I realised something needed to change when I nearly toppled over trying to tie my shoelaces. I was on a busy high street, with people rushing past holding shopping bags, when I saw my open shoelace spooled on the ground. I bent down to deal with it and felt gravity move against me. Only a quick flail of my arms stopped me from faceplanting. When I raised myself back upright, I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. This can\u2019t be right, I thought.<\/p>\n
Bracing my foot on a bin to finally fix my shoelace, it dawned on me. I\u2019d become rusty. My core strength was nonexistent, as was my flexibility. Years behind a desk had taken a toll, not helped by an after-work routine of watching TV or playing video games on the sofa. But after getting home and doing some research (yes, from my sofa), I found a potential remedy: pilates.<\/p>\n
Originally known as contrology, this so-called \u201cmind-body exercise\u201d was created by a former boxer roughly a century ago. Joseph Pilates<\/a>, a German national, came up with the series of exercises while detained as an \u201cenemy alien\u201d on the Isle of Man during the first world war. In the 1920s, he moved to New York City and set up a studio near a dance school, where it was discovered by ballerinas seeking to soothe their overworked joints.<\/p>\n As well as boosting flexibility, I read that pilates could help with injury recovery. I\u2019ve had shoulder pain since the start of the year, so this seemed another reason to give it a try.<\/p>\n I\u2019m late to the party, though. The UK pilates and yoga market is now worth a reported \u00a31.1bn<\/a>, and although the practice has long been dominated by women, men are increasingly taking notice. As the Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> this week, \u201cGym bros are going to pilates \u2013 and leaving shaking like a chihuahua.\u201d<\/p>\n Sports stars including LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham have sung pilates\u2019 praises, alongside the actor Glen Powell<\/a> and the singer Harry Styles<\/a>. The reggae star Shaggy has become so fond of reformer pilates, with its bed-like exercise machines, that he is considering buying some for his homes in Florida and Jamaica. \u201cYou\u2019re touching muscles you didn\u2019t know you had,\u201d he told the New Yorker<\/a> mid-exercise. \u201cJesus Christ!\u201d His praise (or warning) is ringing in my head as I venture to my first class.<\/p>\n But before heading off, I have to sort out my attire. Pilates may once have been \u201cmore of a male discipline\u201d, in the words of Hernan Castro-Vidal, who runs the Pilates Nutrition studio in south London, but it\u2019s become associated with images of impeccably groomed \u201cpilates princesses\u201d, showcasing their carefully chosen, colour-coordinated outfits on social media. My wardrobe is much less stylish. When it comes to the gym, I usually throw on an old T-shirt \u2013 but this won\u2019t do if I\u2019m to become a \u201cpilates prince\u201d.<\/p>\n I manage to dig out a wrinkled gym vest, but, despite numerous attempts, it appears resistant to my iron: perhaps I should just embrace the term \u201cpilates pauper\u201d.<\/p>\n Week one: \u2018After 20 minutes, I am pleading for the class to be over\u2019<\/p>\n I start with reformer, not just the most fashionable form of pilates, but also the easiest-looking. As far as I can see, you just strap your hands and legs into some felt hoops and let the machine do the work. Walking into a mid-afternoon class at my local gym, however, I still feel intimidated. There are more than a dozen machines in the room, looking more intricate than I expected now I can see them close up. And my classmates \u2013 about 50\/50 men and women \u2013 appear to know them inside out.<\/p>\n Hernan Castro-Vidal helps Sammy with the exercises. Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Before getting strapped in, we are told to touch our toes while maintaining a steady balance. I falter a few times, getting flashbacks to my shoelace mishap, but eventually get the hang of it. Then the fun part begins. We are told to lie on the machine, remove some coloured springs to adjust the resistance, place our toes on the foot bar (a horizontal pole at the end of the contraption) and push, lengthening our bodies. Not too difficult, I think, but things are just getting started. After doing the same movement with both heels, we are told to raise one leg into the air, bent at the knee, and push the foot bar again. We look like a roomful of half-arsed ballerinas, but I can feel a burn starting. Swapping legs, we do the other side before things ramp up.<\/p>\n The next 40 minutes are a bit of a blur, though the most traumatic exercises I recall include the hundred, where we place our hands in the hoops and, keeping our legs in the air, pump our arms up and down, which leaves my core burning, and leg circles, where we place our feet in the hoops and raise them towards the ceiling before lowering them and widening to make a circle. It looks simple but, after the fifth circle, every bit of my lower body is on fire. I struggle to keep up and the instructor comes over repeatedly to correct my form. After 20 minutes, I am pleading for the class to be over.<\/p>\n The next day is where things really come into focus. I struggle to stand and parts of my body I never knew could be targeted are burning. It may have looked easy \u2013 but far from it.<\/p>\n Week two: \u2018The appeal is starting to dawn on me\u2019<\/p>\n After my large class, it\u2019s time for something more intimate. At Castro-Vidal\u2019s studio, I join a session with three others, one woman and two men. I arrive after work, with the aches from last week\u2019s class just about subsiding and, to be honest, I\u2019m dreading it.<\/p>\n Castro-Vidal says he has seen a sharp rise in men signing up for pilates, with many influenced by \u201ccelebrities and footballers\u201d. Most are nervous about diving head-first into a group class, and opt for private sessions at first. Out of the 15 clients he sees for private classes, 12 are men. \u201cThey\u2019re a little bit shy and they don\u2019t want to join a group session yet,\u201d he says. I, however, am thrown into the deep end and plonked on to a reformer machine after a brief warmup. The exercises are similar to the previous class, but Castro-Vidal corrects my form throughout, pressing down on my stomach while angling my body on the machine to ensure my core is correctly engaged, and holding my feet down when they are on the verge of slipping off the foot bar. It makes a world of difference. In the larger class, keeping pace with everyone else was top of my mind.<\/p>\n Today, the pace is slower, but every movement feels like it\u2019s hitting the right place. That\u2019s not to say it isn\u2019t utterly exhausting. Halfway through, I feel myself buckling, but with Castro-Vidal\u2019s keen eye on me, I persist. I stretch my body out on the machine, and this time the hundred isn\u2019t the ordeal it was before. I even raise my legs towards the ceiling with ease.<\/p>\n At the end of the session, I\u2019m beat, but I\u2019m able to move my bad shoulder with much less pain. The appeal of pilates is starting to dawn on me. \u201cWe need to differentiate between workout classes and the true essence of pilates,\u201d Castro-Vidal tells me. For him, classes with dozens of people might be a good taster for reformer pilates, but they\u2019re not the real deal. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a workout \u2013 it\u2019s a discipline. It can even become a way of life,\u201d he says. He believes \u201csix people is the maximum number to be able to provide attention to everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018My body aches but not nearly as much as before.\u2019 Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Alongside me in the class is Divanka Wijendra, a 43-year-old GP. He used to attend Hiit (high-intensity interval training) classes and did CrossFit, but as age crept up on him, he thought: \u201cI don\u2019t think I can keep up with the intensity.\u201d This is a trend he has observed among his male friends. \u201cPeople are enjoying the slightly slow pace of it compared with the intense Hiit style of training,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n This shift is industry-wide. In 2018, about 14,000 gyms around the world were affiliated with CrossFit. In 2025, this figure had dropped<\/a> to less than 10,000. At the same time, pilates, especially reformer, is booming. In the UK, the business insurance provider Protectivity reported a rise of more than 900%<\/a> in applications from reformer instructors between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n Wijendra\u2019s interest was piqued by social media. \u201cOn Instagram, it was always popping up on the algorithm and I started to see a lot more people doing it. There were a lot of funny videos of men trying to do it and getting it a bit wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n His first session with Castro-Vidal left him feeling achey and stretched. \u201cI was thinking: \u2018Oh, my God, this is quite tough\u201d \u2013 but he persisted because he \u201cenjoys a challenge\u201d. Six months on, his core is stronger and his posture has improved. \u201cI can definitely bend down and touch my toes,\u201d he says. I\u2019ve still got some work to do to match him.<\/p>\n Week three: \u2018My body is once again on fire\u2019<\/p>\n After two high-octane weeks, I book a machine-free mat pilates class and hope for some respite. Oh, how wrong I am. I join a class of eight, including one other man, lying on the mat, placing a ball between my shoulder blades and doing what feel like crunches on overdrive. I\u2019m familiar with most of the exercises that follow, but without the machine, I\u2019m relying on my own balance, strength and flexibility. I topple to my side many times. After 40 minutes of gut-busting stretches, arduous leg raises and (I never thought I\u2019d say this) some mercifully tame planks, the class is over. It\u2019s far harder than reformer and my body is, once again, on fire. But if I\u2019d done my research, this wouldn\u2019t have come as a surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recommend reformer to people who struggle to do mat to help them to get stronger,\u201d says Stephanie Tam, a pilates instructor at Third Space. She has been an instructor for eight years and teaches only mat pilates.<\/p>\n \u201cMat is the original. It\u2019s what pilates started as,\u201d Tam says, calling it the \u201cbest form of exercise for everyone\u201d. When she started teaching, she didn\u2019t see men very often, but now they are a common sight in her classes. \u201cI love it when men come,\u201d she says. \u201cI think a lot of them expect it to be really easy and then they try it and see how challenging it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the shared exercises, the two variants of pilates feel distinct. Reformer is great for feeling flexible, but mat feels like a true test of my abilities. I enjoy the challenge and I can see myself doing both in the future.<\/p>\n Week four: \u2018I am beginning to feel at one with the machine\u2019<\/p>\n After three weeks, have I graduated to a \u201cpilates prince\u201d? I look more like one, having treated myself to a trio of fancy workout vests. But it\u2019s time to test myself with a final session. I return to the reformer class I joined in my first week, in a conquering mood. Like the others in my class, I am beginning to feel at one with the machine.<\/p>\n Before getting started, it\u2019s time to warm up. I bend down and manage to touch my toes without toppling over. Hurdle one complete. Now the hard graft. We begin with pushing ourselves up with our toes and heels on the foot bar. Easy! Then some leg raises. My confidence falters a bit here and I fail to keep a fixed position, but I bounce back after readjusting and taking things at my own pace, ignoring the veterans around me. Next up is the hundred. It\u2019s tough, but nowhere near as arduous as the first time around.<\/p>\n Before I know it, the 40 minutes are almost over. My body aches, but not nearly as much as before: it seems I\u2019m getting used to it. We finish with \u201chunchbacks\u201d, our hands sprawled against the ground touching our toes before rolling our spines upwards until we\u2019re standing. Class is over.<\/p>\n Did a month of pilates change me? My stomach certainly feels firmer. I can also bend down and touch my toes with good balance: an untied shoelace will take me down no longer. Doing the splits is a long way off but my morning stretches feel more elongated and my posture is slightly improved, though my spine is hardly ruler-straight. And what about my shoulder? I didn\u2019t expect pilates to be a magic bullet, but there\u2019s less pain.<\/p>\n Will I be posting my #pilatesprince snaps on social media? I\u2019ll hold off for now. I haven\u2019t transformed into a pilates obsessive \u2013 but I can see myself taking a class every few weeks.<\/p>\n