Giles, a 42-year-old fashion lecturer, regularly goes to reformer classes at Boxx in east London, which also offers boxing and strength training. \u201cIt does feel very female, which to be honest is a nice environment,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes if another man is in my class I feel like we give each other a knowing look, but it makes no difference really.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"NINTCHDBCOMP000046741221\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/efa29dc9-da41-4065-aa95-1cc70bfe9b52.jpg\")
Famous fans include Ed Sheeran, David Beckham and Harry StylesFilmMAGIC; GETTY IMAGES; WIREIMAGE<\/p>\n
For Giles, the appeal is in how it makes him feel. \u201cIn a class I\u2019m concentrating on getting the moves right and breathing correctly, which forces my brain to switch off from life and any worries,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really satisfying \u2014 like a big stretch and then some. Not only do I like the changes in my body, but also I feel happy afterwards.\u201d Rather than checking their phones between reps, as so many do on the gym floor, Pilates fans enjoy a steady state of almost meditative flow \u2014 a real luxury in this always-on era. And as Giles discovered, it soothes the nervous system while tightening up those abs. This feeling keeps men coming back after initially giving it a go, having realised (or perhaps been advised) that they need to work on core strength, often following a physio\u2019s raised eyebrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a clear rise in men using reformer as a complement to gym training and sport \u2014 many arriving after injury, realising that constant high intensity isn\u2019t sustainable,\u201d says Janine Walters, who teaches at Reform Room Pilates studio in north London. \u201cWe\u2019re also seeing more couples training together, which shows wellness and feeling good are becoming part of their shared goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone is happy about it, though. Hannah, 31, has noticed more men at her reformer class in Leeds, and shudders as she describes performative exhales and \u201cbeast mode\u201d grunting. \u201cOne man never wears a top,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd they have such long limbs. If you\u2019re doing leg circles on the reformer next to them, they will bash into you.\u201d Seems as though it\u2019s less a case of #NotAllMen and more #NoTallMen.<\/p>\n
Giles says he\u2019s conscious of being a man in a predominantly female environment. \u201cI always wear clean clothes and smell fresh because the room is quite small and you don\u2019t want to get a whiff of BO when you\u2019re in the zone,\u201d he says. \u201cAlso, I never try to \u2018man up\u2019. If I need harder spring settings, I\u2019m discreet about that, as it\u2019s not a competition. And I always wear longer slim-fitting underwear under my shorts because sometimes you have your legs wide open, and nobody wants an accidental flash.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"NINTCHDBPICT001069846836\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/24dc525c-4740-4e6a-91dc-36c1518e99d5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tPilates Princess v Pilates Prince\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Wears
Princess: Alo or Vuori activewear sets
Prince: Gymshark T-shirt and Adidas shorts<\/p>\n
Drinks
Princess: matcha latte
Prince: black coffee (still adds creatine like his gym bro friends)<\/p>\n
Smells like
Princess: Le Labo Th\u00e9 Noir 29
Prince: Aesop shaving serum<\/p>\n
The tech
Princess: Oura ring
Prince: Apple Watch<\/p>\n
Spotted
Princess: at the farmers\u2019 market, buying organic honey
Prince: flitting between the cold plunge and the sauna<\/p>\n
Says
Princess: \u201cIt\u2019s really lengthened and toned my body\u201d
Prince: \u201cIt\u2019s actually insane for core strength\u201d<\/p>\n
If more men can be conscientious and more women can be tolerant, then there\u2019s no reason that we can\u2019t all enjoy reformer Pilates classes together. Particularly since, with more men signing up, we\u2019re going to have to. And isn\u2019t the gendering of fitness \u2014 with pink dumbbells over here and deadlifts over there \u2014 a bit dated anyway?<\/p>\n
Carl Guthrie-Evans, master personal trainer at Virgin Active Kensington, says that he was previously \u201cthe male stereotype who would look at a reformer and say, \u2018Nah, it\u2019s too easy.\u2019 Then we had to do a staff class and it was very humbling.\u201d Having spent years focusing on boxing and weightlifting, the experience made him hungry for a new challenge. \u201cI saw that it can help with other stuff that I like doing, in terms of being more stable, more mobile, and more aware of my body as well.\u201d Nothing punctures gym-floor bravado like shaking in a slow-motion plank while someone half your size looks serenely unbothered. So he trained as a Pilates instructor and has been teaching for a year and a half. At first, newcomers were a bit surprised to see a big, beefy male instructor, but now his classes are increasingly popular with men and women.<\/p>\n
Carl says one of the best things about this is that it\u2019s smashing the culture whereby women do the pretty-looking classes and men do the weights. \u201cI\u2019m seeing women feeling more comfortable about coming into the gym to lift heavy weights,\u201d he says. \u201cReformer Pilates is bridging two worlds, and people are realising they\u2019re not going to be around a bunch of weirdos. No one\u2019s making you feel uncomfortable. Actually, everyone\u2019s here to do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has some reformer etiquette advice for men, though. \u201cKeep your attention on the instructor and on yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cBut be mindful of those around you. For example, if you are having to extend your limbs, get in sync with the person next to you. You can participate without trying to dominate the space.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in terms of going topless and heavy breathing? \u201cJust\u2009don\u2019t do that,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t take off your top on the gym floor, so don\u2019t do that in class.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says the highly styled aesthetic of reformer Pilates for women is not as present for men, who are more likely to turn up in any old T-shirt (although he personally loves those Gymshark compression tops that really show off your abs). The \u201cmatcha man\u201d is certainly a thing, however. \u201cYou do see that,\u201d says Carl, who admits to enjoying a matcha on occasion, \u201cbut not before a class \u2014 it\u2019s a bit heavy to digest.\u201d Meanwhile, other male reformer fans I spoke with insist they prefer black coffee.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a man who wants to give reformer a go, Carl\u2019s advice is simple. \u201cDon\u2019t overthink it,\u201d he says. \u201cGet there early, introduce yourself to the instructor and tell them that you\u2019re new to it. You won\u2019t ace it first time, like you didn\u2019t ace weights first time or how your first run was terrible. Just listen, commit and have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because stability, mobility and nervous-system regulation are not gendered pursuits, just grown-up ones. And if the price of progress is the occasional overenthusiastic exhale, it feels like a small one to pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cPilates Princess\u201d, an aesthetic defined by lean women in Alo activewear, gracefully stretching across reformer machines, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97],"class_list":["post-566498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}