Is Pilates a fad?
“Pilates, although beneficial, is another fitness fad. Watch it cycle back out soon…”
I recently read this in the comments section of an Instagram post about the apparent decline in Yoga spaces. The author was seeking to blame the epidemic of reformer Pilates studios for this decline. Based, I suspect, on nothing.
People are always treating Yoga and Pilates like fraternal twins - same same but different. Those of us in the know find it perplexing. Comparing Yoga and Pilates is like comparing Hinduism with weightlifting. One is an ancient set of beliefs and practices about how life should be lived. The other is a century old set of exercises for improving spinal health. Sure, they both use a mat, but so does wrestling…
Let’s get back to the Instagram commentator who deemed Pilates a fad. I shouldn’t let her get to me, yet here I am a few weeks later simmering away. How can you possibly deem something that has continued to grow in popularity since World War 1 a ‘fad’? I suspect she typed her comment while slumped at her desk, posture worse than the hunchback of Notre Dame.
The reality is that Pilates is no new kid on the block. Initially called ‘Contrology’, it was invented by Josef Pilates in the 1920s to help hospital patients maintain and regain strength. When Pilates moved from Europe to NYC, he introduced his method to George Balanchine, choreographer at the New York City Ballet. Balanchine then referred his ballet dancers to Pilates for injury prevention, and to improve strength and flexibility. Pilates then spread from the dance and rehabilitation world into the general fitness world, with London’s first studio opened in the 1970s. Finally, Pilates became ‘mainstream’ in the 1990s. Even that was thirty years ago.
Sounding less and less like a fad by the second, isn’t it?
Name a form of physical movement that is more precise, more functional, more complete and more inclusive than Pilates? I bet you can’t. After all, would the NHS recommend Pilates if it was a fad? You don’t see the NHS website recommending vibrating fat loss machines or hula hooping. Not only does the NHS recommend Pilates but it actually has Pilates videos available its website.
Perhaps our keyboard warrior’s view is based on the fact that Pilates is all over social media. If you are into health and wellness then I suspect your ‘For You’ page is filled with girls in Alo and Adanola contorting themselves on reformers. But does that make it a fad? After all, people also constantly post pictures of seafood linguine and almost croissants, but no one would call food a fad? The fad here is people documenting their every move on social media in a contrived way. In twenty years time it will likely be terribly embarrassing to document your meal or your workout online. But behind closed doors people will still be eating, and they will also still be doing Pilates.
All of which is to say that Pilates won’t be ‘cycling out’ any time soon, contrary to what our friend on Instagram believes. Call me self-interested if you like - after all, I own a Pilates Studio - but I will die on this hill. Pilates is the antithesis of a fad. Some things - like vegetables and therapy and Pilates - are just so damn good for us that they are here to stay.
