JetSet Pilates Leans Into Strength Training With New Class Formats

The fast-growing reformer Pilates brand is adding dedicated upper- and lower-body strength classes as the line between Pilates and strength training continues to blur

JetSet Pilates is putting more muscle behind its reformer workouts, launching two targeted strength-focused formats as Pilates brands increasingly adapt their programming to the strength training boom.

Starting Sept. 15, JetSet will offer Upper + Core and Lower + Core classes at select studios, giving members dedicated workouts targeting specific areas of the body while retaining the reformer-based training at the heart of the brand.

Upper + Core will focus on the arms, shoulders, chest and back, with programming designed to build upper-body strength and definition. Lower + Core will target the glutes and legs alongside core work, with an emphasis on strength, stability and endurance.

The classes are part of JetSet’s biggest expansion of its signature method to date. The brand is also introducing Pro50, a faster-paced advanced reformer workout featuring more complex sequencing and transitions.

JetSet‘s core 50-minute workout already incorporates elements of strength training and sustained resistance work alongside Pilates. The new formats give members the ability to be more targeted with that training, arriving as strength continues to influence how consumers approach Pilates.

Pilates Brands Embrace Strength

JetSet isn’t alone in moving further into strength.

Strong Pilates recently revealed that Loaded, its strength-heavy class, had become the most-attended format in the brand’s history, surpassing its predominantly Pilates-focused Strong Body class.

“For the first time ever, they said ‘I want more strength training,’ over ‘I want more Pilates,’” Strong Pilates co-founder Michael Ramsey said of feedback from the brand’s members.

Other operators are increasingly building around the overlap between the two modalities.

Solidcore has deliberately distanced its marketing from the Pilates label in recent years, instead describing its workout as low-impact strength training. FIT House of Brands, meanwhile, has positioned concepts including FS8 and Vaura around a broader combination of Pilates, strength, mobility and athletic training.

Jo Gomez, director of athletics, Pilates, for FIT House of Brands, previously told Athletech News that consumers increasingly view those categories as complementary rather than separate.

“People no longer view strength training, Pilates, mobility and recovery as completely separate categories,” Gomez said. “People understand that all of those things work together to support performance, movement quality and longevity.”