Issue #485
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Large-Group Reformer
The End of Pilates as We Know It — or a New Beginning?
by Matthew Ryan Carney
Due to my side hustle as a reformer repairman, and teaching part-time at multiple studios, I have been fortunate to meet many Pilates professionals here in my new city of Sydney, Australia.
When I tell studio owners that I teach large-group reformer classes around the city, up to 30 people, they often cringe — wrinkle the nose, furrow the brow — and proceed to tell me exactly how they feel about it.
“I would never.”
“That’s too many reformers in a studio.”
“There’s a point when it’s not even Pilates anymore.”
I can envision their perception of my classes — loud, messy workouts, cardio-driven, or over-sprung, with little concern for technique. Inspired by Instagram, all shaking muscles and exhausted bodies.
The concern is understandable. Plenty of instructors in Sydney teach like this. Some took two weekends and a bit of self-guided practice to obtain their certificate. Some are extremely popular with their classes. Their classes are full, too.
Across the world’s major cities and suburbs, the rise of large-group reformer has Pilates professionals feeling trepidation about the future of the method. All signs suggest the business model is entering a major growth phase.
It seems like this next decade will frame the future of the reformer in popular fitness culture. This raises important questions like:
Can boutique studios, or traditional teaching methods, exist alongside this mass model?
Can we reclaim the reformer as it was intended— a vessel for conveying the true spirit of Pilates?
One more question I will pose is this:
Couldn’t the rise of large-group reformer also become the most influential chapter in Pilates’ 100-year history?
The View From Sydney
Here in Sydney, reformer is a massive sport.
Gym chains offer up to 14 classes a day, with up to 30 reformers in the studio. Multiple boutique studios seem to thrive on every block. Physiotherapy clinics do most of the one-on-one training, and offer ‘therapeutic reformer’ groups of up to twelve patients!
(Traditional mat work, by comparison, seems nonexistent.)
Matthew Carney is a Balanced Body– and STOTT-certified Pilates instructor who trained in New York and California. He is the former owner of a Pilates studio in his hometown of Austin, Texas, and has spent his career teaching across private, small-group, and large-group exercise formats.
He is the author of What Is Pilates?, available on Amazon Kindle, and the inventor of Booya Bands— premium leg resistance bands with a quick-release buckle, designed for Pilates professionals. They are available at booyafit.com.
Matthew is passionate about Pilates as a form of self-expression, and strives to lead more accessible, inclusive, and valuable classes. He currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia.
Feel free to message him at PilateswithMatthew@gmail.com.