Most people expect Pilates to be about working harder. At our studio in South Kensington, we start somewhere else. We start with relaxation. It surprises some new clients. This post explains why we teach this way, and what it means for how a session feels. Why does relaxation come first in Pilates? Relaxation comes first […]

Most Pilates teacher training in London runs as a group course. You join a cohort, sit through weekend intensives, and work through a shared syllabus alongside a dozen other trainees. Trevor Blount’s teacher training programme in South Kensington works the opposite way. One student. One teacher. Two years, structured as an apprenticeship rather than a […]

Most people who’ve never tried Pilates arrive with the same handful of questions in their head, even if they don’t say them out loud: will I be able to keep up? Is it going to hurt? What if I’m the least capable person in the room? If you’re starting with us, none of that applies […]

Walk into most reformer studios today and you’ll find the same formula: music playing, a room full of people, a fast-moving sequence designed to get your heart rate up and leave you sweating. It’s become the default image of what Pilates is. That’s not what Joseph Pilates created, and it’s not how we work. Where […]

Recovery after a stroke rarely follows a straight line. Some things come back quickly. Others take much longer, and some days feel like they’ve gone backwards. What I’ve learned, working with clients at this stage of recovery, is that the body responds best to patience — to movement that’s slow enough to actually notice what’s […]

A client in her seventies once told me she’d never managed to stick with any form of exercise for more than a few weeks in her life. She’s been coming to the studio for six years now. Her son comes too. I think about that often, because it says something important about what actually works […]

New mothers often ask me the same question, in slightly different ways: when can I start again, and where do I even begin? There isn’t a single answer. Every birth is different, every recovery is different, and the body that comes through childbirth is not the same one that walked in. That’s the starting point […]

Scoliosis is one of those conditions that people carry for years, often decades, without ever having received much in the way of practical guidance about how to live and move with it. The diagnosis may have come in adolescence, or it may have emerged gradually in adulthood as part of degenerative spinal change. Either way, […]

My Pilates Background I began my Pilates training in 1983 with Dreas Reyneke — one of the great pioneers of British Pilates. Dreas was a former dancer with Ballet Rambert who had trained in the Pilates method and opened his Body Conditioning studio in Notting Hill Gate. He was a wonderful teacher and a fabulous […]

Osteoarthritis and osteopenia sit at opposite ends of a related concern: one involves the gradual deterioration of joint cartilage; the other, the slow reduction of bone density. Both are common in the clients we see, often appearing together, and both respond well to the kind of careful, load-appropriate movement that classical Pilates provides. What brings […]

Back surgery — whether a discectomy, laminectomy, spinal decompression or spinal fusion — requires a rehabilitation approach that is genuinely individual. The nature of the procedure, the number of levels involved, the quality of the surrounding tissue, and the movement habits that may have contributed to the original problem in the first place all shape […]

Chronic pain has a way of reshaping everything around it. The way you sit, how you move when you stand up, which activities you’ve quietly stopped doing — it reaches into daily life in ways that accumulate gradually and are often hard to articulate to anyone who hasn’t experienced them. What I’ve found over 40 […]

Parkinson’s disease affects movement in ways that are highly individual — the tremor that dominates one person’s experience may be barely present in another’s, while rigidity, slowness and balance difficulties can shift from week to week. This is precisely why generalised exercise classes often fall short for people managing Parkinson’s, and why the one-to-one format […]

Yes — pilates can be an excellent form of rehabilitation after knee replacement surgery. With an experienced teacher who understands post-surgical recovery, pilates helps rebuild strength around the new joint, restore alignment, and return you to confident, comfortable movement. The key is starting carefully, progressing slowly, and working with someone who knows when to push […]

Osteoporosis changes the way you have to think about movement. Not because movement becomes impossible — but because the wrong kind of movement, done without sufficient care, carries real risk. That distinction matters enormously, and it tends to get lost when people are simply told to “stay active.” Pilates, when taught correctly and adapted to […]

Back pain is one of the most common reasons people find their way to our studio. And it is also one of the areas where we see the most significant, lasting change. But starting Pilates with back pain raises real questions. Will it make things worse? What actually happens in a session? How long before […]

It is one of the most consistent questions asked before starting Pilates, and equally often by people who have been doing it for months without feeling much change. How often do I need to come to actually see results? The standard answer — two to three times a week — is not wrong. But it […]

The weeks following hip replacement surgery tend to raise a consistent set of questions. When is movement safe again? How quickly should strength return? Which exercises help and which carry risk? And — for those already familiar with Pilates, or considering it for the first time — is it appropriate to return to, or to […]

There is a version of this article that most Pilates studios have already written. It compares mat and reformer Pilates on the basis of cost, accessibility, and beginner suitability. It includes a table. It ends by saying both are excellent and the right choice depends on your goals. Then it links to the class schedule. […]

Is Pilates actually good for men? If you’ve walked past a studio in Wimbledon, Chelsea, or Knightsbridge and seen a class full of women on reformers, it’s a fair question. The stigma is real, but the data isn’t. Joseph Pilates was a boxer, gymnast, and self-defence instructor who created the method for men. Today, Premier […]

If you’ve been searching for quality Pilates classes in London, you’ve likely seen dozens of studios. Group reformer classes, mat classes, and hybrid fitness concepts are everywhere from Shoreditch to Chelsea. But if you want Pilates taught the way it was originally designed — precise, anatomical, and tailored to you — the options narrow quickly. […]

Not all Pilates studios in London are the same. Learn how equipment, class types, and teaching styles differ—and how to choose the right one for your goals.