Pilates is on the rebound on Long Island. Here's why.

After her second daughter was born three years ago, Zorina Czora tried a new approach to exercise. "I was looking for a way to get back into fitness and to lose the baby weight," she says. "I started going to a Pilates studio."

As she trimmed her physique, she expanded her inner circle — win-win. "It just felt so right. I loved the workout," she says. "I’d talk to the girls next to me about being a mom and just everything. It felt like another community within my everyday life."

In September, Czora, 34, made a career pivot after 11 years as a makeup artist. She and her business partner, Rowena Moses, 32, opened Fyre Pilates + Sculpt in Oceanside.

They’re just one example of the Pilates power-up stretching across Long Island. Studios for the time-honored mind-body, core-focused discipline are opening all over — from Farmingdale in a facility that’s branded itself as "the largest" on Long Island to Hauppauge and Baldwin and beyond.

The Pilates boom

After a pandemic-related drop, Pilates has rebounded in robust fashion, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. "It was the No. 5 trend out of all fitness trends globally," Rachelle Reed, an ACSM exercise physiologist, tells Newsday.

Credit the health benefits as well as the perks of group fitness participation, per Reed. "Social support, and having that community around you and enjoyment of exercise," she says, "are the two biggest predictors of how long someone sticks with an exercise."

Developed in the early 20th century by German fitness innovator Joseph Pilates, his namesake discipline focuses on controlled movements, core engagement and coordinated breathing to build strength, mobility and stability.

Pilates can be practiced on a Reformer or a similar machine that adds spring-based resistance and assistance, as well as on a mat. Hot Pilates and Bodybar Pilates intensify workouts with heat and weights, respectively. Each gym presents their own flavor of Pilates.

Alex Rothstein, an assistant professor of exercise science at New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, has observed a growing local Pilates footprint — and diverse modalities at new gyms.

"I’m a big fan of Pilates in general, including its focus on core strength and functional full-body conditioning," he says, adding that it’s a "great complement" to aerobic exercise and strength training.

Pilates attracts women, many of them younger, but it’s embraced by all. "It really is a well-rounded tool for everyone — male, female, athletic, not athletic, old and young," says Rothstein.

Bodybar Pilates in Hauppauge studio features 14 Reformers, plus a private room for one‑on‑one training. "We stick to Joseph Pilates’ machine principles: breathing, controlling, centering, concentration, precision and flow," says owner Mady Pisano.

Their "secret sauce takes it to the next level," Pisano says, referring to the use of the bodybar and easygoing vibe. "No one is judged. Everyone is welcome."

Come for the core, stay for the community

Open since late July, Studio 60 in Farmingdale has trumpeted its plus-size scope, including parking spaces. It promotes itself as "Long Island’s largest hot yoga and reformer Pilates studio."

Ali Hochbrueckner, a manager and trainer, notes the varied Studio menu. "We have hot Pilates. We have regular Pilates, mat Pilates, sculpt Pilates," she says. "We also are only the second studio on Long Island to offer heated reformer classes."

A common thread throughout: The sense of we’re-all-in-this-together. "We’re at a place where people are craving community," she says. "With Pilates, people are working their core and their alignment. They’re also finding a place where they have friends and community support. They want people that they connect with."

Studio 60 client Briana Neefeldt, a 30-year-old healthcare worker, started Pilates after hip surgery recommended by her surgeon. She enjoys the reformer for more control and the social aspect of Pilates. "I often attend classes with a friend," she says. "It turns into a bit of a social hour."

When Catherine Hardwick, 27, opened Kōre fitness in Baldwin in February, she was the first Black owner to open a mat Pilates studio in the town. Due to demand, she’s got a second space in the works. Set to open in November, it’s twice the size of the original and located on the south side of Baldwin.

"We really do try to build the community experience," says Hardwick. "We honor milestone classes — like your 50th or 100th class. You’re not just a mat. You’re a person."

Fitness insiders noted that social media has helped push the Pilates trend forward. "In the Gen Z world," says Hardwick, "there’s a thing called the ‘clean girl aesthetic.’ It’s about being put together and productive. Part of the aesthetic is going to Pilates."

But Pilates isn’t an all-girls club. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo incorporates Pilates into his training and has shared images of himself doing it on social media. "Ronaldo is one example of Pilates being for men — and for athletes," says Hochbrueckner.

Fitness insiders agree that it’s not a stretch to say that Pilates is here to stay. "Forms change, and people take on different approaches to Pilates," says Rothstein. "It’s not going anywhere."