Social Workout

Bright and early on Saturday morning — way too early, in fact — I went to the Pilates Olympics. The participants at the event fell into three categories: Superstars, teachers, and teachers-in-training. And then there was me. More or less, I hadn't been on a Pilates machine in years. Imagine showing up at the Beijing Olympics and just sort of walking on to the track for the decathlon. "One of these things is not like the other..." ran through my head all day.

Now, you may have read Mr. Mohawk's excellent overview of the event, so you know the day was dreamt up by the owners of Pilates on 5th and the publishers of Pilates Style, who hope that it will become a yearly thing. People came from all over the country, and from as far away as Spain, to attend. The room had serious talent, and I mean that in all senses of the word. The Judges were Pilates greats, women whose books I have studied, and articles I have poured over. But that was a long time ago.... A little background: Twelve years ago, Pilates changed my life. I was overweight, and my doctors told me that 1.) normal exercising would be impossible, and 2.) I would have a heavy limp for the rest of my life. I believed them, until I met a woman who had trained under Joseph Pilates, and, even though she was mean — and she really was — she changed my body completely.

Can a home gym be pretty? Yes, or at least maybe. So long as you have the right model. And we think we've found it: the boutique Pilates studio. In-home Pilates studios have a noble tradition. Joseph Pilates himself taught out of his apartment in New York City, and some of the best Pilates studios are tiny operations — one room and a few pieces of artful equipment — a scale which makes them just right for cribbing from for your own home workout space. We've collected photos from a handful of small Pilates studios, including professional studio spaces carved out of instructors' homes, like Jessie Zalla's Brooklyn studio above. With big windows, long mirrors, and gentle colors, they're spaces dedicated to sweat that still pass the pretty test.