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Looking for the best New York Pilates studios? The mind-body exercise is booming as of late. In 2023, the exercise class booking platform ClassPass reported that Pilates was their most popular workout of the year, whereas Google Trends found that searches for the term were at a five-year high. Its surge is no surprise: Pilates, a low-impact workout that embraces repetitive movements on a mat or a reformer machine to tone muscles, can lead to transformational results. For many, it was also a welcome reprieve from the pre-pandemic fitness craze of grueling HIIT classes in a dark room with deafening music.
Whether you are a devoted practitioner or a beginner looking to test it out, here are our favorite Pilates classes in New York City. Call it something for everyone—and every part of the body.
Forma Pilates
Forma Pilates was founded by Liana Levi in Los Angeles during the spring of 2020. She operated invite-only classes out of her mom’s pool house, which soon attracted the likes of Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner. Fast-forward a year and a half—and many paparazzi photos later—and Forma Pilates was a full-blown bicoastal phenomenon.
For their studio in New York City, Levi swapped the pool house for a SoHo walk-up. But the exclusivity still remains: Someone must refer you to Forma in order to book a class. “Most of our classes, they’re all regulars. We know them, we know their weaknesses, we know their strengths. and we know what they want to work on,” Levi previously told Vogue. “It’s an experience.”
If you do manage to snag a spot on one of their 10 reformers, expect an athletic, muscle-shaking workout that’ll leave you sore for days afterward.
Erika Bloom Pilates
In over 20 years of teaching, Erika Bloom has acquired something like X-ray vision: an eye for intuiting the subtlest imbalances (say, one hamstring longer than the other), paired with a finely calibrated system for correcting them. Her sunlit studio in Tribeca quietly hums with private sessions; her team’s certifications often go above and beyond to include postural assessments, osteoporosis protocols, injury prevention, and pre- and post-natal care. (Bloom just so happens to be a trained doula.) The hands-on work doesn’t stop at the muscular level: “We’re talking about fascia, we’re talking about the nervous system, we’re talking about stress responses, we’re talking about diet and inflammation,” Bloom says of her holistic approach. As the city’s Pilates scene seems eager to meld with other fitness modalities, she is keen to keep the focus on the unsung intrinsic muscles around the joints (including ones in the pelvis region that “stabilize everything and make your butt look unbelievable”). For Bloom, who jokes that her “hippie California family” had her meditating since age two, refining one’s physicality is another way to foster the mind-body connection.
East River Pilates
Kimmy Kellum’s introduction to the Williamsburg Pilates scene had a bright, if informal, start a few years ago: On her rooftop overlooking the East River, she would lead early-morning classes for her friends twice a week. She soon began renting space to accommodate her growing following, and in 2016, she set down roots on South First Street, with a bright, inviting space offering reformer and mat classes. Two more locations in Brooklyn soon followed. Their elegant studios center on the springboard, a wall-mounted apparatus that enables a freer range of motion (and, therefore, a “core stability challenge,” she says) than the reformer, with its track-gliding carriage. The contemporary take on Pilates evolves in concert with the wish lists of the regulars. A heart-pumping class, with a HIIT beginning—think burpees and squats—and classical mat Pilates end, is a current favorite; pre- and post-natal offerings also reflect the clients’ changing lives. An added perk: East River counts three Australia-trained physiotherapists on staff—“exceptionally qualified Pilates instructors!” Kellum says—who lend extra expertise in biomechanics and rehabilitation.
Flatiron Pilates by Amy Nelms
A classical Pilates faithful, Amy Nelms has been teaching for more than two decades, building up a roster of private clients—fashion editors, athletes, dancers—the word-of-mouth way. As a result, she has a well-honed means of scanning the body for strengths and weaknesses, which helps her tailor a series of recommended exercises to each individual. “I think I have really good attention to detail—a little OCD in a teacher never hurt anybody!” After working in LA earlier in her career, tending to film and TV folk, she later moved back east to help run one of Equinox’s Pilates departments. Since then, she has carved out her quiet, revered corner of the fitness landscape. She offers one-on-one Pilates instruction in a jewel box of a space in the Flatiron District, with dark wood floors, ivory leather equipment, and views of the Empire State Building (talk about inspiration for taller, straighter posture). The strength in this system is its ability to constantly course-correct, no matter what life throws at us—catwalk-ready heels or neck-stiffening iPhones. “What Pilates does is it keeps your body in balance.”
Nice Tall
Nice Tall Pilates on 56th Street is the original New York studio of the one and only Joseph Pilates, the founder of the very method that bears his name. They offer a variety of classes as well as pace levels—making it a perfect choice for any age and experience level. Nice Tall also has a number of apparatuses: You can sign up to work out on a reformer machine or do a session that goes from the mat to a wall unit.
