Recommended Home Equipment

Typically the things I blog about are direct questions for students and fans. This is a driect request;)
Here are the pieces, in order of greatest investment to smallest investment, that are in my opionion the ‘best’ home choices for pialtes apparatus. It’s really only my opinion. I endorese no ONE company and I get NOTHING for recommending these pieces.
There is a link for each and a short blurb from yours truly.

1. Peak Pilates MVe+ Tower System $4,590
Peak Pilates in home version of a studio convertible system. You get a mat, a refomer and a tower. 3 pieces in 1. It’s pretty, sleek and sturdy. It will last through thousands of workouts without upkeep or repair. I trained a client on it for a year and it works fabulously. The only real draw back is that you are spending such a substantial amount of money on it that you might just as well by the ‘real’ thing. A studio version. The bonus of this ‘home’ version is that it ‘collapses’. It is designed to fold up and be pushed out of the way or put in a closet. There’s a catch 22 to this one, the equipment is so great and sturdy, that is actually makes it a little heavy and akward to ‘put away’. It truly depends on your practice, amount of space and time. You may pick this one, for the value of what you get with it, and just leave it open and out.

2.Balanced Body Allegro Reformer $2690
The Allegro is one of the original in-home pieces of equipment. It’s small, flat and does everything you need to on a reformer with a pretty decent lifespan. It can easily roll under a bed for storage if you do not orfer the ‘feet’.
It’s also a great piece of equipment for men. the carriage is wider as well as the foot bar. So if you typically feel jammed into a reformer, this one is much roomier and comfy. It’s also really safe to do standing work on because it’s so close to the floor. (so GREAT if you’re after booty and leg work.)

3.IPilatesReformers Stamina AeroPilates $378.99
I will admit, I’ve never worked on one of these. BUT from what I can see and what I’ve watched on the home shopping network (hey, at least i am TOTALLY honost with you) This one looks like a decent piece. It’s sturdier the other home pieces, it comes with instructional dvds, it’s flat for storage, looks modern and sturdy ‘enough’, great price AND a jumpboard!!! If you are looking to add cardio to your pilates workout the jumpboard (or as they call it, free form cardio rebounder) is the only traditional way to do it. It’s easy on the joints and FUN! It does look like the AMOUNT of uses could be short lived. the smaller and cheaper the pieces, the more likely they are to break and not be repairable.

4. Pilates Stick Kit $149.99
I dig this one a LOT, a collegue of mine in LA helped develope this and it’s truly ingenious. You are getting a the roll down bar, leg and arm straps from the tower in a completely portable, put away able system. If you love mat work and you want to up the anti at home, this is your gear. plus, if you hate it and never use it again, it is relatively inexpensive and easy to put away. It also comes with an instructional dvd.

as a side note, I recieved an inquiry about Proform CoreTech Pilates Reformer $162.37 This is not a piece I could give kuddos to. There was one in a space i trained out of years ago in St. Louis (don’t ask). This one has a great price tag and promises too much. It falls apart instantly, had no foot straps so you will miss a significant portion of the repitoire, it’s tiny and most people dont’ comfortably fit on it. Also, the ‘footbar’ is highly unstable and no chance at doing standing work. sorry to report on that one….but wanted to answer the initial question.

There are MANY other home choices. Most depend on your budget. I’m still a fan of the magic circle and therabands to add resistance and caloric burn to mat work. I also have a series with gliders or towels that mimic reformer work on a hardwood or tile floor. You don’t HAVE to drop a chunk of change to get the variation and resistance…..although you may need me and my mat workouts on video……..