Calls for Reformer Pilates regulation amid boom

Calls have been made for Reformer Pilates to be formally regulated, as the boom in the industry has led to a shortage of qualified instructors. Statistics show that the amount of Reformer Pilates businesses in the UK rose ten-fold by between 2024 and 2025. But the rise has led to intensive in-house training being run to meet demand, with teachers' association Pilates Foundations warning that classes are "potentially dangerous in the hands of someone who has had a short period of training", and that there have already been documented cases of injuries. Rebecca Hosking, an instructor at Maison du Pilates in Bournemouth, believes that more should be done to regulate the industry. Reformer Pilates focuses on controlled movement, targeting muscles you might not even know you had. Although the craze is high right now, Reformer was invented by Joseph Pilates during World War I, when he adapted hospital beds with springs to help rehabilitate patients. But despite Reformer Pilates becoming increasingly popular, with celebrities such as Ed Sheeran taking up the exercise, the industry is not formally regulated. Nathan Benjamin-Smith, owner of Reformer Pilates Bicester in Oxfordshire, said: "F