EHS in the News

The New York Times
FASHION & STYLE / THURSDAY STYLES | August 18, 2005

PHYSICAL CULTURE
A Fold-Up Path of Resistance
By Liza Monroy

THE number of Americans who practice Pilates grew to 9.5 million in 2003, more than three times as many as in 2001, according to the latest figures from the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association. While the Pilates world is growing, Pilates equipment is shrinking, as practitioners increasingly opt to do their workouts at home.

Traditional Pilates exercise equipment - Cadillacs and Reformers - are bedlike contraptions with sliding cushions and a variety of spring-loaded straps and bars that offer resistance to work the deep abdominals and the muscles closest to the spine. They are bulky and impossible to store in all but the most spacious homes. But some newer models are more compact or foldable. And now some Pilates equipment is designed to double as furniture.

2. MBT SHOES, $245. Ellie Herman, an instructor in San Francisco who is opening a studio in Brooklyn this fall, created a vertical version of Pilates called Walk-ilates, which uses MBT’s. “I used to use ‘wobbly shoes’ in classes,” which were Birkenstocks on a ball, to teach proper balance, she said. Wobbly shoes make exercisers engage their core for stability.

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Pilates Method Alliance International Pilates Day

April 16, 2005 - Farmers Market, San Francisco