Runway Pilates Manchester

Once a niche, LA-based fitness trend, reformer pilates looks set to become mainstream. There are at least three studios dedicated to it in Manchester city centre alone now – including this one, Runway Pilates Manchester, which opened in the Northern Quarter in 2022.

Reformer pilates is essentially pilates done on a resistance machine. The weights and straps make your muscles work harder than unweighted mat-based pilates, and as a result, you get stronger and leaner faster.

It’s also, in our view, a little more joyful than your traditional pilates lesson. The machines look daunting at first but you’re soon happily sliding around on them like a kid in a playground. If you like your exercise sessions to be fun as well as challenging, it’s for you.

Runway Pilates already has two successful reformer studios in Alderley Edge and Altrincham so they know their stuff. The Manchester studio offers five signature classes, each with a different focus. Go for lengthening, strength-building, or the ‘triple A’: abs, arms, and (the all-important) ass.