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The girls are obsessing over a new workout method after Lori Harvey shared her fitness secret. One of the main keys to Lori’s chiseled core is Pilates. We recently discovered that the fitness industry well-known in predominantly White and wealthy communities was actually popularized by this Black woman and acclaimed choreographer.
One viral tweet made a claim that Pilates was rebranded into a workout for healthy and wealthy White women.
This sparked discourse around who actually started the trendy workout method that currently has all of the girls working their tiniest muscles in hopes of Lori Harvey’s stellar body for the summer.
In the tweet sleep and wellness user, @themultiplemom, says: “The fact that Pilates was rebranded into a workout for healthy/wealthy yt women is.”
Pilates was created by a German physical trainer named Joseph Pilates. His intention at the time was to help sick prisoners, which is how he was since credited with inventing and promoting the Pilates method of physical fitness.
However, it was actually his understudy, Kathy Stanford Grant, who refined it and made pilates more accessible in the states. She was a first-generation Pilates teacher, who studied directly under Joseph Pilates and taught the method for more than 50 years. Kathy was also an acclaimed dancer, choreographer and arts administrator.
Without Grant, Pilates might not be as popular in the United States. The official Pilates organization started a “diversity in Pilates” movement years ago because they hoped to remind people that the industry wasn’t made for wealthy White women. The movement is actively seeking Black instructors.
It is also said that Grant charged the rich, but gave free classes in New York City in poor communities, so that they could also learn Pilates and body awareness. Grant was something like a Robin Hood for her community.
See the viral thread that started the conversation below:
