Wives Are Dragging Their Husbands to Pilates, and It's Working

Hi, friends! Did you know that Pilates started out as a rehab program, developed by a man for men? Still, our reader Olga Keller, who runs a Pilates studio in Zurich, hears it all the time: “Isn't that a women's sport?” Yet right now she has more men than women in her studio!

Many of them show up after a turning point: an injury, back problems, stress, a change of mindset. But a lot of them were originally sent by their wives! So they stay fit and flexible and don't end up in the dreaded “cage workout” someday. Why do dads in particular get so much out of just 50 minutes of Pilates? The short answer: less time at the gym, more focus on what helps in real life.

Olga says: “I train men with desk jobs, family obligations, or an athletic past, like runners, ex-soccer players, or weekend athletes in midlife. My focus is a workout that's lean on time but carries you through the whole week. Pilates the way it was originally intended: for strength, flexibility, posture, recovery.” How it goes when wives haul their husbands into the studio, though, she tells us in vivid detail here… Because that's how a husband here and there gets “forced” into his own happiness 😉

The Power of a Loving Wife

The power of a loving wife… it works! Even on the most stubborn, hard-headed male creatures. Here's how you have to picture it: these women email me, friendly, clear, with exact ideas about what they want.

“I urgently want to do something for my figure (as a mom of two): arms, legs, butt, and back. Oh, and the pelvic floor (which sits in between) is on the list too. When do you have an appointment, Olga? Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday morning after 8:30 would be perfect, once the kids are taken care of.”

So far, so clear. But then there's often this postscript that makes me smile every single time: “P.S. I'm bringing my sweet husband, who has back problems. He's not sold on Pilates, even though his physical therapist recommended exactly that for his Scheuermann's disease, a spinal condition. He thinks Pilates is only for women. Just so you're prepared.”

Well, wonderful, I think. She wants to. He has to. 😉 But that's exactly part of my daily work: “Turning husbands brought in by loving wives into Pilates true believers.”

And it works surprisingly often. These women know exactly when they can talk their husbands into an appointment, and what really does the trick: not as “quality time together” (heaven forbid!). But as a plan they make together, with the kids covered and both of them getting a short break from the daily grind.

Then they sit there, these couples. Usually it's a quiet, petite woman who, with some invisible, mighty power, drags her big, strong, proud husband into Pilates and leaves the rest to me. You may already suspect what men really think about Pilates. Your husband is probably no different. Marco was like that. So were Volker, Philipp, Bruno… and many others.

They all arrived with raised eyebrows and that quiet skepticism in their eyes: “Fine, if I have to.” But trust me, after the first session I almost always hear the same thing: “Wow. I never would have guessed. This feels really good!”

What's surprising is that as soon as men lie down on the Reformer and start their leg work against the steel springs, they suddenly realize: “Hey, that's a good line, from the legs to the abs all the way into the back.”

As soon as they sit on the Cadillac and push a bar attached to a spring out in front of them, they instantly feel how good that movement forward and back is for the spine. They move in every direction, often for the first time in ages.

And when they finally lie back on the hill, the so-called Spine Corrector, they can fully rest their spine, open up their chest, and take one deep breath, something many men simply can't manage during their workday.

Just 50 Minutes of Pilates Can Help

Because 50 minutes of Pilates is enough to notice that something is changing. In the back. In posture. In energy. No noise, no pressure, no gym posers, just focused movement, breath, calm.
Many of these men come back on their own later. Not because their wives send them, but because they feel it themselves: This is good for me.

And yes, sometimes it takes the power of a loving wife who knows when she's caught the right moment. But in the end, it's the men themselves who realize that 50 minutes a week can be enough to feel strong, upright, and flexible again. So if you have a husband like that at home, skeptical but with a bad back, go ahead and bring him along. I'll take it from there. 😉

Info: Joseph Pilates invented his method during World War I in an internment camp, for other men. His first “students” were fellow prisoners in a camp. The exercises he taught them were anything but easy. They were based on tough German gymnastics, his own observation of the body, and a lot of physical discipline.