Finally, some good news: More and more people are getting active, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association’s (SFIA) recent report. For the first time since they started tracking activity levels in 2008, participation in at least once in a sport or fitness activity in the past year reached 80 percent. That’s 247.1 million people in the U.S. getting moving.
One modality that has been encouraging Americans to sweat? Pilates. It’s seen the biggest uptick in popularity over the past five years, according to the report. If you notice your studio has been increasingly busy lately, it’s because since 2019, participation in pilates has grown from 9.2 million people to 12.9 million. That’s a nearly 40 percent change.
For comparison, the second fastest growing modality, yoga, increased by 23.6 percent, followed by kettlebells at 21.2 percent and barre at 19.1 percent. (The modality that saw the biggest decrease? Cycling, which was down 33.5 percent over five years.)
The practice is particularly attractive to women, who make up about 70 percent of it’s users, according to another report from SFIA.
Related StoryWhy People Love Pilates
Pilates boasts a lot of benefits, so it makes sense that people are hopping on the bandwagon.
Want to drive that participation up even higher? Get started with these pilates exercises for a stronger core or the five best pilates moves for longevity (yup, add that to the list of perks, too).
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Olivia Luppino is an editorial assistant at Women’s Health. She spends most of her time interviewing expert sources about the latest fitness trends, nutrition tips, and practical advice for living a healthier life. Olivia previously wrote for New York Magazine’s The Cut, PS (formerly POPSUGAR), and Salon, where she also did on-camera interviews with celebrity guests. She’s currently training for the New York City marathon.