Cult of wellness | Pilates arms, Miley Cyrus, & being seen trying on the internet

A pilates body = any body that does pilates.

The 15 Days Of Daily Movement For Self Love Challenge starts ON Valentine’s Day on Helen Phelan Studio! In addition to unlimited access to the on demand library of 400+ workouts, you’ll get a movement guide and a playlist of workouts for 15 days to help you sweat, strengthen, and mindfully reshape your relationship with exercise. Check out the free 10 day trial to gain access when it starts and don’t forget to join our IG Broadcast channel for daily check ins from me each and every single day of the challenge! I also update the channel every week when new class content drops to help nudge you towards consistency, so even if you’re not doing the challenge, hop on in!

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Welp. I finally did it. I went viral on TikTok.

To be fair, I’ve had a few successful videos, but none that have garnered the simultaneous support and backlash that this did…and I managed to do it twice in one weekend.

TBH, I’ve been avoiding posting anything outside of quick workouts and flows because talking on the internet is terrifying (I got several comments saying my bangs are dumb) and it’s super vulnerable to put yourself out there, especially when it feels like no one is listening (fitness misinformation spreads like wildfire on the internet because we want to believe there are easy fixes more than we want to believe in the reality of body diversity).

But I got my act together and I responded to a TikTok on my FYP asking about what the sorcery in pilates is that sculpts, tones, and rips you up “better” than any other modality.

@helenvphelan#stitch with @tash landi 🤍 At the end of the day all bodies respond differently to exercise, but pilates does NOT lengthen your bones or lean your muscles. Muscles have a fixed origin and insertion and thats that. People who are genetically predisposed to show visible myscle definition will probably see visible muscle definition. No amount of pilates will make visisble muscle definition appear on a body that is not geneticslly predisposed to it. It’s my personal favorite way to move but its inherently superior to any other form of exercise and it is not magic. #pilatesstrengthtraining #strengthtraining #leanmuscle #lymphaticdrainage #lymphaticdrainagemassage

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Now as I say in the video, if you wanna give it a quick listen (and if you could follow me even if you aren’t active on TT, as it makes a HUGE difference and I would love you forever)— pilates, fitness, DOES play a role in how our bodies look.

Just not nearly as large a role as we’ve been primed to believe by the fitness industry.