The strange politics of Pilates

Pilates is great. Why are people being weird about it?Pilates is an exercise that has been around for a long time – around a hundred years – but it’s just now coming into vogue in a big way. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association report from 2025, Pilates is the fastest growing form of individual exercise in the United States: participation jumped by nearly 40% since 2019. And it’s gotten pretty big on social media.But there's something interesting happening with that social media content – sometimes, it seems less about the actual exercise and way more about what doing Pilates says about who you are as a woman. And of course, anyone can do Pilates, but on social media, there is a strong emphasis on it being for "girls" (and being for specific kinds of girls). So why is some questionable baggage getting attached to Pilates? And why can't we be normal about exercise in general?Brittany is joined by Madeline Leung Coleman, features writer at New York Magazine, who wrote a piece about why Pilates keeps getting people up in arms.(00:00) How Pilates became popular(02:21) Pilates got a hot makeover(04:10) Does Pilates really reduce inflammation?(08:29) The 'sculpt' body ideal (why celebrities are so thin and muscular now)(11:19) The real benefits of Pilates(14:43) Why (some) dudes are obsessed with finding a Pilates wife(21:39) Can we ever be normal about exercise?For more episodes about health, exercise and culture, check out:Is tech making us too obsessed with our bodies?The Swoletariat: a history of leftist fitnessExercise is more important than everSupport Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy