Welcome to the April edition of Pilates Central News.

In this edition:

• Sydney’s core values
• Classic Pilates
• Dance stance
• Pilates horror show

Sydney’s core values

“The hardcore exercise class that is responsible for Sydney Sweeney’s toned body… and why some say it’s the hardest workout they’ve ever done,” reads the headline in the Daily Mail. The piece reveals that Sweeney, the American actor who’s rarely off our screens after top roles in White Lotus and Euphoria, has taken up a Pilates-inspired workout at SolidCore studios that is now hugely popular among US celebs. “It’s a full-body high-intensity workout but on a Reformer, and it’s been killing my ass. I love it,” says 26-year-old Sydney.

This latest Pilates hybrid is performed on a ‘sweatlana’, basically a larger version of a Pilates Reformer. The Mail explains that during the 50-minute workout, “the lights are dimmed and music begins blaring, not dissimilar to cult-following spin classes… As the music plays, the instructor shouts directions over a headset attached to the speaker system, talking participants through a total of 25 different exercises – from planks, to lunges, squats and bicep curls.”

Cosmopolitan stated that Sweeney’s workout routine was “Pilates, Pilates, Pilates” and revealed that while filming for Madame Web, she tried another Pilates variant, Reformacore Pilates. Syd recently posted pictures of herself at the SolidCore studio on Instagram and told Women’s Health, “It just makes me feel so toned and strong, but also elongated, and I feel so good.”

Sweeney famously presented her parents with a PowerPoint business plan for acting at the age of 12 and seems to be just as efficient at her hardcore workouts.

Classic Pilates

Some useful tips on the difference between trends and fads from Rachel Hurd-Wood, the Hollywood child actress turned Pilates instructor, in her Psychologies column. “The former tend to spread slower and stick around for longer, while fads pop up and down like bio-hacked, spirulina-sprinkled, adaptogenic-drink guzzling Whac-a-moles,” writes Hurd-Wood with a memorable turn-of-phrase.

But she is not averse to fads, pointing out that “finding a flash of excitement might be the bridge from inertia to action.” She says that at the risk of eye-rolling from Pilates purists, she’s still a fan of hybrids such as Yogalates and Pilates HIIT, “with a bonus Namaste here, a burst of cardio there.”

However, Hurd-Wood notes that Pilates, being an amalgam of yoga, breath-work, athletics, dance and martial arts, is more than either a trend or a fad: “I believe that what’s valuable lasts…. I’d say that Pilates’ hundred-year history is fairly robust evidence of its merit; come for the abs, stay for the strength, suppleness, mind-body connection. Personally, I was drawn in by the fact that classes can be adapted to suit every body, from exercise newbies to athletes, during pregnancy, and postpartum. It can be a great stand alone workout as well as a supplement to other activities… I hope the method’s legacy will live on to serve another century’s worth of people.” We’ll second that.

Dance stance

“Why dancers make great Pilates instructors,” reveals Dance magazine in an article with some interesting insights. In the piece Everlea Bryant, a professional dancer and Pilates instructor, says that a dancer’s training and awareness of movement is very useful for Pilates: “When I’m looking at the patterns in someone’s body, I use my dance experiences––and dancer’s vision––to understand how this person is moving and how the tools of Pilates can create better alignment.”

Dancers’ knowledge of choreography is also a plus factor. “I had decades of memorizing choreography, both for performances and during classes,” says Bryant. “Classical Pilates has more than 530 exercises. Trying to memorize 530 random facts would be overwhelming, but placing them in a choreographic sequence makes them accessible.”

Another link between dance and Pilates is that dancers get warmer and stronger as they go through a dance class. “The same thing happens in a Pilates class. You start with relatively simple exercises and build toward more difficult and complex movement,” says Bryant.

Here at Pilates Central several of our teachers have come to Pilates through dance, so it looks like you’re in good hands.

Pilates horror show

Proof of the popularity of Pilates comes with a very funny horror movie parody on America’s Saturday Night Live, billed as “a chilling new look at girl horror”. The sketch begins with SNL cast members Chloe Fineman and Molly Kearney entering, against their better judgement, a darkened room full of strange machines. They are greeted by actor and comedian Kristen Wiig playing a chirpy instructor asking, “Hey mamas! Is this your first class?”

A traumatised woman played by SNL’s Sarah Sherman, then declares, “It’s not what you think it will be. It’s so hard, but it’s also so boring… Once you’re in it’s impossible to get out… Time is different in there.”  Sherman adds that, ”most are ex-dancers or first-time mums, usually there are eight gorgeous women, one gay man not wearing underwear, and sometimes Kaia Gerber.” Proving she’s a good sport, supermodel Gerber herself then appears in the sketch, saying “this is randomly so easy” as she works out on a Reformer.

Kristen Wiig’s teacher gives out some impossible instructions involving foot straps, hand straps, ankle straps and knee straps as legs crunch into impossible positions. “If you don’t follow their rules then God help you!” says Sherman, before we learn that if you forget your sticky socks you might meet a sticky end. Be scared when you next visit a Pilates class. Be very scared.

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The Pilates Central Team