“Muscle Mommies” Are Out. “Pilates Bodies” Are In. And All of This Signals Something Very Problematic

I came of age in the mid 2000s—a time of low-rise jeans and hip bone worship, of tabloids using their front pages to criticize any change in a celebrity’s body. While I’d like to think that, as a society, we’ve come a long way since then, there’s no doubt that the obsession has returned, repackaged for the age of social media. This time, more pervasively—and more problematically—through the guise of “health.”

The rise of the weight-loss shot Ozempic—a drug originally developed for those with type 2 diabetes—has undeniably been co-opted to usher in a new era of the ‘thin is in’ mentality, but that’s not the only culprit. In the digital wellness spaces I frequent online, I have noticed an overwhelming shift in the approach to women’s fitness. After the past decade or so of singing the praises of CrossFit and weight training—encouraging the idea of “strong over skinny”—trainers and fitness influencers are suddenly posting videos about why they stopped lifting heavy to get a “leaner” look, namely through Pilates.

Whether via Ladder's Maia Henry or TikTok's Sivan Tayer, both of whom have begun touting paid workout programs promoting "leanness," my fitness feeds on TikTok and Instagram have gone from bench press workouts to videos about achieving “11 lines” on a reformer; about lifting lighter to prevent “bulkiness.” The desire for strength has given way to a desire for sinews.

In a nutshell, “muscle mommies” are out, “Pilates princesses” are in. And I hate it.

My issue is not that I believe one type of workout is better than the other (quite the opposite—I think we should celebrate all forms of movement that make people feel good). The issue, I think, is that it narrows the idea of what a “fit” body should look like. Ironically enough, that ideology can prevent people from working out in the first place—or cause them to develop an obsessive approach to exercise—and that’s no way to promote health.

Indeed, about a month ago, a San Antonio-based TikToker went viral for her rant about seeing larger people in her Pilates class, saying that they “shouldn’t be there,” simply because they didn’t align with her idea of a "Pilates aesthetic.” While I won’t name and shame (she has since deleted it and posted an apology video), this is exactly the type of negative rhetoric that results from exalting a certain body type while excluding (or shaming) the ones that don’t fit a preconceived mold.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not condemnation of Pilates as a workout, or the folks who enjoy it (heck, I do, too!), but rather of the popularized perception of the “Pilates body,” and its evolution towards exclusion, divorced from its own origins. After all, the father of the method, Joseph Pilates, developed it in a World War I internment camp as a way to aid in the physical and mental well-being of his fellow prisoners (a far cry from the sunny, perfectly curated studios it’s taught in today). But that’s what I think we’re losing when we tie this—or any other form of exercise—to a purely aesthetic end goal: well-being!

And it has real repercussions. I spoke to Dr. Sanam Hafeez, a neuropsychologist based in New York City, for her insights into the negative effects of the Pilates body obsession. “Seeing the same body type repeatedly on social media can make people feel like they have to look that way to be accepted,” she explains. “It can cause people to feel unhappy with their bodies, even if they are healthy and strong. Some might start comparing themselves all the time, which can lead to low self-esteem. It can also make people feel like their worth depends on how they look, instead of who they are. This pressure can lead to harmful habits.”

I won’t lie, being bombarded with images of this idealized figure had begun to give me pause before booking my next class; I recently found myself thinking, “I don’t look like the Pilates girls on my feed. Maybe I don’t belong there?” But then I thought of all the time and effort I had put into unlearning the negative body talk of my adolescence, and said, “Screw that!” I wasn’t about to hold myself back from doing something I enjoy, and that makes me feel good, just because I don’t have “11 abs.”

Dr. Hafeez agrees. “It’s important to remember that exercise is about feeling strong and healthy, not fitting a certain look. Enjoying Pilates or any workout doesn’t mean you have to look like the people you see online.”

But if you find yourself in a body image spiral like I did, take her professional advice: “Focus on how movement makes you feel, such as being more energized, less stressed and proud of what your body can do. Celebrate small progress and personal goals instead of comparing yourself to others. You don’t need to look a certain way to belong in any fitness space.”

Bottom line? You can be a Pilates princess—or a muscle mommy, boxing baddie, walking wonderwoman—without being defined by your body or how you move it.