Hot Pilates trend heats up in Long Island studios

Beet red is how Stephanie Guzman describes her face when she finishes a Pilates exercise session in a room heated to 100 degrees.

"Sweating after you finished — you feel accomplished," says the 40-year-old nurse from Baldwin. "I feel like I detoxed."

It's called "hot Pilates," and it has been catching on like fire, as the popularity of Pilates, known for improving core strength and flexibility, has also risen, according to teachers and students. Social media watchers say Pilates was trending high in the past year or so, but the interest suddenly exploded early this year with hot Pilates. Manhattan studios began offering the classes, and the trend migrated to Long Island, Pilates instructors recount.

In these classes, the exercise room is heated in some way, such as infrared light, touted for its deep tissue penetration. Instead of traditional Pilates apparatus with straps, resistance bands, and bars, these classes are usually done on mats, with the occasional assist from balls, ankle weights, and other small props.

Students use their weight as resistance to accomplish what Pilates is known for — toned, limber, and sculpted bodies — while being challenged by the heat.

"It makes your muscles more pliable," says Michele Martino, co-owner of That’s Hot Pilates, a studio that opened in July in Rockville Centre, near her 19-year-old business, Pilates Absession. "It makes your body feel good immediately. We’re less toxic after hot Pilates especially with the infrared. ... It promotes a deeper sweat. The heat also improves circulation."

STRETCH IT OUT 

Pilates was the idea of German-born circus performer and defense trainer Joseph Pilates, who became an internee in England when World War I broke out. As fellow prisoners weakened, he noticed the cats on the grounds were skinny but still great hunters by stretching all the time.

He developed a series of stretching and strengthening exercises that had to be done in a certain sequence to be effective, and also invented several apparatus.

Once, certification to teach the traditional, full range of Pilates required 600 hours and opening a business required expensive equipment, limiting the growth of this exercise movement, says Amy Hirsch, an instructor for 20 years.

But there's been a boom in studios that focus on the reformer, which consists of a sliding platform and resistance springs, considered the final apparatus in the Pilates sequence, she says. This has been fueled by the proliferation of short or weekend teacher certification classes for only this piece of equipment, according to the instructor.

Hirsch’s Nesconset studio, Precision Pilates, embraces the classical style, featuring a plethora of apparatus, including the toe-gizmo, the Cadillac and reformer.

"You look at what your body needs," she says. "Do they need to work on the Wunda Chair and work on strength or stability? Do they need to work on stretch on the ladder barrel?"

Retiree Dolores Lampone, 66, has scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, so she has been relying on Pilates for about 16 years to feel limber.

When her back goes out a little bit and she doesn’t feel as much pain as years ago, she sees why Pilates has been gaining more fans.

"I see it more and more popular with my age group because it is doable," Lampone says. "You build up to better and better movement. You do it with such conditioning and grace, but you’re challenging yourself."