  Group classes or group fitness are becoming more popular even among men. 
• While men still don’t gravitate towards Pilates, cross fit and bootcamp style fitness are bringing men out into the group class setting. 
• Even big gyms are appealing to an experience and trying to offer that “boutique” fitness feel within the large framework of a gym.  This includes hot yoga studios and classes, spinning studios, aerial yoga, Pilates studios inhouse dedicated to reformer work and more.  It’s like a one stop shop for fitness!  There are even women’s only gyms within these larger gyms.  It’s definitely a world of its own when you walk into one of these mega gyms.  Almost like a smart centre for fitness.  Of course with this comes a price tag with a membership and a monthly fee.
• This is something else that I’m noticing with fitness places, boutique or large gyms, the fee structure.  They really ding you for paying for a single class.  They do encourage paying for multiple classes upfront at the very least, and if not that then unlimited types of memberships at a higher price tag and monthly memberships.

Pros and cons of such rapid evolution in Pilates

Pros

• More people are exposed to Pilates and its benefits.
• More people are being exposed to the different pieces of equipment used in Pilates.  
• More interest in being created in Pilates
• Less education is required to convert an interested participant into a client.
• More people are searching for Pilates classes and training.
• Less barrier to entry for new participants.
• More people are interested in getting into the industry.  E.g. instructors
• The range of demographics Pilates reaches is wider now.

Cons

• Since there are more people curious and interested in trying Pilates, the quality of clients is not as high.
• More complaints.
• More demands from clients.
• From some new clients there is an expectation the studio is like a gym.
• There is still the mentality that Pilates is easy and not a true workout.
• These are not early adopters trying Pilates but rather the late majority and laggards as a result the mindset is quite different.
• With more reformer classes popping up in big gyms, there is a “fitness class” feel to the reformer and pilates classes which lessens the small group training and personalized attention.
• The mindbody connection that Pilates has seemed to have fallen in the shadows.
• Since there are more younger generation people trying Pilates, it has come into social media more.  (This is both a pro and con.)  This gives a very singular view of what Pilates is.
• Because of the greater prevalence of Pilates in social media it has become more of a performance activity rather than an activity that people from the inside out.

Overall, I think it’s absolutely wonderful social media has helped educate the population and helped create this evolution of Pilates in such a short time. While so many were confined to a small radius during Covid-19 both physically and socially, it seemed to have provided time to explore and learn about different things including fitness and Pilates. However, what message was sent about Pilates and how it is presented is very different. There seems to be different clientelle each studio, gym, or club is attracting now. Even the intrepretation of “boutique” studio is quite different. Definitly another topic!